Phytotoxicity reduction by anaerobic-aerobic treatment of explosives-contaminated soil

Early seedling growth studies were conducted to evaluate residual toxicity to plants following the treatment of explosives-contaminated soil by a proprietary two stage anaerobic-aerobic treatment process. Five species of plants were tested over the range of 0% to 95% of test soils taken prior to and following each stage of treatment. Parameters which indicate toxicity including; time to seedling emergence, germination rate, dry biomass yield, and seedling length were measured for each combination of species, test soil; and dilution. Differences between treatments were evaluated by one-way analysis of variance. While little difference in time to seedling emergence and germination rate were observed between treatments, significant differences in biomass yield and seedling length were evident with treated soil allowing substantially better growth of all species than untreated soil.