The contamination of vegetation through air pollutants and its integration into the food chain, e.g. in the form of animal feed, are of great significance in the field of practical air pollution control. Through active and passive biomonitoring cheap protection goal oriented details can be provided with regard to possible risks or damage. People, animals, plants and soil are the protection goals.
Pollutant monitoring and evaluation from the agricultural perspective
Active biomonitoring with standardised grass culture: short rotation ryegrass is brought into the test study area and left exposed there on a carrier device. After pre-determined periods of growth it is checked for pollutants.
Passive monitoring with meadow grass and tree leaves: the plant samples (meadow grass, tree leaves) are taken directly from the test study area and checked for pollutants.
The emission measurements performed using plants are conducted at an accredited inspection body as per EN ISO/IEC 17020.
Application examples
Monitoring of all kinds of industrial plant, deployment as part of environmental impact assessments - for example road building, building potential emission sources.
(The Contaminant Analysis Department already has many years experience in measuring emissions for the following parameters and the evaluation thereof from an agricultural point of view: As, Ba, Be, Cd, Cl, Co, Cr, Cu, F, Hg, Mo, Ni, Pb, S, Sb, Se, Sr, Tl, V and Zn, as well as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), organochlorine pesticides (e.g. Lindan), hexachlorobenzene and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs).
AGES - Austrian Agency for Health and Food Safety
