Journal of Science and Arts Year 17, No. 4(41), pp. 803-814, 2017 ISSN: 1844 – 9581 Chemistry Section ORIGINAL PAPER INFLUENCE OF LEAD TOXICITY ON GROWTH AND ANTIOXIDANT ENZYME ACTIVITY FOR SALIX ALBA OFFSHOOTS IN HYDROPONIC CULTURES WITH DIFFERENT LEVELS OF POLLUTANTS MARIUS BUMBAC 1 , GABRIELA BUSUIOC 2 , CRISTINA MIHAELA NICOLESCU 3 *, ANCA IRINA GHEBOIANU 3 , IVONA DAVID 2 , COSTEL BUMBAC 4 _________________________________________________ Manuscript received: 05.08.2017; Accepted paper: 22.10.2017; Published online: 30.12.2017. Abstract. The effect of the simultaneous presence of lead and magnesium in hydroponic culture on the growth of Salix alba offshoots was studied. Present study used biological material collected from area of Targoviste city, specifically from the bank of the Ialomita River. Willow offshoots, having the same number of internodes and same diameter, were collected. The hydroponic cultures were made with three water types as hydroponic substrate, tap water, flowing water and water, lead and magnesium being added in gravimetric ratios of 0.01%, 0.1% and 0.5% (w / w). Experiments were mounted so that each glass with a certain composition of hydroponic culture held three willow offshoots in the same conditions; environmental parameters (temperature and relative humidity %) were continuously monitored; sampling procedure was followed for further analytical investigations. As a general conclusion, there was a smaller number of leaves and roots when concentration of lead and magnesium was 0.5%. The type of water had an important influence on the development of Salix alba offshoots during experiments. Guaiacol peroxidase activity was experimentally determined at the end of the fourth day of willow monitoring. This time was considered enough for the hydroponic system to reach equilibrium. The graphical representation of guaiacol peroxidase activity shows the same pattern with a small difference when tap water was used as solvent. At the end of experiment, solid material (roots and leaves separately sampled) was dried at 60°C some hours and then digested in a mixture of oxygenated water (H 2 O 2 30%) and nitric acid (HNO 3 67%). Liquid homogeneous samples obtained were measured by atomic absorption spectrometry (AAS), concentrations of zinc, cadmium, and selenium was determined. Thus, presence of significant quantities of magnesium and lead was tested for the influence on levels of cations with different reactivity reactivity, as zinc, cadmium and selenium. Keywords: phytoextraction, hydroponic cultures, cations translocation, Salix alba. 1 Valahia University of Targoviste, Faculty of Sciences and Arts, 130004 Targoviste, Romania. E-mail: m_bumbac@yahoo.co.uk . 2 Valahia University of Targoviste, Faculty of Environmental Engineering and Food Science, 130004 Targoviste, Romania. 3 Valahia University of Targoviste, Institute of Multidisciplinary Research for Science and Technology, 130004 Targoviste, Romania. E-mail: cristina.nicolescu.profa@gmail.com . 4 National Institute for Research and Development for Industrial Ecology – INCD ECOIND, 060652 Bucharest, Romania.