As an ecotoxicological tool, bioassays are an effective screening tool to eliminate plants sensitive to the contaminant of interest, and thereby reduce the number of plant species requiring further study. We conducted a bioassay analysis of fifteen plant species to determine their tolerance to diesel fuel toxicity. Dose-response analysis revealed that increasing diesel fuel concentrations in the soil generally led to a monotonically decreasing biomass in 13 species (P < 0.001), with EC10 values (±SE) ranging from 0.36 ± 0.18 g/kg to 12.67 ± 2.13 g/kg. On the other hand, hydrocarbons had a statistically significant hormetic influence on Medicago sativa (f = 3.90 ± 1.08; P < 0.01). The EC10 and EC50 values (±SE) from the fitted hormetic model were 15.33 ± 1.47 g/kg and 26.89 ± 2.00 g/kg, respectively. While previous studies have shown M. sativa’s tolerance of hydrocarbon toxicity, this is the first attempt to describe diesel fuel-induced hormesis in M. sativa using the Cedergreen-Ritz-Streibig model. This study thus shows that hormesis cannot be ignored in plant toxicology research, and that when present, an appropriate statistical model is necessary to avoid drawing wrong conclusions.

作为一种生态毒理学工具，生物测定法是一种有效的筛选工具，可消除对目标污染物敏感的植物，从而减少需要进一步研究的植物种类。我们对15种植物进行了生物测定分析，以确定它们对柴油毒性的耐受性。剂量反应分析表明，土壤中柴油浓度的升高通常导致13种生物量单调减少（P <0.001），EC10值（±SE）为0.36±0.18 g / kg至12.67±2.13 g / kg公斤。另一方面，碳氢化合物对紫花苜蓿具有统计上的显着影响（f = 3.90±1.08; P<0.01）。拟合的钟点模型的EC10和EC50值（±SE）分别为15.33±1.47 g / kg和26.89±2.00 g / kg。尽管先前的研究表明苜蓿对苜蓿毒性的耐受性，但这是首次使用Cedergreen-Ritz-Streibig模型描述苜蓿中柴油引起的兴奋作用。因此，这项研究表明，在植物毒理学研究中不能忽略兴奋剂，并且当存在兴奋剂时，必须使用适当的统计模型以避免得出错误的结论。