Allium Test in Environmental Monitoring and Health

Today, the world's population and biodiversity are exposed to a high level of threat when considering water security. Protecting the world's freshwater resources requires diagnostic studies from the local to the global level. This book provides a broad perspective on the application of the common onion as a warning monitoring system for screening environmental contaminants as an indicator of cytotoxicity and genotoxicity. The Allium test has been frequently used to determine water quality and ecosystem health as well as a tool to public health purposes in various areas of application. This assay includes macro (root growth) and microscopic (chromosomal aberration in the root tip cells) parameters by cultivating the onion bulb in the liquid sample. Simplicity, low cost and good chromosomal conditions make the Allium test a highly suitable genetic model for assessing biological risks of contaminants with ethical advantages, since the results can be extrapolated to humans. Its remarkable importance in toxicological and ecotoxicological studies increases as ecology emerges as a new integrative discipline, since the quest for human health is the quest for ecology.