## 3 Results and Discussion
### Early Growth Parameters
It was evident that  
Figure 2: Effect of the mixture and individual pharmaceuticals on the length of the root (**A**) and shoot (**B**) in basil seedlings. Each bar represents the mean value of five independent replicates, and the error bar shows the standard deviation. Different letters indicate significant differences between treatments (_p_ < 0.05). doses of 200 and especially 600 ppb drastically reduced the dry weights of the seedlings, highlighting the toxicity of the various compounds with respect to the applied dose. In general, the effects of PhACs on plants depend on the class of pharmaceuticals and its concentration and on the plant species [38]. Therefore, it is possible that some of the PhACs studied can stimulate basil growth in low doses due to possible hormone-like effects and/or seed protection against seedling damping. The VI-II index confirmed that doses of 25 to 100 ppb resulted in better vigor compared to control and doses of higher concentrations (Table 2). Among the PhACs studied, CLZ and NPX showed the highest VI-II index due to their larger dry weight, especially at 25 to  
Figure 3: Effect of the mixture and individual pharmaceuticals on the dry weight of the root (**A**) and shoot (**B**) in basil seedlings. Each bar represents the mean value of five independent replicates, and the error bar shows the standard deviation. Different letters indicate significant differences between treatments (_p_ < 0.05). 100 ppb; however, significant differences in FGP values for each PhAC were not observed. In general, CLZ, NPX, and TCS showed the worst results for the aforementioned parameters at the highest dose. Regarding CLZ, [PERSON] et al. [39] found that this compound negatively influenced seedling emergence, shoot length, and biomass of _Brassica napus_ L. and _Avena sativa_ L. In general, demethylase inhibitor fungicides, such as climbazole, can act as plant growth inhibitors that interact with sterol biosynthesis and inhibit gibberell biosynthesis. Climbazole is an imidazole and has a higher toxicity than triazoles, such as FCZ, and isoxazoles, such as SMX [40]. In fact, in our study, FCZ and SMX showed slight toxicity only at the highest applied dose for some parameters. In particular, FCZ did not affect basil growth as its behavior is similar to that of other triazoles used as plant fungicides and growth promoters [41; 42]. However, [PERSON] et al. [43] tested different azoles on lamb lettuce and found higher weights for plants grown in the presence of azoles compared to the control in the initial days of the experiment, and the same was observed in the present study for CLZ applied at lower doses. The worst results of TCS at higher doses were possibly due to blockage of fatty acid synthesis in plants by inhibiting a reductase implicated in various metabolic pathways [44]. As a result, plants exposed to high concentrations of triclosan soon died. Regarding NPX, [PERSON] et al. [34] conducted a study on the effects of NPX and DCF on growth parameters of spring barley and found that NPX had the greatest negative effect on the plant. High doses of NPX can induce the formation of reactive oxygen species (ROS), lipid peroxidation, reduction of membrane integrity, and change in the antioxidant and redox system that, finally, negatively influence the root apparatus in plants [36]. With respect to MIX, the length of roots and shoots was significantly lower than the control at a dose of 100 ppb, showing greater toxicity of this dose than that of a single contaminant. However, at doses of 200 and 600 ppb, the toxicity of the mixture was in any case lower than that of CLZ, NPX, and TCS considered individually. Furthermore, the dry weight of the roots and shoots did not show significant differences compared to the control, even at the highest dose applied. These results could be derived from interactions among the different contaminants that have mitigated the effect of individual PhACs, lowering their toxic effect.