Influence of dose and molecular weight on foliar mass uptake of surfactant

Abstract

Foliar uptake of model xenobiotics and active ingredients on a unit area basis can be related to the initial dose of compound applied per unit area Current concepts propose that ideally surfactants and active ingredients copenetrate into plants Other evidence has shown that this is not always the case with pesticides and surfactants influencing each others behaviour Hence it is relevant to determine whether surfactants follow a similar mass uptake relationship This study determined the uptake of five surfactants differing in structure and molecular weight (2901350) into two plant species (fathen and wheat) The results showed that surfactants follow the same mass uptake relationship found previously for model compounds and active ingredients ie the initial dose (nmol/mm²) of surfactant applied to plant foliage is a strong positive determinant of uptake per unit area However at the constant concentration () studied surfactant molecular weight also played a role in uptake