¹⁴C-diuron degradation in soil and in sugar-cane plants (Saccharum spp.)

Abstract

Uptake of diuron from sugar-cane was detected in plants cultivated in lysimeter conditions in Sandy Clay soils treated with ¹⁴C-diuron. Uptake was detected from three weeks after plants germination with a maximum at four weeks. Plants from Sandy Clay had higher uptake than the plants on Clay soil. Besides diuron the metabolites dichlorophenylmethyurea (DCPMU) and dichlorophenylurea (DCPU) were also detected in the extracts of leaves of four and eight weeks after germination. At harvest, no activity was detected in the sugarcane juices (garapa). In soils degradation of diuron to DCPMU and DCPU was also noticed at 16 weeks in Sandy Clay soil and 32 weeks in Clay soil, indicating a faster herbicide degradation in the plants tissues.