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Long‐ and short‐term effects of vapour of the herbicide 2,4‐D butyl on the growth of tomato plants
Author(s) -
BREEZE V. G.,
WEST C. J.
Publication year - 1987
Publication title -
weed research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.693
H-Index - 74
eISSN - 1365-3180
pISSN - 0043-1737
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-3180.1987.tb00731.x
Subject(s) - phytotoxicity , photosynthesis , chemistry , horticulture , dry weight , dry matter , agronomy , botany , biology
Summary An airflow system has been used to expose tomato plants to a range of concentrations of vapour of the herbicide 2,4‐D butyl, from 5 to 50 ng l −1 . Experiments carried out at an air temperature of 20°C indicate that only short periods (less than 2.5 h) are required to produce symptoms of phytotoxicity at concentrations less than 5 ng l −1 , or approximately 2.5% of the saturated vapour pressure of the herbicide. A 5‐h period of exposure to approximately 5 ng l −1 reduced the dry weight and dry matter content of the tomato plants after 7 weeks by 18% and 9%, respectively, compared with the control. Phytotoxicity symptoms were shown by the plants in proportion to the vapour concentration during the period of exposure to herbicide. Rates of photosynthesis of treated plants had begun to decline within an hour of the commencement of exposure, slightly after leaf movement was first observed.