Effect of fluazifop-butyl on the chlorophyll content, fluorescence and chloroplast ultrastructure of Elymus repens (L.) Gould. leaves

Some aspects of the action of fluazifop-butyl on the chlorophyll content, chloroplast functioning and chloroplast ultrastructure of Elymus repens are reported. Over a period of 0–12 days after spraying with 0.25 or 1.0 kg ha^?1 of the herbicide, chlorophyll a and b contents of this susceptible plant decreased, progressing from the youngest to the more mature leaves. Newly formed tillers and the youngest expanding leaves exhibited a more severe type of chlorosis and were often found to be devoid of chlorophyll. A similar progressive decline of the chlorophyll content was observed in an experiment where leaf segments were floated in fluazifop-butyl. Evidence of a rapid and significant alteration of the normal chlorophyll fluorescence of E. repens leaves treated with fluazifopbutyl was obtained. The herbicide, at a concentration range of 0.25–1.0 μg μ1^?1, caused a significant loss of the fast fluorescence rise, fluorescence yield and, after 24 h, caused a total abolition of the fluorescence decay (PS decas). These results are discussed. Ultrastructural damage to chloroplasts was seen within 24 h after treatment with fluazifop-butyl. This damage ranged from a partial to total disruption of the outer chloroplast envelope and a disorganization of the internal thylakoid system. Such Ultrastructural effects on chloroplasts were found to intensify up to about 6–7 days after spraying, by which time nearly all chloroplasts in tissue sections were affected to some degree.