Effects from simulated rainfall on shoot-zone uptake of herbicides

In glasshouse experiments, atrazine, simazine, lenacil and linuron applied to the soil surface were phytotoxic to turnip seedlings which had emerged from a depth of 1–5 cm when 3 mm artificial rainfall was applied at the time of seedling emergence or shortly afterwards. When rainfall was applied on 2 or 3 consecutive days, the herbicides were in general more phytotoxic. As the delay between emergence and commencement of surface watering increased, however, the response of the seedlings decreased. Studies with [¹⁴C]-atrazine showed that at emergence the seedlings contained a small amount of herbicide which increased considerably with surface watering. Relatively high concentrations were attained when rainfall was applied while the seedlings were small, but as the interval between seedling emergence and rainfall increased, the same uptake resulted in lower shoot concentrations, Atrazine extraction from the soil showed little movement from the surface 1.0 cm, suggesting uptake via the stem. The observed responses of the other three herbicides are explained by assuming the same pattern of uptake as that recorded for atrazine.