VIEW ARTICLE

Transport of Benomyl into Various Plant Organs. Carol A. Peterson, Department of Botany, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada; L. V. Edgington, Department of Botany, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada. Phytopathology 61:91-92. Accepted for publication 19 August 1970. DOI: 10.1094/Phyto-61-91.

Benomyl (methyl 1-[butylcarbamoyl]-2-benzim-idazolecarbamate) was applied to the roots of flowering geranium and poinsettia plants. Fungicidal activity was later detected in the leaves, but none could be found in the geranium petals or in poinsettia bracts. Studies carried out with bean and tomato plants bearing fruit showed that the fungicide was transported primarily to the foliage. The concentration in tomato fruit (fresh weight basis) ranged from 0.03 to 2% of that in the foliage. In bean, the concentration in the fruit tended to be greater (0.3 to 3% of the concn in the foliage). Geranium petals had no stoma; poinsettia bracts had nonfunctional stoma; and tomato fruits had no stoma. Bean fruit which accumulated the most fungicide in relation to the leaves, however, had functional stoma. The capacity of an organ to transpire apparently governs its ability to accumulate benomyl when it is used as a systemic fungicide. Marginal and apical accumulation of fungicide in plant leaves can be mimicked by dye movement on filter paper cut to resemble leaves. Thus, the distribution of fungicide within the plant can be explained on the basis of physical forces.