Transport of a nonionic surfactant through plant cuticles
- Michigan State Univ., East Lansing (USA)
While surfactants are widely used to enhance the performance of foliar applied chemicals, their interaction with the plant cuticle is not well understood. We have studied the transport of a nonionic surfactant, Triton X-100, through enzymatically isolated tomato fruit cuticular membranes (CM). Transport characteristics were determined by measuring the transfer rate of {sup 14}C-labeled surfactant from donor to receiver cell through an interfacing CM. Waxes of the cuticle greatly reduced membrane permeance (P): 11.2 and 82.7x10{sup {minus}12} m{center dot}s{sup {minus}1} for CM and dewaxed CM (DCM), respectively, at 25{degrees}C. Further, cuticular waxes reduced both partitioning and diffusion. Increase in partitioning on removal of waxes may be attributed to an increase in number of accessible sites in the matrix which preferentially bind and probably participate in the diffusion of surfactant through the cuticle. Temperature increases of 10{degrees}C between 5 and 35{degrees}C resulted in a nearly two-fold increase in diffusion and partitioning and a three-fold increase in permeance.
- OSTI ID:
- 6874679
- Journal Information:
- Plant Physiology, Supplement; (USA), Vol. 89:4; ISSN 0079-2241
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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