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Moving from the laboratory to the field: Adding natural environmental conditions to toxicology testing
Citation:
PFLEEGER, T. G., D. M. OLSZYK, AND M. PLOCHER. Moving from the laboratory to the field: Adding natural environmental conditions to toxicology testing. Presented at SETAC, Warsaw, POLAND, May 25 - 29, 2008.
Impact/Purpose:
While laboratory toxicology tests are generally easy to perform, cost effective and readily interpreted, they have been criticized for being unrealistic.
Description:
While laboratory toxicology tests are generally easy to perform, cost effective and readily interpreted, they have been criticized for being unrealistic. In contrast, field tests are considered realistic while producing results that are difficult to interpret and expensive. To investigate the effect of increasing realism, we conducted toxicology tests using potatoes grown in a native soil in pots in the greenhouse, in pots outside under natural environmental conditions, and in soil under field conditions. The herbicides bromoxynil, chloransulam, glyphosate, imazapyr, MCPA and sulfometuron were applied at below field application rates in each area. The effective herbicide concentration producing a 25% reduction in tuber fresh weight (EC25 values) for each herbicide differed among experimental conditions. The potatoes grown outside in pots were the most problematic even though they were grown under more natural conditions because it was difficult to maintain proper soil moisture levels in the native soils in pots outside. The results indicated that while plants in pots in a greenhouse can indicate the relative susceptibility of a species to different herbicides, the EC25 values were considerably different than for plants grown in the field.