Fate of Fungicides in Plants

Abstract

In this presentation of the still fragmentary knowledge concerning the fate of fungicides in plants, an attempt was made to understand their metabolism from the more general standpoint of the metabolism of foreign compounds by varied organisms. Special attention was paid to the role which metabolites can play in the protective action of the compounds applied. Apparently metabolism may not only be seen as a desirable or undesirable disappearance of the fungicide from the plant. It may also be the necessary prerequisite for the formation of the actual fungi-toxic compound in the plant, e. g. by liberation of a fungicide from an inactive precursor. The possibility of systemic combat by application of translocatable precursors of fungicides has not yet been sufficiently exploited. In this connection, it is interesting to note that certain plant species owe their resistance to certain parasites to their capacity of producing a fungicide from a natural precursor. This occurs only at the site of entrance of the parasite. The study of the metabolism in plants both of foreign and of natural fungicides and their precursors thus may have opened a new line of approach towards the effective control of fungal plant diseases. There is a bibliography of 87 references.