Published online by Cambridge University Press: 20 January 2017
Studies were conducted to evaluate absorption and translocation of 14C-glyphosate in glyphosate-resistant (GR) cotton. Both commercial GR cotton events [glyphosate-resistant event 1, marketed as Roundup Ready®, released 1997 (GRE1), and glyphosate-resistant event 2, marketed as Roundup Ready Flex®, released 2006 (GRE2)] were evaluated at the four-leaf and eight-leaf growth stages. Plants were harvested at 1, 3, 5, and 7 d after treatment (DAT). Glyphosate absorption, as a percentage of applied, increased over time with 29 and 36% absorption at 7 DAT in four-leaf GRE1 and GRE2 cotton, respectively. In eight-leaf cotton, glyphosate absorption (33% at 7 DAT) was not different between events. Glyphosate translocation patterns were not different between events or harvest timings and exhibited a source–sink relation. Observed translocation differences between cotton growth stages were probably due to reduced glyphosate export from the treated leaf of eight-leaf cotton. An additional study compared absorption and translocation of 14C-glyphosate and 14C-sucrose in 5- and 10-leaf GRE2 cotton. Averaged over trials, 14C compounds, and growth stages, cotton absorbed 28% of the applied dose at 14 DAT. On the basis of the percentage of 14C exported out of the treated leaf, glyphosate and sucrose translocation patterns were similar, indicating that glyphosate may be used as a photoassimilate model in GRE2 cotton.