Kinetics of the uptake of 14C-labeled chlorinated benzenes from soil by plants

[14C]Benzene, [14C]1,2,4-trichlorobenzene, [14C]pentachlorobenzene, and [14C]hexachlorobenzene were applied to soils in outdoor lysimeters to a 10-cm depth (2 mg/kg dry soil); barley and cress plants were grown for one vegetation period and analyzed after varying time intervals. The bioaccumulation factors (concentration of radioactive substances in plants divided by that in soils) of barley were higher than those of cress, except for hexachlorobenzene. In barley, bioaccumulation factors increased with decreasing chlorine content of the molecules, except for benzene, whereas in cress hexachlorobenzene exhibited the highest bioaccumulation factor. The conversion ratios of chlorinated benzenes (percentage of conversion products based on total radioactivity in plants) were negatively correlated to the chlorine content of the molecules and, in barley, positively correlated with time; in general, they were higher in barley than in cress. The concentration of radioactive substances in the plants, as well as bioaccumulation factors, decreased with time, except for a slight increase in benzene-derived residues in barley after 125 days. This effect is due to growth dilution. The percentage of radioactivity in barley seeds, based on that in the whole plant, was negatively correlated to the chlorine content of the molecule.