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Updated: Aug 6, 2026
07:06
Investigating Long-Distance Transport of Perfluoroalkyl Acids in Wheat via a Split-Root Exposure Technique
Published on: September 28, 2022
Integrating Root and Foliar Uptake Pathways To Dynamically Model Tissue-Specific Accumulation of Per- and
Bingxin Gui1, Shujun Yi1, Xin Wang1
1MOE Key Laboratory of Pollution Processes and Environmental Criteria, College of Environmental Science and Engineering, and Academy for Advanced Interdisciplinary Studies of Nankai University, Tianjin300071, P. R. China.
Environmental Science & Technology
|July 21, 2026
Summary
A new dynamic model accurately predicts per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in crops. This model accounts for multiple uptake routes and validates field conditions, aiding food safety assessments.
Area of Science:
- Environmental Chemistry
- Agricultural Science
- Ecotoxicology
Background:
- Current models for predicting per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in crops lack precision and field validation.
- Existing models often fail to incorporate multiroute uptake mechanisms, limiting their real-world applicability.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop and validate a high-precision, quantitative model for dynamically predicting PFAS accumulation in crops.
- To investigate species-specific and tissue-specific PFAS uptake pathways throughout the crop growth cycle.
Main Methods:
- Monitoring PFAS levels in environmental media and crop tissues (wheat and oilseed lettuce) near a fluorochemical industrial park.
- Developing a multitissue dynamic model integrating soil-root and air-leaf uptake pathways.
- Utilizing a computational program for universal model parameter optimization and validation with field data.
Main Results:
- Oilseed lettuce showed significantly higher total PFAS accumulation than wheat at maturity.
- The developed model demonstrated excellent agreement with measured PFAS values (R2 > 0.967), with over 96.3% of observations within the prediction interval.
- Soil-root uptake was dominant in wheat (74.5%), while atmospheric uptake was significant in oilseed lettuce (40.2%).
Conclusions:
- The validated model accurately captures species-, tissue-, growth-stage-, and compound-specific PFAS uptake.
- This model provides robust support for full life-cycle crop monitoring and rapid food safety assessments concerning PFAS contamination.
- Findings highlight the importance of considering diverse uptake routes for accurate PFAS risk assessment in agricultural systems.
