Skip to main content
ARS Home » Midwest Area » St. Paul, Minnesota » Soil and Water Management Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #124863
Title: HPLC ANALYSIS OF SHIKIMIC ACID IN PLANTS TO DETERMINE GLYPHOSATE EXPOSURE

Author
item BRESNAHAN, GAIL - NORTH DAKOTA STATE UNIV
item DEXTER, ALAN - NORTH DAKOTA STATE UNIV
item Koskinen, William
item BARBER, BRIAN - UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA

Submitted to: Pittsburgh Conference
Publication Type: Proceedings
Publication Acceptance Date: 3/4/2001
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Increased glyphosate use for weed control in glyphosate-tolerant crops has resulted in greater potential off-site deposition causing injury to non-target plants. Glyphosate is difficult to detect at the trace levels that can cause injury to plants using traditional methods of analysis. Another approach has been to determine shikimic acid build up in the plant as a result of glyphosate exposure. HPLC-UV has been used to analyze shikimate in plants, however this method has limitations. The sensitivity of UV detectors allows only for analysis of freshly sprayed plants. Shikimate concentration in plants decreases with time after exposure, and it cannot be detected in dead, brown plant material. We found that shikimate in plants rapidly decomposes and it could not be detected in dead, brown material approximately 6 weeks after glyphosate application. To overcome this limitation, we have developed a method to analyze shikimate using a LC-MS with electrospray (ES) interface. LC-ES-MS enables analysis at levels of sensitivity that are sufficiently low to determine shikimate in dead brown material for longer periods after application.