Metabolism

Generally, compounds of this class of herbicides are not rapidly translocated or metabolized by most plants, but undergo diverse patterns of degradation in soil. Because dinitroaniline herbicide metabolism in planta is very slow, it is difficult to ascertain what levels of the metabolites found in plants are actually formed from plantmetabolism versus soil metabolism. In carrot (Daucus carota L.) roots, most of the absorbed trifluralin [2,6-dinitro-N,N -dipropyl- 4-(trifluoromethyl)benzenamine]was localized in the outer cuticular layer, with most of the residue extracted as trifluralin, and only minor amounts of the N-depropyl trifluralin (68).