Contamination by toxic agents in the environment has become matters of concern to agricultural countries.
Sulcotrione, a triketone
herbicide used to control dicotyledonous weeds in maize culture is rapidly photolyzed on plant foliage and generate two main photoproducts the xanthene-1,9-dione-3,4-dihydro-6-methylsulfonyl and 2-chloro-4-mesylbenzoic
acid (CMBA). The aim of this study was to analyze the potential toxicity of the
herbicide and the irradiated
herbicide cocktail. Cytotoxicity and genotoxicity of non irradiated and irradiated
sulcotrione were investigated in Allium cepa test. The
sulcotrione irradiation was monitored under sunlight simulated conditions to reach 50% of phototransformation. Concentrations of
sulcotrione in the range 5 × 10(-)(9)-5 × 10(-)(5)M were tested. Cytological analysis of root tips cells showed that both non irradiated and irradiated
sulcotrione caused a dose-dependent decrease of mitotic index with higher cytotoxicity for the irradiated
herbicide which can lead to 24.2% reduction of mitotic index compared to water control. Concomitantly,
chromosomal aberrations were observed in A.cepa root meristems. Both non irradiated
sulcotrione and irradiated
sulcotrione induced a dose-dependent increase of
chromosomal abnormalities frequencies to a maximal value of 33.7%. A saturating effect in anomaly frequencies was observed in meristems treated with high concentrations of non irradiated
sulcotrione only. These data suggest that photolyzed
sulcotrione cocktail have a greater cytotoxicity and genotoxicity than parent molecule and question about the impact of photochemical process on environment.