Plant Metabolism Studies for Agrochemicals
Plant protection products cover a wide range of applications including insecticides, fungicides, herbicides, mollusks, nematicides and plant growth regulators. The risks posed by these products and their active ingredients to humans and the environment need to be precisely assessed. Humans can be exposed to pesticides through dietary and non-dietary exposure routes. Consumers may be exposed to pesticide residues in food from treated crops, crops grown in areas where pesticides have been previously applied, and animal products that may have consumed feed containing pesticide residues. Therefore, understanding the nature of residues in agrochemical products is important in determining the consumer exposure. A particular pesticide should be lethal to target pests, but not to non-target species, including other plants. Rigorous testing is always needed to ensure that pesticide residues are within safe limits. Regulatory agencies worldwide rely on data from plant metabolism and field studies to define dietary risks and set maximum residue levels. To assess the risk to animal and human health from different agrochemical products residing on or in crops, BOC Sciences is committed to helping our clients understand how their crop protection products are metabolized, and identifying or characterizing residues and their potential toxicity. Our data from plant metabolism studies enables to provide important information for the design of field studies to assess residue levels.
Figure 1. Molecular research in plant secondary metabolism. (Iriti, M.; et al. 2015)
Plant Metabolism Studies for Global Registration
Our team has a successful track record in conducting plant metabolism research to high standards, and we offer studies such as:
- OECD 501: Metabolism in crops
Our plant metabolism experts conduct the in-life phase either on site in our greenhouses:
- OECD 502: Metabolism in rotational crops
- Plant metabolism studies in all primary crop groups
- Confined rotational crop studies
- Greenhouse radiolabeled studies
- Outdoor radiolabeled studies
- Formulation preparation (EC, SC, WP, etc.)
- Processing and stability investigations
- Translocation investigations
- OPPTS 860.1300: Nature of the residue in plants
- OPPTS 860.1850: Confined accumulation in rotational crops
Features of Our Services
- Our experienced team of experts including research directors, plant specialists and chemists can design and conduct plant metabolism studies to meet regulatory requirements according to our clients' needs.
- Our plant metabolism studies involve crop metabolism and metabolism studies in rotational crops across a wide range of crop types.
- Our synthetic chemists can advise on optimizing the position of radiolabeling of your test substance, while our analytical experts devise methods to ensure effective residue identification and characterization.
- Efficient extraction methods have been developed to ensure the ability to identify or characterize at least 90% of the total radioactive residues (TRR) in each original agricultural commodity (RAC).
- We offer metabolite and degradation product identification services to help our customers establish plant protection product’s transformation pathways.
Figure 2. Broad classification of plant secondary metabolites. (Das, K.; Gezici, S. 2018)
Advanced Facilities
BOC Sciences has introduced a range of facilities to study plant metabolism in all types of crops in all seasons, including permanent and semi-permanent crops such as fruit trees and vines. Our state-of-the-art facilities include:
- Aluminum glass greenhouse with computer controlled environment
- Wide outdoor enclosures
- Environmentally controlled plant growth room with LED lighting
BOC Sciences Advantages
- Highly specialized technical and analytical services for the worldwide registration and regulatory compliance of agrochemicals
- Robust analytical testing programs that span from research and product development through the production process to final product
- Relies on broad industrial experience, ensuring that all of our work meets the high standards expected by our clients
- Our regulatory experts, toxicology consultants, scientists and inspectors will ensure that you receive maximum levels of guidance, testing and inspection you need.
References
- Iriti, M.; et al. Special Issue "Molecular Research in Plant Secondary Metabolism 2015. International Journal of Molecular Sciences. 2015.
- Das, K.; Gezici, S. Secondary plant metabolites, their separation and identification, and role in human disease prevention. Annals of Phytomedicine. 2018. 7(2): 13-24.