Differential uptake and translocation of organic chemicals by several plant species from soil.

We performed uptake experiments with 12 different organic chemicals using 16 plant species and determined differences in the ability of plant species to take up and translocate these chemicals. There were differences among the plant species in the shoot and root concentrations of each organic chemical. The root concentration factor values increased with an increasing log of the n-octanol-water partition coefficient (log K OW) of organic chemicals. Thus, the concentrations in roots may be predicted to a certain extent because the root concentration factor values were related to the log K OW. The root-to-shoot translocation was related to the log K OW because the shoot-to-root concentration ratio decreased with an increasing log K OW; however, there was no clear relationship between the shoot concentration factor value and the log K OW, and this differed among plant species.