Seed potatoes tubers (Solanum tuberosum) of two cultivars (Achat and Baronesa) were treated with paraquat solutions to evalute the internal tuber quality and to detect its residue by a simplified methodology. Two experiments were carried out at the National Research Center on Vegetables, Brasília, DF. In experiment one some tubers were immersed in 0 and 200 ppm of paraquat solutions and others were injected with 0,5 ml of 0 and 200 ppm solutions of the herbicide. Twelve tubers were used as plot in a complete randomized design with 8 replications. The internal tuber quality was evaluated after breaking dormancy and sprouting of ten tubers. Also, two tubers were sampled and put in 5 liter pots and grown under greenhouse conditions to observe if the herbicide would affect the growth of the new plant generation. The immersion treatments did not cause any internal damage to the tubers nor did they affect the new plant generation; however, tubers injected with paraquat were severely damaged (carbonization). Also, the next plant generation was affected and the surviving plants were small and not vigorus. These results indicate that paraquat can severely damage those tubers that absorbed and/or translocated the herbicide. In experiment two a simplified methodology to detect paraquat residue in the tubers was set up by colorimetric means. Paraquat was reduced with sodium dithionite (Na2S2O4) in basic solution to a blue radical ion whitch intensified its color with any increase in paraquat concentration. The development of this simplified methodology alowed the detection of paraquat residue above 0,06 ppm, indicating na excellent sensitivity and recovery in comparison with the residue analytical procedure of this herbicide, with a limit of detectability of about 0,01 ppm in crop samples of 200g. In addition to the quantitative determination of paraquat, this methodology allwos to determine qualitatively paraquat concentration by colour comparisons. Most of the paraquat residue was determined from potato skins up to 4 weeks after paraquat application.
Colorimetry; method of analysis; sodium dithionite; Solanum tuberosum; survival; productivity