Published online by Cambridge University Press: 12 June 2017
Pretreatment of potato (Solanum tuberosum L., var. Russet) tuber discs in pH 5.5 buffer significantly reduced uptake of picloram (10−3M). Tissue pretreated in buffer at 7 C subsequently absorbed more picloram than tissue pretreated at 25 C. Inclusion of cetyl trimethyl ammonium bromide (hereinafter referred to as CTAB) (2 × 10−4M) in the treating solution caused a significant increase in picloram uptake in tissues that were not pretreated in buffer. The reduction in uptake caused by buffer pretreatment was effectively reversed when CTAB was included in the treating solution. The results suggest that picloram uptake by potato tissue is related to the availability of the quaternary ammonium binding sites provided by membrane phosphatides.