Glyphosate is globally a widely used herbicide, yet there is little information on their toxicity to marine fishes. Java medaka, a small tropical fish native to coastal areas in several Southeast Asian countries, is viewed as a suitable candidate for toxicity test and thus was used for this study. Java medaka adults were cultured in the laboratory and the fertilized eggs of the F2 generation were exposed to different concentrations of glyphosate-based herbicide (100, 200, 300, 400 and 500 ppm) until they hatched. The survival and hatching rates of the embryos, changes in the heart rate and morphological impairments were recorded. Generally, survival and hatching percentage decreased as glyphosate concentration increased. Absence of pectoral fin(s) and cornea, permanently bent tail, irregular shaped abdomen, and cell disruption in the fin, head and abdomen are among the common teratogenic effects observed. Furthermore, risk factor also increased with the increased in glyphosate concentrations.
Eleusine indica is one of the most common weed species found in agricultural land worldwide. Although herbicide-glyphosate provides good control of the weed, its frequent uses has led to abundant reported cases of resistance. Hence, the development of genetic markers for quick detection of glyphosate-resistance in E. indica population is imperative for the control and management of the weed. In this study, a total of 14 specific random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) markers were identified and two of the markers, namely S4R727 and S26R6976 were further sequence characterized. Sequence alignment revealed that marker S4R727 showing a 12-bp nucleotides deletion in resistant biotypes, while marker S26R6976 contained a 167-bp nucleotides insertion in the resistant biotypes. Based on these sequence differences, three pairs of new sequence characterized amplified region (SCAR) primers were developed. The specificity of these primer pairs were further validated with genomic DNA extracted from ten individual plants of one glyphosate-susceptible and five glyphosate-resistant (R2, R4, R6, R8 and R11) populations. The resulting RAPD-SCAR markers provided the basis for assessing genetic diversity between glyphosate-susceptible and -resistant E. indica biotypes, as well for the identification of genetic locus link to glyphosate-resistance event in the species.
The toxicities of ROUNDUP and its component chemicals, glyphosate (N-phosphonomethylglycine) and polyoxyethyleneamine (POEA), were determined at 0, 1, 3, 6 and 24 h following administration to rats. The intratracheal administration of glyphosate (0.2 g/kg), POEA (0.1 g/kg), a mixture of glyphosate (0.2 g/kg) + POEA (0.1 g/kg), or ROUNDUP (containing 0.2 g/kg glyphosate and 0.1 g/kg POEA) elicited immediate respiratory effects which were more severe and which lasted longer in the groups receiving the POEA-containing preparations than in the glyphosate alone group. By 1 h, all test preparations had caused deaths, but more occurred from the POEA-containing preparations than from glyphosate. The po administration of POEA (1 g/kg), the mixture of glyphosate (2 g/kg) +POEA (1 g/kg), or ROUNDUP (containing 2 g/kg glyphosate and 1 g/kg POEA) produced diarrhea and blood-stained weeping from noses. Death was only seen from POEA at 24 h. Glyphosate (2 g/kg po) produced transient diarrhea without nose bleeds; POEA caused diarrhea at 1 h; and the mixture of POEA + glyphosate produced diarrhea later that increased in severity with time. Bloody nose secretions were seen only with the preparations that contained POEA. No deaths, respiratory effects or bloody nose secretions occurred in controls given saline. Both POEA and glyphosate caused lung hemorrhages and lung epithelial cell damage with po or intratracheal exposures. These results indicate POEA and preparations that contained POEA were more toxic than glyphosate.