- Your Product Type
- Your Study Type
- Aquatic Ecotoxicology
- Aquatic Invertebrates
- OECD 202: Daphnia sp., Acute Immobilisation Test
- OECD 211: Daphnia magna Reproduction Test
- OECD 235: Chironomus sp., Acute Immobilisation Test
- OECD 218/219: Sediment-Water Chironomid Toxicity Test Using Spiked Sediment/Spiked Water
- OECD 233: Sediment-Water Chironomid Life-Cycle Toxicity Test Using Spiked Water or Spiked Sediment
- OECD 225: Sediment-water Lumbriculus Toxicity Test Using Spiked Sediment
- OECD 242: Potamopyrgus antipodarum Reproduction Test
- OECD 243: Lymnaea stagnalis Reproduction Test
- Fish and other vertebrates
- OECD 203: Fish, Acute Toxicity Test
- OECD 215: Fish Juvenile Growth Study
- OECD 212: Fish, Short-term Toxicity Test on Embryo and Sac-fry Stages
- OECD 231: The Amphibian Metamorphosis Assay
- OECD 236: Fish Embryo Acute Toxicity Test
- OECD 210: Fish, Early-life Stage Toxicity Test
- OECD 229 Fish Short Term Reproduction Assay and OECD 230 21-day Fish Assay
- OECD 240 Medaka Extended One Generation Reproduction Test (MEOGRT)
- OECD 248: Xenopus Eleutheroembryonic Thyroid Assay
- OPPTS 850.1500: Fish Life Cycle Toxicity Test
- OÈCD 234 Fish sexual development test
- Aquatic plants
- Analytical Dose Verification
- Aquatic Invertebrates
- Chemistry
- Biodegradation Studies
- Analytical Chemistry Studies and Residues
- Physical-Chemical Properties Studies
- Storage Stability Studies
- OPPTS 830.6302, OPPTS 830.6303,and OPPTS 830.6304: Physical State, Colour and Odor at 20 °C and at 101.3 kPa
- EU A.1: Melting temperature/range
- EU A.2: Boiling temperature
- EU A.3: Relative density (liquids and solids)
- EU A.4: Vapour pressure
- EU A.5: Surface tension
- EU A.9: Flashpoint
- EU A.10: Flammability (solids)
- EU A.12: Flammability (contact with water)
- EU A.13: Pyrophoric properties of solids and liquids
- EU A.16: Relative self-ignition temperature for solids
- EU A.17: Oxidising properties
- OECD 114: Viscosity of Liquids
- Environmental Fate
- Transformation in Soil
- Transformation in Water
- Transformation in Manure
- Adsorption on Soil and Sewage Sludge
- Bioaccumulation and Bioconcentration
- Terrestrial Ecotoxicology
- Non-target Arthropods
- Non-target arthropod testing with the parasitic wasp (Aphidius rhopalosiphi)
- Non-target arthropod testing with the lacewing (Chrysoperla carnea)
- Non-target arthropod testing with the ladybird beetle (Coccinella septempunctata)
- Non-target arthropod testing with the predatory bug (Orius laevigatus)
- Non-target arthropod testing with the predatory mite (Typhlodromus pyri)
- Non-target arthropod testing with the rove beetle (Aleochara bilineata)
- Non-target arthropod testing with the carabid beetle (Poecilus cupreus)
- Non-target arthropod testing with the wolf spider (Pardosa spec.)
- Soil Organisms
- Honey Bees and other Pollinators
- OECD 213/214: Honey bees, Acute Oral and Acute Contact Toxicity Test
- OECD 245: Honey Bee (Apis Mellifera L.), Chronic Oral Toxicity Test (10-Day Feeding)
- OECD 237: Honey Bee Larval Toxicity Test, Single Exposure
- OECD 239: Honey Bee Larval Toxicity Test
- EPPO 170: Honey Bee Field Study – do plant protection products effect honey bee colonies?
- Oomen et al. 1992: Honey Bee Brood Feeding Study
- OECD 75: Honey Bee Brood Test under Semi-field Conditions in Tunnels
- OECD 246/247 Acute Oral and Contact Toxicity to the Bumblebee, Bombus terrestris L.
- Solitary Bee Acute Contact Toxicity Study in the Laboratory (Osmia sp.) Solitary Bee Acute Oral Toxicity Study in the Laboratory (Osmia sp.) (protocols for ringtests with solitary bees recommended by the non-Apis working group)
- SANTE/11956/2016 rev.9 Residue trials for MRL setting in honey
- Non-target plants
- OECD 208: Terrestrial Plant Test - Seedling Emergence and Seedling Growth Test
- OECD 227: Terrestrial Plant Test - Vegetative Vigour Test
- OCSPP 850.4100: Seedling Emergence and Seedling Growth
- OCSPP 850.4150: Vegetative Vigor
- EPPO PP 1/207(2): Efficacy evaluation of plant protection products, Effects on succeeding crops
- Field Studies
- Non-target Arthropods
- Ecological Modelling
- Quality Assurance
- Testing of Potential Endocrine Disruptors
- Aquatic Ecotoxicology
- News
- Company
- Career
- Contact
TSCF & PUF - New study type to offer greater accuracy in environmental fate assessment for plant protection products
19th November 2020
Blog by Dr. Victor Gourlay, Study Director at ibacon: "Transpiration Stream Concentration Factor (TSCF) and Plant Uptake Factor (PUF) - New study type to offer greater accuracy in environmental fate assessment for plant protection products"
At ibacon, we are preparing to offer a new study type to improve and refine the risk assessment of plant protection products. Transpiration Stream Concentration Factor (TSCF) and Plant Uptake Factor (PUF) are used to quantify the amount of product taken up in crop plants via roots within the transpiration stream.
ibacon already has a broad experience in determining the effects of plant protection products on Non-Target Terrestrial Plants (NTTP). Our state-of-the-art growth rooms are designed to deliver the very best conditions for plant growth, and they feature LED lamps that offer ultimate light quality alongside optimal air humidity and temperature.
Historically in risk assessment, the amount of a product taken up by plants was set at a default value of 0.5 (the concentration in plants being half of that in pore water). In the absence of experimental data, authorities currently require to use a value of 0 (no uptake). As this may underestimate the amount taken by the plant, a study design is under development to determine the uptake using the TSCF. If experimental data confirm the uptake, the experimental value can then be used, with a conservative maximum of factor 0.5.
For this study type, plants are grown from seeds to the BBCH 13 stadium (three true leaf stage) in hydroponic conditions. At that stage, the test chemical (14C-labelled) is spiked into the hydroponics system, the plants are transferred to this treated hydroponics system, and the TSCF is determined over a period of 2-8 days.
Calculated values of TSCF are generally between 0 and 1. If the chemical is not passively taken up by the plant, the factor is 0. If the chemical is taken up unhindered within the transpiration stream, the factor is 1, meaning the same concentration in pore water and in xylem.
The basis for the current development is the study “Evaluation of a novel test design to determine uptake of chemicals by plant roots” (Lamshoeft et al), published in 2018 in Science of the Total Environment 613-614,10-19. An interlaboratory test (ring-test), based on improvements of the test system, was performed end of 2021 and should be the basis for guideline development, and the OECD is planning to publish a final guideline for this type of study in 2023/24.
Personally, I have been working on the development of this test system since 2011 and wrote my PhD thesis on this subject. At ibacon, I am now implementing this method and its latest developments.
ibacon is preparing to offer this test in the form of standard studies and can provide interested clients with advice on study performance. Our study directors offer valuable knowledge on the technical infrastructure of the different plant species, and we have a solid track record with liquid scintillation counting and combustion of plant material together with trapping of generated radioactive CO2.
We are confident that the combination of our first-class facilities and strong in-house expertise will mean that ibacon can provide unrivalled know-how for this exciting new study type.
For more information about this new study type, click on the download button and discover the scientific background.