Abstract
John Wiley & Sons, 2000 US$175.00/£95.00, hbk (xiv + 300 pages)ISBN 0 471 80150 XThis is the fifth book published in the continuing Wiley Series in Agrochemicals and Plant Protection. Editor Terry Roberts has brought together eight world leaders in various aspects of agrochemical metabolism to produce a book that is an outstanding read, not only for professors, teachers and scientists in the pesticide and environmental arenas, but also for graduate and senior undergraduate students. This is the only book I know of that compiles many of the major aspects of modern agrochemical metabolism (herbicides, insecticides and fungicides) in plants. This makes the book particularly valuable to many readers who will be familiar with metabolism of only one of these three types of pesticides.The book covers primary and secondary metabolism of agrochemicals in plants, herbicide metabolism as a basis of selectivity, and herbicide safeners and synergists. It has been several years since these subjects have been comprehensively reviewed in book form, and never in the context of comparing the metabolism of fungicides, herbicides and insecticides. These chapters are excellent, comprehensive and current reviews of the literature, providing additional unique aspects to the reader with regard to regulatory issues, as well as similarities and divergences in metabolism among the three types of agrochemicals. Furthermore, discussion on metabolism as the basis of selectivity of herbicides includes a thorough review of the triazolopyrimidine sulfonamides, which I have not seen elsewhere.Other unique aspects of the book include chapters on regulatory considerations, experimental approaches required for the study of agrochemical metabolism in plants, comparative metabolism of pesticides in plants and animals, and bound residues as a result of using pesticides on plants. Most of the chapters are written by authors from industry, thereby giving the reader a unique perspective on metabolism of pesticides as it applies to biochemistry, physiology, efficacy and selectivity, as well as health and safety issues. M.W. Skidmore discusses bound residues, clarifying how these residues form and can be extracted. He guides the reader through definitions of bound residues showing how the term ‘bound residue’ is often defined by the extraction techniques. Furthermore, several authors discuss the difference between Phase III and IV metabolism as well as the availability of bound residues both in foodstuffs and the digestive tract of mammals.S. Bounds and D. Hutson in their discussion of comparative metabolism of pesticides in plants and mammals discuss absorption, distribution and elimination mechanisms of pesticides and their metabolites in mammals as well as comparing phase I and II metabolism in mammals and plants. In addition, the fate in animals of glucosidic, amino acid, glutathione and malonate conjugates are discussed at length, once again providing the reader with a perspective on metabolic catabolism as well as how these conjugates can be released in the digestive tract to become a potential health and safety issues.The reference lists at the end of each chapter are complete and informative. The book is well written and an essential addition to your library. I compliment the authors of each chapter and the editor for this excellent comprehensive addition to the scientific literature on pesticide metabolism. This book puts all the information on metabolism of pesticides in plants in a readable and accessible format.
Published Version
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