Persistence of selected antitranspirants

Abstract

The short‐ and long‐term effectiveness of two film‐forming and two physiologically active antitranspirants was evaluated on tobacco leaves under controlled experimental conditions. The physiologically active antitranspirants (phenylmercuric acetate and monoglycerol ester of n‐decenyl succinic acid) initially reduced water loss to less than 40% of controls, but their effectiveness diminished sharply within 2–3 days. Treatment with the film‐forming antitranspirants (Wilt Pruf and Mobileaf) resulted in initial transpiration reductions to 50–65% of controls, but the duration of effectiveness was longer with these than with the metabolic agents. The results are compared with those of previous studies, and implications for large‐scale antitranspirant applications are discussed.