RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

high compared to the control plants, which were

200 cm high.

Kenaf plants were germinated in peat pots

Table 1 shows the concentrations of explo-

and allowed to grow to 15 cm in height, when

sives and transformation products found in the

they had two sets of mature leaves. The plants in

various plant tissue components after exposure

their peat pots were transplanted into either clean

to contaminated soil and water for two months.

or contaminated soil. The control plants in clean

As reported elsewhere (Palazzo and Leggett

soil watered with clean tap water grew to a height

1986, Harvey et al. 1991, Rivera et al. 1998,

of about 2 m. A few of the control plants were

Thompson et al. 1998, Larson et al. 1999), solvent

transplanted to moderately contaminated soil

extraction recovered TNT and its aminoDNT

when they reached 50 cm in height. The plants

transformation products only from root tissues.

grown in clean soil and irrigated with contam-

The solvent-extracted nitramines RDX and HMX

inated water grew as high or higher than the con-

were recovered at moderate concentrations from

trols and actually appeared to be healthier. They

the roots and stems but at much higher concen-

were greener than the controls and more tolerant

trations from leaf tissues. No nitroso transforma-

to water stress. Their roots filled the 2-gal. pots

tion products of RDX were detected anywhere in

completely, as did the control plants. In the

the tissues.

moderately contaminated soil, the plants grew

The base/acid hydrolyses of solvent-extracted

very little after transplanting, and the roots

extended from the peat pots only a few cm. The

root tissue released an additional quantity of the

monoaminodinitrotoluene (4ADNT and 2ADNT)

15-cm-tall transplants in the highly contaminated

transformation products of TNT. The diamino-

soil grew only a few cm, with few additional

nitrotoluenes (2,4DANT and 2,6DANT) were not

leaves. Their roots did not extend beyond the

detected in the solvent extract but were recovered

peat pots. After the exposure and sampling parts

from the base/acid hydrolysate. Spike-recovery

of the experiment were completed, a few of the

studies done earlier (Thorne and Leggett 1999)

plants in each treatment were irrigated with clean

indicated that the base/acid hydrolyses proce-

water and allowed to grow until flowering after

dure did not produce artifactual transformations

six months. For all treatments, the plants sur-

or increase the recovery of unbound analytes.

vived and produced flowers. However, the plants

in the highly contaminated soil were only 20 cm

Therefore, it appears that in root tissue, the sec-