The objective was the assessment of the persistence and risk of intoxication of eucalyptus species by mixing picloram 2,4-D herbicide on application prior to forest planting. The experiment was deployed in the field in a completely randomized design with 6 repetitions, in a 4 x 5 factorial scheme, with four species (Eucalyptus urophylla, E.globulus, E.saligna and Corimbia citriodora) and five doses of the picloram base herbicide + 2,4-D (64 + 240 g L-1): 0, 3, 4, 5, and 6 L ha-1 of the product, applied 30 days before deployment of culture. At 15 and 40 days after planting (DAP), physiological assessments were carried out. At 90 days after herbicide application (DAA) a bioassay took place to identify the residual effect of the product. No species showed visible symptoms of intoxication; however, there were physiological changes. For photosynthetic rate there were different responses, with reduction for larger doses, except in E.saligna. At 15 DAP, E.saligna and E.urophylla showed higher rates for stomatal conductance and transpiration. At 40 DAP, it was found that increasing the doses caused a linear decrease in stomatal conductance. Water use efficiency of plants was lower at 15 DAP in higher doses, with no changes at 40 DAP. Toxic symptoms were not noticed the in bioindicator at 90 DAA. However, increasing the applied doses caused a positive linear effect on the accumulation of biomass of the bioindicator. The mixture of picloram + 2,4-D did not cause morphological changes, but triggered negative physiological responses in the plants.
Eucalyptus; picloram; 2,4-D; photosynthetic rate; water use efficiency; bioassay
