Dynamic Plant Uptake (DPU) Module
Food contamination is a direct consequence of environmental pollution and represents a major risk for human health. Plants represent the most common pathway into the human and animal food chain for environmental contaminants. Chemicals from polluted environments are taken up by plants, where they are bioaccumulated, and eventually metabolized in active by-products, some of which can be dangerous for human health. On the other hand, the uptake and transformation processes in plants can be exploited for phytoremediation purposes. Thus, it is important to develop tools to describe the physicochemical processes in the soil-plant continuum.
To this aim, we coupled HYDRUS and a modified version of the multi-compartment Dynamic Plant Uptake (DPU) model proposed by Trapp (2007), to describe the translocation and transformation of neutral compounds in the soil-plant domain (Brunetti et al., 2019). The model simulates translocation and biodegradation of multiple compounds in plants, which are conceptualized in four compartments: roots, stem, leaves, and fruits. Transport processes consist of advection (with xylem flow) and diffusive losses or gains, while reaction processes mainly represent the enzymatic biodegradation in plant’s tissue. More specifically, the following processes are considered in the DPU model: - Translocation of compounds from the roots to the stem, and from the stem to leaves and fruits with the transpiration stream. - Volatilization of compounds in the stem, leaves, and fruits. - Gaseous and particle deposition from air to the stem, leaves, and fruits. - Compounds dilution by plant growth in all compartments. - Compounds metabolization in all compartments.
The DPU model, which accounts for differentiated multiple metabolization pathways in plant’s tissues, was successfully applied to predict the translocation and transformation of Carbamazepine in green pea plants (Brunetti et al., 2021). The model provides a mechanistic description of the solute transport processes in soil and plants, and has a broad range of environmental applications (e.g., food risk assessment, phytoremediation of contaminated sites).
Note that the DPU code is fully incorporated into the HYDRUS (2D/3D) software package, and hence will be installed automatically, together with selected examples, when you obtain HYDRUS (2D/3D) and DPU licenses and download HYDRUS from our website. The user manual and notes on how to use DPU can be downloaded below.
- Download the manual of the DPU Module for HYDRUS:
Brunetti, G., J. Šimůnek, R. Kodešova, and M. Šejna, The Dynamic Plant Uptake Module for HYDRUS (2D/3D). Simulating the Translocation and Transformation of Neutral Compounds in the Soil-Plant Continuum, Version 1.1, PC Progress, Prague, Czech Republic, 30 pp., 2021.
Brunetti, G., J. Šimůnek, R. Kodešova, and M. Šejna, The Dynamic Plant Uptake Module for HYDRUS. Simulating the Translocation and Transformation of Neutral Compounds in the Soil-Plant Continuum, Version 1.2, PC Progress, Prague, Czech Republic, 35 pp., 2024.
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Project
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Description
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DPU_Example_1
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Translocation and Transformation of Carbamazepine in Green Pea Plants.
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DPU_Example_2
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Uptake and Translocation of Methomyl into Pepper Fruit Plants.
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DPU_Example_3
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Example 2. Uptake of Benzene from Air.
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- Brunetti, G., R. Kodešová, H. Švecová, M. Fér, A. Nikodem, A. Klement, R. Grabic, and Jiří Šimůnek, On the use of mechanistic soil-plant uptake models: a comprehensive experimental and numerical analysis on the translocation of carbamazepine in green pea plants, Environmental Science & Technology, 55, 2991-3000, doi: 10.1021/acs.est.0c07420, 2021.
- Trapp, S., 2007. Fruit tree model for uptake of organic compounds from soil and air. SAR QSAR Environ. Res. 18, 367–387. https://doi.org/10.1080/10629360701303693