FURANOCOUMARINS IN FLORIDA CELERY VARIETIES INCREASED BY FUNGICIDE TREATMENT

Florida celery cultivars Florida 2-14, Florimart, M9, Florida 296, M68 , and Junebelle contained total psoralen + bergapten + xanthotoxin + i sopimpinellin ranging from about 12 to 50 mu g/g. Treatment of the com mercial Florida cultivar 2-14 with Brave 500, Manzate-D, or Kocide 101 fungicides increased bergapten 2-4 times in leaves and stalk, xanthot oxin 2-3 times in stalk, and isopimpinellin about 2-3 times in leaves but did not increase psoralen levels. These increases represent increa sed calculated biological activity toward human skin. This is the firs t report of fungicide induction of furanocoumarins in celery.