Roundup is what’s known as a broad-spectrum herbicide, because it kills nearly anything green.
But it’s main ingredient, glyphosate, breaks down quickly in soil so that little or no toxic byproduct accumulates in plant or animal tissue.
This herbicide, which is widely used by farmers and horticulturists is environmentally friendly, as it is non-toxic to insects and to animals and has a short residence time in soils, breaking down over a period of a few days in harmless products.
Roundup is less of a problem than other types of herbicide because it is a heavier, more oily material and doesn’t drift far.
Roundup is most widely used around the world for application in ‘conservation tillage’, a process through which a grower reduces or eliminates mechanical tillage for farming operations.
Due to low solubility in water, glyphosate is typically formulated into commercial products in the form, of a salt. It is typically referred to as the technical grade material and has the empirical formula C3H8NO5P.
Glyphosate is rapidly and rapidly translocated throughout the actively growing aerial and underground portions of the plant.
The underground plant parts like rhizomes, tubers etc, of perennial species are affected, resulting in failure of regrowth from these propagation sites and subsequent destruction of the plant tissue.
Roundup herbicide
