ARS | Publication request: SOIL FACTORS INFLUENCING ATRAZINE SORPTIVE PROCESSES:IMPLICATIONS ON FATE

Submitted to: American Chemical Society Abstracts
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: April 17, 1997
Publication Date: N/A

Technical Abstract: The use of pesticides to control weeds, insects, and pathogens has become a routine farming management strategy. Unfortunately, pesticides have been detected in ground and surface waters. Understanding soil chemical and physical factors that regulate the fate of pesticides may be useful to design management strategies to mitigate pesticide movement from the soil. We evaluated soil landscape position, aggregate size, and tillage systems on the magnitude of atrazine sorption (Kd) and on kinetic sorption rates in several Iowa soils and a South Carolina soil. In the Iowa soils, landscape position strongly influenced atrazine Kd values, whereas aggregate size effects on sorption kinetics were minimal. For the South Carolina soil, conservation tillage resulted in higher atrazine Kd values than conventionally tilled soil, especially in the top 3 cm of soil. Atrazine fate in soil will be influenced by variations in factors affecting sorptive processes.