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ARS Home » Plains Area » Fargo, North Dakota » Edward T. Schafer Agricultural Research Center » Animal Metabolism-Agricultural Chemicals Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #154987
Title: SORPTION AND MOBILITY OF TESTOSTERONE IN AGRICULTURAL SOILS

Author
item CASEY, F.X.M. - NORTH DAKOTA STATE UNIV
item SIMUNEK, J. - USDA ARS SALINITY LAB
item Hakk, Heldur
item Larsen, Gerald

Submitted to: Meeting Abstract
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 1/1/2003
Publication Date: 11/2/2003
Citation: Casey, F., Simunek, J., Hakk, H., Larsen, G.L. 2003. Sorption and mobility of testosterone in agricultural soils. American Society of Agronomy-Crop Science Societies of America-Soil Science Society of America, November 2-6, 2003, Denver, CO.

Interpretive Summary: Abstract only. No interpretive summary needed.

Technical Abstract: No studies have been done on the fate and transport of androgenic hormones in soils. Batch and column experiments were used to identify the fate and transport of radiolabeled [14C] testosterone in agricultural soils. The batch results indicated that sorption increased (time =0-5h) then decreased (time = 5-168h) through time. The initial first-order kinetic sorption constants ranged between 9x10-5 - 0.32 h -1. There were weak correlations of sorption with soil particle size and organic matter. Testosterone was present in all the soil column effluents and a fully kinetic-sorption, chemical non-equilibrium model was used to describe the data. Column experiment sorption estimates were lower than the batch, which resulted from rate-limiting sorption due to the advective transport. The column degradation coefficients (0.404 ' 0.600 h-1) were generally higher than values reported in the literature for 17[beta]-estradiol. Although it was found that testosterone degraded more readily than 17[beta]-estradiol, it appeared to have a greater potential to migrate through the soil because it was not as strongly sorbed. This study underlined the importance of the simultaneous transformation and sorption processes in the fate and transport of hormones.