Organic amendment (OA) addition is an agricultural practice that can greatly affect pesticide behavior in soil. The influence of three OAs, consisting of a liquid amendment (LOA), solid (SOA) humic amendment, and a solid urban waste (SUW), on sorption, persistence, and leaching potential of simazine (2-chloro-4,6-bis (ethylamino)-s-triazine) and 2,4-D (2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid) in a sandy soil (P2) has been investigated. The OAs were added to P2 at a rate of 5% (w/w). Sorption was studied using the batch equilibration technique, degradation by incubations at 20°C and -0.33 kPa moisture content, and leaching using handpacked soil columns. Simazine sorption increased in the order of P2 ≤ P2 + LOA < P2 + SUW < P2 +S OA. The herbicide, 2,4-D, did not sorb on P2 soil, but in amended soils sorption increased in the same order as simazine. The lower sorption of both herbicides in P2 + LOA as compared with P2 + SOA and P2 + SUW is attributed to higher dissolved organic matter (DOM) content of LOA. Simazine's half-life was reduced upon amendment. Degradation of 2,4-D followed a sigmoidal rate in P2, P2 + SOA, and P2 + SUW, but not in P2 + LOA, in which 2,4-D persistence was much higher. The higher stability of 2,4-D in P2 + LOA has been attributed to 2,4-D-dissoved organic C interactions. Leaching studies indicate that degradation affects movement to a higher extent than sorption, specially in the case of 2,4-D in P2 + LOA soil, in which the amounts leached are much higher than those in unamended soil. In the case of simazine and P2 + SUW soil, greater reduction in large-size conducting pores upon amendment, as revealed in Hg porosimetry studies, resulted in a greater reduction of leaching than that suggested from the small differences in sorption and degradation between P2 and P2 + SUW soil.

This work has been partially supported by Junta de Andalucía through Research Group RNM124 and by CICYT through the project AMB96-0445-CO2-02.

Peer Reviewed