An examination of the role of biochar and biochar water-extractable substances on the sorption of ionizable herbicides in rice paddy soils.

The application of biochar as a soil amendment can increase concentrations of soil organic matter, especially water-extractable organic substances. Due to their mobility and reactivity, more studies are needed to address the potential impact of biochar water-extractable substances (BWES) on the sorption of herbicides in agricultural soils that are periodically flooded. Two paddy soils (100 and 700 years of paddy soil development), unamended or amended with raw (BC) or washed biochar (BCW), were used to test the influence of BWES on the sorption behavior of the herbicides azimsulfuron (AZ) and penoxsulam (PE).

Environmental fate of the fungicide metalaxyl in soil amended with composted olive-mill waste and its biochar: An enantioselective study.

A large number of pesticides are chiral and reach the environment as mixtures of optical isomers or enantiomers. Agricultural practices can affect differently the environmental fate of the individual enantiomers. We investigated how amending an agricultural soil with composted olive-mill waste (OMWc) or its biochar (BC) at 2% (w:w) affected the sorption, degradation, and leaching of each of the two enantiomers of the chiral fungicide metalaxyl.

Enantioselective sorption of the chiral fungicide metalaxyl on soil from non-racemic aqueous solutions: Environmental implications.

Mechanisms governing the enantioselectivity of the processes that determine the behavior of chiral pollutants in the environment need to be better understood. Understanding these mechanisms should help improve predictions of the hazards and risks chiral compounds can pose to people and the environment. We report the results of batch sorption experiments indicating that the sorption of the chiral fungicide metalaxyl on soil from non-racemic initial solutions was enantioselective.

Effect of formulation and repeated applications on the enantioselectivity of metalaxyl dissipation and leaching in soil.

Background: Soil incubation and column leaching experiments were conducted to address the question of whether the type of formulation (unsupported versus clay supported) and repeated applications of the chiral fungicide (RS)-metalaxyl affected the enantioselectivity of its dissipation and leaching in a slightly alkaline, loamy sand agricultural soil.

Results: Regardless of the type of formulation and the number of fungicide applications, the R-enantiomer of metalaxyl was degraded faster than the S-enantiomer, but the individual degradation rates of R- and S-metalaxyl were highly affected by the different application regimes assayed (t1/2 = 2-104 days). Repeated applications accelerated the degradation of the biologically active R-metalaxyl enantiomer, whereas they led to slower degradation of the non-active S-metalaxyl enantiomer.

Transformation of organic wastes in soil: effect on bentazone behaviour.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of two organic wastes from olive oil production on the fate of bentazone in soil, and to assess the influence of the transformation of organic matter from these wastes under field conditions. Results on freshly laboratory-amended soils were compared to those with soils amended in the field for nine consecutive years. Two amendments and two doses were studied.

Effect of the herbicides terbuthylazine and glyphosate on photosystem II photochemistry of young olive (Olea europaea) plants.

The purpose of this study was to understand the effect produced by the addition of the herbicides terbuthylazine (N(2)-tert-butyl-6-chloro-N(4)-ethyl-1,3,5-triazine-2,4-diamine) and glyphosate (N-(phosphonomethyl)glycine) on photosystem II photochemistry of young plants of Olea europaea L. under greenhouse conditions. The effect of soil amendment with an organic residue from olive oil production was also assessed.

Bioavailability of organoclay formulations of atrazine in soil.

Pesticide formulations based on organoclays have been proposed to prolong the efficacy and reduce the environmental impact of pesticides in soil. This research addressed the question of whether atrazine in organoclay-based formulations is irreversibly sorbed or is bioavailable for bacterial degradation in soil. Different cations of l-carnitine (CAR), tyramine (TYRAM), hexadimethrine (HEXADIM), phenyltrimethylammonium (PTMA), hexadecyltrimethylammonium (HDTMA), and Fe(III) were incorporated into Na-rich Wyoming montmorillonite (SWy-2) and Ca-rich Arizona montmorillonite (SAz-1) at 100% of the cation exchange capacity (CEC) of the clays as a strategy to enhance the affinity of the clay minerals for atrazine.

Organoclays as soil amendments to increase the efficacy and reduce the environmental impact of the herbicide fluometuron in agricultural soils.

The use of pesticides in agriculture has become a source of pollution of soil and water in the last decades. Extensive pesticide transport losses due to leaching and runoff produce nonpoint source contamination of soils and water. One of the soil processes that reduce pesticide transport losses is adsorption by soil particles; therefore, enhancement of pesticide retention by soil can be used as a strategy to attenuate the environmental impact of pesticides.

Organic amendments affecting sorption, leaching and dissipation of fungicides in soils.

Metalaxyl and tricyclazole are two fungicides widely used in Spain in vineyard and rice crops respectively. In this study an investigation has been made of the effect of three organic amendments [two commercial amendments, solid fertiormont (SF) and liquid fertiormont (LF), and a residue from the olive oil production industry, alperujo (OW)] on fungicide fate in soils. Changes in soil porosity on amendment were studied by mercury intrusion porosimetry, sorption-desorption studies were performed by the batch equilibration method, dissipation of metalaxyl and tricyclazole in the soil was studied at - 33 kPa moisture content and 20 degrees C and leaching was studied in hand-packed soil columns.

Adsorption-desorption of metalaxyl as affecting dissipation and leaching in soils: role of mineral and organic components.

Adsorption-desorption studies of metalaxyl in fifteen agricultural soil samples from Southern Portugal and Spain were performed following a batch equilibration method. Very high sorption was observed on a clay soil of high content in altered illite, but, when this soil was excluded from regression analysis, organic matter (OM) was the most important single soil property affecting sorption at low concentrations of metalaxyl. At higher concentrations, no correlation was observed with any soil property.