Cadmium, zinc, and copper leaching rates determined in large monolith lysimeters.

Soil mass balances are used to assess the risk of trace metals that are inadvertently applied with fertilizers into agroecosystems. The accuracy of such balances is limited by leaching rates, as they are difficult to measure. Here, we used monolith lysimeters to precisely determine Cd, Cu, and Zn leaching rates in 2021 and 2022.

Tools for USLE-CP-factor calculation and actual erosion risk on field block level for Switzerland.

The calculation of the cover management factor (C-factor) and support practices factor (P-factor) is an important element in the Universal Soil Loss Equation (USLE). In Switzerland, a potential soil erosion risk map of arable land and a field block map that represents the basis of the agriculturally used areas in the country are available. A CP-factor tool was developed adapted to Swiss agronomic and environmental conditions, which allows to calculate CP-factors easily for various crop rotations and management practices.

Dual-Element Isotope Analysis of Desphenylchloridazon to Investigate Its Environmental Fate in a Systematic Field Study: A Long-Term Lysimeter Experiment.

Desphenylchloridazon (DPC), the main metabolite of the herbicide chloridazon (CLZ), is more water soluble and persistent than CLZ and frequently detected in water bodies. When assessing DPC transformation in the environment, results can be nonconclusive if based on concentration analysis alone because estimates may be confounded by simultaneous DPC formation from CLZ. This study investigated the fate of DPC by combining concentration-based methods with compound-specific C and N stable isotope analysis (CSIA).