Field Dissipation of Herbicides under Different Crops in Tamil Nadu
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Author:P. Janaki, S. Meena and C. Chinnusamy
p-ISSN:0024-9602, e-ISSN:2582-5321, Vol:99, Issue:oct-dec
DOI: https://doi.org/10.29321/MAJ.10.100197
Abstract
Field experiments were carried out in sandy clay loam and clay loam soils from 2007 to 2009
to study the persistence and degradation of common herbicides applied to rice (butachlor,
pretilachlor), maize (atrazine, alachlor) and soybean (pendimethalin, metolachlor) crops at
two levels of application. Soil samples at depth of 0-15 cm were collected at periodical intervals
from 0 day to harvest for residue analysis. Herbicides residue after their extraction was
determined using GC-ECD, except atrazine which was determined using GC-FID. Results
showed that the initial deposits of herbicides in soil vary with the concentration applied and
a gradual continuous dissipation of all herbicides in soil was observed as a function of time
irrespective of the crops grown. Dissipation of all the herbicides in soil followed first order
kinetics. The correlation coefficient (r 2 ) lies between 0.714 and 0.957 and the best fit was
observed for acetanilide group of herbicides. Half life of the herbicides increased with the
increased concentration with mean half life of 5.88, 12.44, 31.45, 4.78, 14.63 and 22.42 days for
butachlor, pretilachlor, atrazine, alachlor, pendimethalin and metolachlor respectively. Within
the period of crop harvest more than 98 per cent of herbicides dissipated from the soil,
except metolachlor and atrazine.
Key words : Dissipation, half life, herbicides, sandy clay loam, clay loam