MOVEMENT AND MOBILITY OF ATRAZINE HERBICIDE IN SOIL

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

Soil and Water Research Institute, Agricultural Research Centre, Giza, Egypt

Abstract

Glass columns were used to study movement and mobility of at­razine herbicide in alluvial and calcareous soil samples. Commercial atra­zine (Gesaprin) was applied to soil columns at 2 rates. Atrazine was suc­cessively leached with water and detected in soil segments and leachat,. Although atrazine was percolated in all segments of alluvial and calcare­ous soil, yet most of the applied atrazine was retained in the upper 15 cm. As the application rate of atrazine was increased from 1 kg/feddan to 2kg/feddan, the recovered amounts of Atrazine from each segment (5 cm) increased in both alluvial and calcareous soils. The value of the extracted atrazine from the alluvial soil was much higher in the upper 10 cm compared to that extracted from the calcareous one. Concentration of atrazine in leachate of the calcareous sail was much higher than that of the alluvial one and this indicates that atrazine may percolate in the calcareous soil much more easier than in the alluvial soil, thus contami­nating the underground water.