Effect of soil amendments on sorption and mobility of metribuzin in soils

Metribuzin (4-amino-6-tert-butyl-4,5-dihydro-3-methylthio-1,2,4-triazin-5-one), is weakly sorbed to soil therefore, leaches easily to lower soil profiles. Soil amendments play a significant role in the management of leaching losses of pesticides. Therefore, present study reports the effect of organic manure and fly ash amendments on metribuzin downward mobility in sandy loam soil columns. Application of animal manure [T-1(OM) and T-2(OM)] and fly ash [T-1(FA) and T-2(FA)] at 2.5% and 5.0% levels increased the metribuzin retention in the soil. Freundlich constant [Kf(1/n)] values of metribuzin for treatments T-1(OM) and T-2(OM) were 0.70 and 1.11, respectively, which were significantly higher than the value (0.27) in natural soil (T-0). The respective values for treatments T-1(FA) and T-2(FA) were 1.80 and 4.61. Downward mobility of metribuzin was studied in packed soil columns [300 mm (l) × 59 mm (i.d.)]. Both the amendments significantly reduced the downward mobility of metribuzin and affected breakthrough time and maximum concentration of metribuzin in the leachate. Leaching losses of metribuzin were decreased from 97% in natural soil (T-0) column to 64% [T-1(OM)] and 42% [T-2(OM)] for animal manure-amended columns and 26% [T-1(FA)] to 100% [T-2(FA)] for fly ash-amended columns, as metribuzin did not leach out of 5% fly ash-amended column. Study indicates that both animal manure and fly ash were quite effective in reducing the downward mobility of metribuzin in packed soil columns of a sandy loam soil.