EXPERIMENTAL PARAMETERS USED TO STUDY PESTICIDE DEGRADATION IN SOIL

Characterization of pesticide degradation in soil is an important comp onent in determining the environmental impact of agriculturally-applie d pesticides. Several techniques currently are being used to generate these data, but small-scale laboratory studies remain one of the most effective, cost-efficient mechanisms of evaluating pesticide behavior in soil. With small-scale studies, many different environmental factor s can be incorporated into the experimental design, and with the use o f C-14-labeled material, these studies (often referred to as soil degr adation or soil metabolism studies) provide information on test substa nce persistence, degradation, volatilization, and mineralization. Care must be exercised, however, in selecting the experimental parameters to be used because of the potential adverse or artificial effects on t he soil system.