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.