An industry approach to the application of the lysimeter concept

Lysimeters are widely used tools for studying the environmental behavior of crop protection products. The principal advantages of such studies include the ability to use radiolabeled compounds, the confined nature of the stud ies permits good estimates of fluxes, and study conditions approximate thos e occurring in normal agricultural fields. Lysimeters can be valuable resea rch tools to explore transport mechanisms in soil, aid in the development a nd validation of computer models (especially the hydrology portion), or to assess formation and mobility of metabolites of a potential product at an e arly stage in development. The lysimeter concept can also be extended to fi eld studies; this is especially useful with spatially variable applications or to permit the application of radiolabeled compounds.