José M. Ordax

Adsorption of pesticides by sewage sludge, grape marc, spent mushroom substrate and by amended soils

A comparative adsorption study of linuron, diazinon and myclobutanil, representing three classes of pesticides, by sewage sludge (SS), grape marc (GM) and spent mushroom substrate (SMS) and soils amended with these residues was carried out. The study assayed the effect of the nature of the residue, soil characteristics, pesticide properties and residue-soil incubation time on adsorption. Soil-residues were incubated outdoors for one month and 12 months. Adsorption was not related to pesticide hydrophobicity. For unamended soils, distribution coefficients (Kd) ranged between 1.77–6.60 mL g−1 for linuron, 0.54–5.52 mL g−1 for diazinon and 1.35–4.52 mL g−1 for myclobutanil, and increased significantly for amended soils: up to 4.8 times for linuron, 6.9 times for diazinon and 5.3 times for myclobutanil. Kd values revealed the highest adsorption of linuron and diazinon by GM and of myclobutanil by SMS. These coefficients significantly changed after 12 months of incubation as compared to 1 month. The adsorption...

Influence of pine or oak wood on the degradation of alachlor and metalaxyl in soil

The objective of this work was to study the influence pine or oak wood added to soil as an amendment (5% w/w) had on the degradation rate of two pesticides, alachlor and metalaxyl, with different hydrophobic character. The formation of pesticide metabolites and the soil dehydrogenase activity in non-amended and amended soil samples were also monitored. The degradation of metalaxyl followed first-order kinetics, while the degradation of alachlor followed first-order or biphasic kinetics in the soil samples studied. The results indicated that the degradation rate was slower for metalaxyl than for alachlor, and for both pesticides followed the order: pine amended soil < oak amended soil < non-amended soil. The faster degradation rate in non-amended soil was attributed to the higher sorption of pesticides by wood amended soils. The alachlor ethane sulfonic acid (ESA), and two metalaxyl metabolites (2-[(2,6-dimethylphenyl)-methoxyacetylamino]-propionic acid and N-(2,6-dimethylphenyl)-2-methoxy-acetamide) were detected during the incubation period. Soil dehydrogenase activity recorded close values in non-amended and amended soil treated with alachlor, but it was higher in wood amended soil treated with metalaxyl. Pine and oak wood increase the immobilization of the pesticides studied, but they also limit their bioavailability in soil by decreasing their degradation rate in amended soil.

Enhanced retention of linuron, alachlor and metalaxyl in sandy soil columns intercalated with wood barriers

A study has been made of the effect a reactive barrier made of pine (softwood) or oak (hardwood) wood intercalated in a sandy soil column has on the retention of linuron, alachlor and metalaxyl (pesticides with contrasting physicochemical characteristics). The leaching of pesticides has been carried out under a saturated flow regime and breakthrough curves (BTCs) have been obtained at flow rates of 1 m Lmin(-1) (all pesticides) and 3 m Lmin(-1) (linuron). The cumulative curves in the unmodified soil indicate a leaching of pesticides >80% of the total amount of compound added. After barrier intercalation, linuron leaching decreases significantly and a modification of the leaching kinetics of alachlor and metalaxyl has been observed. The theoretical R factors increased ∼2.6-3.3, 1.2-1.6-fold, and 1.4-1.7-fold and the concentration of the maximum peak decreased ∼6-12-fold, 2-4-fold and 1.2-2-fold for linuron, alachlor and metalaxyl, respectively. When considering the three pesticides, significant correlations have been found between the theoretical retardation factor (R) and the pore volume corresponding to the maximum peaks of the BTCs (r=0.77; p<0.05) or the total volume leached (r=-0.78; p<0.05). The results reveal the efficacy of reactive wood barriers to decrease the leaching of pesticides from point sources of pollution depends on the type of wood, the hydrophobicity of the pesticide and the adopted water flow rate. Pine was more effective than oak in decreasing the leaching of hydrophobic pesticide linuron or in decreasing the maximum peak concentration of the less hydrophobic pesticides in soils. Efficacy of these wood barriers was limited for the least hydrophobic pesticide metalaxyl.

Leaching of two fungicides in spent mushroom substrate amended soil: Influence of amendment rate, fungicide ageing and flow condition

A study has been conducted on the leaching of two fungicides, tebuconazole and cymoxanil, in a soil amended with spent mushroom substrate (SMS), with an evaluation of how different factors influence this process. The objective was based on the potential use of SMS as a biosorbent for immobilizing pesticides in vulnerable soils, and the need to know how it could affect the subsequent transport of these retained compounds. Breakthrough curves (BTCs) for 14C-fungicides, non-incubated and incubated over 30days, were obtained in columns packed with an unamended soil (S), and this soil amended with SMS at rates of 5% (S+SMS5) and 50% (S+SMS50) under saturated and saturated-unsaturated flows. The highest leaching of tebuconazole (>50% of the total 14C added) was found in S when a saturated water flow was applied to the column, but the percentage of leached fungicide decreased when a saturated-unsaturated flow was applied in both SMS-amended soils. Also a significant decrease in leaching was observed for tebuconazole after incubation in the column, especially in S+SMS50 when both flows were applied. Furthermore, cymoxanil leaching was complete in S and S+SMS when a saturated flow was applied, and maximum peak concentrations were reached at 1pore volume (PV), although BTCs showed peaks with lower concentrations in S+SMS. The amounts of cymoxanil retained only increased in S+SMS when a saturated-unsaturated flow was applied. A more relevant effect of SMS for reducing the leaching of fungicide was observed when cymoxanil was previously incubated in the column, although mineralization was enhanced in this case. These results are of interest for extending SMS application on the control of the leaching of fungicides with different physicochemical characteristics after different ageing times in the soil and water flow conditions applied.