Influence of soil physicochemical and biological properties on the degradation and adsorption of the nematicide fosthiazate

Abstract

The degradation and adsorption of the organophosphorus nematicide fosthiazate were investigated in nine soils with various physicochemical and biological characteristics. Fosthiazate was more persistent in acidic soils (pH < 6), with half-life (t(1/2)) values ranging from 53.3 to 57.7 days, compared to soils with higher pH (pH > 7), with t1/2 ranging from 14.1 to 20.7 days. Application of antibacterial and antifungal antibiotics to soil samples resulted in a significant inhibition of fosthiazate degradation only in two of the three acidic soils. In contrast, soil autoclaving resulted in doubling the t(1/2) of fosthiazate in all studied soils, suggesting that both microbial and abiotic processes contribute to fosthiazate degradation. Statistical analysis indicated a significant negative correlation (P < 0.01) between soil pH and t(1/2). Fosthiazate was generally weakly adsorbed with Freundlich adsorption coefficient (K-f) values ranging from 1.23 to 2.74 mL/g. Fosthiazate concentration was strongly correlated with soil organic matter content with higher Kf values in soils with higher organic matter content (P < 0.01). The mean t(1/2) and Kf values derived from the laboratory studies were used to parametrize the FOCUS groundwater (GW) models PRZM, PELMO, PEARL, and MACRO for nematicide application in potato and tomato crops. Predicted environmental concentrations produced by the models PEARL and MACRO suggested a potential risk for GW in several scenarios, unlike PELMO and PRZM, which predicted low risk for GW. These findings suggest that the environmental fate of fosthiazate is strongly influenced by soil characteristics and that this nematicide should be used with care in acidic, light soils with low organic matter content.