Soil Adsorption Study of Thiram on Four Indian Soils by Extractive Spectrophotometry

Abstract

Concern about the environmental impact of an extensive use of pesticides has prompted research into the environmental fate of these agents which is strongly influenced by the interactions between the pesticides and soil. With a view to studying the fate of thiram fungicide in soil and the extent of surface and groundwater contamination, the soil-adsorption of thiram on four Indian soils of different soil characteristics has been studied by an extractive spectrophotometric method using a batch-equilibrium procedure. Higher values of soil organic carbon partition coefficient (KOC) suggest greater adsorption of thiram in soil types. The leaching behaviour in terms of groundwater ubiquity scores (GUS) has a value below 1.8, classifying thiram as a non-leaching pesticide.

Keywords: Thiram, copper (II) acetate, soil adsorption