Comparison of analytical procedures for determination of soil sorption coefficients of some triazine herbicides

Abstract

The sorption behavior of three triazine herbicides: atrazine, metribuzin, and terbutryn was studied in two different soils. Three experimental procedures to determine the K_f values were assayed: the conventional batch equilibration method in which the sorbed concentration is calculated by difference from the change in solution concentration; an alternative mass balance equilibrium batch technique in which the solution and the sorbed phase concentration are measured directly; and the flow equilibration method in which a solution of known concentration was passed through a column of soil until the effluent reached the same concentration as the input solution. Four concentrations of each herbicide were selected and results were fitted to the linearized form of the Freundlich isotherm. Recovery of the herbicides was studied in soil and water samples using the same four concentrations employed in the sorption assays. Average recoveries ranged from 86 to 104% with standard deviations lower than 10%. The K_oc (mg^1–1/n kg^‐1 L^l/n) values obtained ranged from 43 to 87 for atrazine, 27 to 114 for metribuzin, and 355 to 505 for terbutryn. The exponents 1/n of the Freundlich adsorption isotherms were lower than unity, with only one exception, and varied from 0.72 to 0.86 for atrazine, 0.73 to 1.12 for metribuzin, and 0.76 to 0.99 for terbutryn. The solution method gave values of K_oc that were 1.25, 1.55, and 2.65 (average of both soils) times those of the mass balance method for terbutryn, atrazine and metribuzin, respectively. When adsorption was low, the mass balance calculation method is recommended if the batch equilibration method is used, since the solution method can produce a considerable overestimation of adsorption. The flow equilibration method produced similar values of adsorption than the mass balance batch equilibration method and it made the experimental procedure easier since pesticide solution concentration need not to be measured once the equilibration time has been determined to ensure that the equilibrium was reached.

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