Background
Type: Article

Effect of tillage systems and rainfall patterns on atrazine distribution in soil

Journal: Journal of Environmental Quality (00472425)Year: 1992/01/01Volume: 21Issue: 3Pages: 464 - 469
Sadeghi A.aIsensee, Allan R.

Abstract

High variability of atrazine (2-chloro-4-ethylamino-6-isopropylamino-1,3,5 triazine) residues in soil and shallow groundwater have been reported under various agricultural management systems. This 2-yr study was conducted to evaluate atrazine residue levels in soil as influenced by no-till (NT) vs. conventional-till (CT) under natural rainfall conditions. Atrazine was applied annually (at 1.34 kg/ha), 1 d after corn (Zea mays L.) planting, to two NT and two CT plots. Atrazine residues within the 0- to 10-cm soil depth of CT plots were higher than in the NT plots, regardless of the difference in the rainfall patterns. Higher (ca. 61%) mean atrazine residues in the CT plots over NT plots in 1988 was most likely related to the rainfall that began 12 h after application. In contrast, in 1987, it rained 3 to 4 d after application and the residues in the CT were only 31% higher than in NT. These results indicate that even a subtle difference in rainfall distribution (temporal) can result in marked spatial variability in the distribution of atrazine.


Author Keywords

Zea mays

Other Keywords

Zea maysatrazinerainarticlesamplingsoil