Sorption-desorption of "aged" sulfonylaminocarbonyltriazolinone herbicides in soil

Sorption-desorption interactions of pesticides with soil determine the availability of pesticides in soil for transport, plant uptake, and microbial degradation. These interactions are affected by the physical and chemical properties of the pesticide and soil, and for some pesticides, their residence time in the soil. The objective of this study was to characterize sorption-desorption of two sulfonylaminocarbonyltriazolinone herbicides incubated in soils at different soil moisture potentials. The chemicals were incubated in clay loam and loamy sand soils for up to 12 wks at -33 kPa and at water contents equivalent to 50 and 75% of that at -33 kPa. Chemicals were extracted sequentially with 0.01 N CaCl(2) and aqueous acetonitrile, and sorption coefficients were calculated. Sufficient sulfonylaminocarbonyltriazolinone herbicides remained (>40% of that applied) during incubation to allow calculation of sorption coefficients. Aging significantly increased sorption as indicated by increased sorption coefficients. For instance, for sulfonylaminocarbonyltriazolinone remaining after a 12-wk incubation at -33 kPa, K(d) increased by a factor of 4.5 in the clay loam soils and by 6.6 in the loamy sand as compared to freshly treated soils. There was no effect of moisture potential on sorption K(d) values. These data show the importance of characterization of sorption-desorption in aged herbicide residues in soil, particularly in the case of prediction of herbicide transport in soil. In this case, potential transport of sulfonylaminocarbonyltriazolinone herbicides would be over-predicted if freshly treated soil K(d) values were used to predict transport.