Studies on persistence of temephos in sandy loam soil under field and laboratory conditions

Persistence of temephos was studied in soils under field and laboratory conditions in sandy loam soil to evaluate the effect of moisture and formulations on persistence. The insecticide was applied as 50 EC and 1 % S.G. granules @1 kg a.i. ha-1 on surface of the soil' and residues were determined spectrophotometrically. The soil was fortified separately with dilute emulsion of EC and suspension of granular formulation at 5 ppm level and incubated at different moisture levels at 25:1:1 degrees C for 90 days. The residues of temephos from both the formulations persisted upto 55 days in soil when applied @1 kg a.i. ha(-1). In 40 days 92 and 91.43 per cent temephos was dissipated from soil treated with EC and granular formulations, respectively. There was no leaching or downward movement of the toxicant beyond 7.5 cm. The half-life of temephos under field condition for EC and granular formulations were 18.14 and 20.44 days, respectively. Statistically, there was no significant effect of two formulations of temephos on its persistence. But at three different moisture conditions viz. airdry, field capacity and sub-merged, the difference was significant at 5% level.