Burned rice straw reduces the availability of clomazone to barnyardgrass

Field burning of crop residue is a common post-harvest practice to dispose of these agricultural by-products and for land clearing. Burned crop residues may effectively adsorb pesticides and thus influence their bioavailability in agricultural soils. The adsorption of clomazone by a soil amended with a burned rice straw (BRS) was measured. The availability of clomazone to barnyardgrass in the soil in the absence and presence of BRS was tested. The BRS was 1000-20,000 times more effective than soil in sorbing clomazone. The sorption of clomazone by soil increased with increasing BRS amount in the soil. In a bioassay, the injury of barnyardgrass 9 days after planting decreased with increasing BRS amount in soil indicating the effect of BRS on clomazone availability. Residual analyses showed higher concentrations of clomazone in soils receiving higher rates of the herbicide than in soils with lower application rates suggesting the adsorptive role of BRS. At typical application rate of clomazone (0.3 microg g(-1)), BRS amounts of 0.02 wt.% and higher caused an appreciable reduction to a complete loss in clomazone availability. Calculations suggest that field burning of rice straw may result in sufficiently high amounts (>0.02 wt.%) of BRS, and hence contribute to often experienced loss of pesticide availability in agricultural soils. Our results may be extended to field situations where other crop residues and vegetation are burned. Alternative management of crop residues may improve the bioavailability of pesticides in agricultural soils.