Persistence and behavior of pesticides in cotton production in Turkish soils

Abstract

Turkey is the sixth largest producer of cotton in the world. Two of the most commonly applied pesticides used in cotton production are trifluralin and endosulfan. Although both are very effective at controlling pests, their persistence in the environment poses risks to human health and the environment. Four loam soils and one silty-loam soil were studied to evaluate the persistence of trifluralin and endosulfan in relation to soil characteristics. Degradation with trifluralin reached as high as 70% of the applied doses. Soils with the highest organic matter content had the lowest degradation rate, indicating a tighter sorption of trifluralin. Endosulfan degradation was a function of soil type and the specific isomer, with beta-endosulfan depicting the highest degradation.

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) determined by pine needles and semipermeable membrane devices along an altitude profile in Taurus Mountains, Turkey

“…European Union REACH regulation Annex XVII places a limitation of using eight PAHs in certain products and concentration limits as well as restriction by US EPA in the use of 18 PAHs in consumer goods. Following signature and ratification of Stockholm Convention by Turkey in 2005, Turkish authorities and policy makers have encouraged researchers to conduct studies on the occurrence and fate of environmentally hazardous semi-volatile organic pollutants including persistent organic pollutants (POPs) and PAHs (Turgut et al 2010a;Turgut et al 2012;Turgut et al 2010b;Falay et al 2013). Combustion of materials containing carbon and hydrogen in domestic heating, industrial processes, power plants, motor vehicle, and waste incineration exhaust generate huge amount of PAHs.…”

Persistant Organic Pollutants in Soil and Its Phytoremediation

“…Most of the pesticides, though organic in nature, are not degraded and persist in the soil owing to their long half-lives. These organic pesticides and their residues may accrue in soils [40][41][42][43] and may cause detrimental effects on the animals and humans over a long period of time [44,45]. Some volatile compounds may be transported over distances and deposit in a nonnative soil as well [46].…”

Ends Justify Means? Organic Cotton Products’ Purchasing Motivations

“…Like other organic products, organic cotton is grown from nongenetically modified cotton seeds and without the use of synthetic fertilizers and pesticides. Organic cotton is grown mainly in the United States (Ingram, 2002), India (Rehber & Turhan, 2002), and Turkey (Turgut, Erdogan, Ates, Gokbulut, & Cutright, 2010). According to the Fourth Annual Organic Exchange Farm and Fiber Report (Ferrigno, Lizarraga, Nagarajan, Tovignan, & Truscott, 2009), organic cotton production grew a significant 20% from 2007-2008 to 175,113 metric tons (802,599 bales) grown on 625,000 acres (253,000 hectares).…”