Residue and Dissipation Kinetics of Metsulfuron-Methyl Herbicide in Soil: A Field Assessment at an Oil Palm Plantation

Abstract

A field trial experiment was conducted to investigate the degradation of metsulfuron-methyl at two application dosages, 15 g a.i/ha and 30 g a.i/ha, at an oil palm plantation. Soil samples were collected at ‒1, 0, 1, 3, 7, 14, and 21 days after treatment (DAT) at the following depths: 0–10, 10–20, 20–30, 30–40, and 40–50 cm. The results showed rapid degradation of metsulfuron-methyl in the soil, with calculated half-life (t½) values ranging from 6.3 and 7.9 days. The rates of degradation of metsulfuron-methyl followed first-order reaction kinetics (R2 = 0.91–0.92). At the spray dosage of 15 g a.i/ha, metsulfuron-methyl residue was detected at up to 20–30 cm soil depth, at 3.56% to 1.78% at 3 and 7 DAT, respectively. Doubling the dosage to 30 g a.i/ha increased the metsulfuron-methyl residue in up to 30–40 cm soil depth at 3, 7, and 14 DAT, with concentrations ranging from 1.90% to 1.74%. These findings suggest that metsulfuron-methyl has a low impact on the accumulation of the residues in the soil at application dosages of 15 g a.i/ha and 30 g a.i/ha, due to rapid degradation, and the half-life was found to be 6.3 to 7.9 days.

OIL PALM ECONOMIC PERFORMANCE IN MALAYSIA AND R&D PROGRESS IN 2020

“…Cypermethrin, indaziflam, metsulphuron-methyl, glyphosate and glyphosinate are amongst the 29 pesticides registered under Regulation 41 of Schedule Sixteenth of the Malaysian Department of Agriculture (DOA) that are allowed for use at oil palm plantations. Maznah et al (2020) have established a method to detect the residue of metsulphuron-methyl, and observed that accumulation of metsulphuron-methyl gives a minimal impact to the soil, thanks to its rapid degradation with the half-life of up to eight days. The potential use of gas-chromatography massspectrometry (GC-MS) to detect the presence of trace cypermethrin has been established by Sulaiman et al (2020) with satisfactory performance and acceptable recoveries and precisions.…”

Biomolecules from Plant Residues

“…The synthesis of these diferulates is very important because they can serve as reference compounds to validate FA dimers isolated from plants for their potential as antioxidants and antimicrobials. Maznah et al [23] carried out a field experiment to investigate the degradation of metsulfuron-methyl applied to an oil palm plantation in two different doses. Soil samples were collected at different depths (0-10, 10-20, 20-30, 30-40 and 40-50 cm), and different days after the treatment.…”