Review. An overview on the environmental behaviour of pesticide residues in soils

Abstract

The current state of knowledge of the main aspects regarding the behaviour and fate of pesticide residues in the soil environment is reviewed in this article. Once a pesticide is introduced into the environment, whether by application, disposal, or a spill, it can be influenced by many processes. Physical and chemical properties of the pesticide, site characteristics, such as soil, geology, and vegetation, environmental conditions, crop management systems, and chemical handling practices can all affect each process. Each factor must be considered when determining the likelihood of pesticide movement and off-target effect. These fate processes can have both positive (they can bring a pesticide in contact with the target pest) and negative (leading to injury of nontarget plants and animals) influences on a pesticide’s effectiveness or its impact on the environment. Processes responsible for accumulation, movement and disappearance of pesticides in the soil and the factors involved in their dynamics are assessed. Also, the environmental significance of the formation of bound residues and some techniques used currently for remediation of pesticide-contaminated soils are discussed according to the recent researches

Distribution in plant, substrate and leachate of paclobutrazol following application to containerized Nerium oleander L. seedlings

“…Moreover, Milfont et al (2008) have recently determined that the sorption of PBZ in soil is predominantly controlled by organic matter. However, in this experiment it was only observed a strong sorption to substrate 30 days after application that may be related to the bioavailability of the molecule and its concentration in the soil (Navarro et al, 2007b).…”

Removal of ten pesticides from leaching water at pilot plant scale by photo-Fenton treatment

“…Concretely, leaching (the movement of water and dissolved chemicals through the soil) of pesticides through the soil profile from agricultural practices is receiving increasing attention [2]. In the leaching process, the physicochemical properties of the agrochemicals used as well as soil properties (texture, clay content, organic matter content and permeability) play a decisive role [3].…”

Characterization of the biodegradation, bioremediation and detoxification capacity of a bacterial consortium able to degrade the fungicide thiabendazole

“…Ideally, microbial transformation of pesticides will result in complete mineralization, leading to final transformation products like pyruvate or acetaldehyde which are used as energy sources in bacterial metabolism (Fetzner 2002). This is not always the case and the transformation can be incomplete resulting in the accumulation of transformation products with similar or even higher toxicity than the parent compound (Navarro et al 2007). Thus, it is of outmost importance to investigate the extent of mineralization of the target compound and its detoxification potential.…”