Short-term transport of glyphosate with erosion in Chinese loess soil--a flume experiment

Xiaomei Yang; Fei Wang; Célia P M Bento; Sha Xue; Lingtong Gai; Ruud van Dam; Hans Mol; Coen J Ritsema; Violette Geissen

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2015.01.071

Short-term transport of glyphosate with erosion in Chinese loess soil--a flume experiment

Sci Total Environ. 2015 Apr 15:512-513:406-414. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2015.01.071. Epub 2015 Jan 30.

Authors

Xiaomei Yang¹, Fei Wang², Célia P M Bento³, Sha Xue⁴, Lingtong Gai³, Ruud van Dam⁵, Hans Mol⁵, Coen J Ritsema³, Violette Geissen⁶

Affiliations

¹ Institute of Soil and Water Conservation, Northwest A&F University, 712100 Yangling, China; Soil Physics and Land Management, Wageningen University, P.O. Box 47, 6700 AA Wageningen, The Netherlands; State Key Laboratory of Soil Erosion Dryland Farming on the Loess Plateau, Institute of Soil and Water Conservation, Chinese Academy of Sciences and Ministry of Water Resources, 712100 Yangling, China. Electronic address: xiaomei.yang@wur.nl.
² Institute of Soil and Water Conservation, Northwest A&F University, 712100 Yangling, China; State Key Laboratory of Soil Erosion Dryland Farming on the Loess Plateau, Institute of Soil and Water Conservation, Chinese Academy of Sciences and Ministry of Water Resources, 712100 Yangling, China. Electronic address: wafe@ms.iswc.ac.cn.
³ Soil Physics and Land Management, Wageningen University, P.O. Box 47, 6700 AA Wageningen, The Netherlands.
⁴ Institute of Soil and Water Conservation, Northwest A&F University, 712100 Yangling, China; State Key Laboratory of Soil Erosion Dryland Farming on the Loess Plateau, Institute of Soil and Water Conservation, Chinese Academy of Sciences and Ministry of Water Resources, 712100 Yangling, China.
⁵ RIKILT-Institute of Food Safety, Wageningen University, P.O. Box 230, 6700 AE Wageningen, The Netherlands.
⁶ Soil Physics and Land Management, Wageningen University, P.O. Box 47, 6700 AA Wageningen, The Netherlands; Institute of Crop Science and Resources Conservation (INRES), University of Bonn, 53115 Bonn, Germany.

PMID: 25644837
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2015.01.071

Abstract

Repeated applications of glyphosate may contaminate the soil and water and threaten their quality both within the environmental system and beyond it through water erosion related processes and leaching. In this study, we focused on the transport of glyphosate and its metabolite aminomethylphosphonic acid (AMPA) related to soil erosion at two slope gradients (10 and 20°), two rates of pesticide with a formulation of glyphosate (Roundup®) application (360 and 720 mg m(-2)), and a rain intensity of 1.0 mm min(-1) for 1 h on bare soil in hydraulic flumes. Runoff and erosion rate were significantly different within slope gradients (p<0.05) while suspended load concentration was relatively constant after 15 min of rainfall. The glyphosate and AMPA concentration in the runoff and suspended load gradually decreased. Significant power and exponent function relationship were observed between rainfall duration and the concentration of glyphosate and AMPA (p<0.01) in runoff and suspended load, respectively. Meanwhile, glyphosate and AMPA content in the eroded material depended more on the initial rate of application than on the slope gradients. The transport rate of glyphosate by runoff and suspended load was approximately 14% of the applied amount, and the chemicals were mainly transported in the suspended load. The glyphosate and AMPA content in the flume soil at the end of the experiment decreased significantly with depth (p<0.05), and approximately 72, 2, and 3% of the applied glyphosate (including AMPA) remained in the 0-2, 2-5, and 5-10 cm soil layers, respectively. The risk of contamination in deep soil and the groundwater was thus low, but 5% of the initial application did reach the 2-10 cm soil layer. The risk of contamination of surface water through runoff and sedimentation, however, can be considerable, especially in regions where rain-induced soil erosion is common.

Keywords: Aminomethylphosphonic acid (AMPA); Glyphosate; Loess; Runoff; Suspended load; Water erosion.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Geological Phenomena*
Glycine / analogs & derivatives*
Glycine / analysis
Glyphosate
Herbicides / analysis*
Models, Chemical*
Soil / chemistry*
Soil Pollutants / analysis*

Substances

Herbicides
Soil
Soil Pollutants
Glycine