Although the gradual accumulations of Cu in orchard soils due to the application of Cu-based fungicides have been widely reported, limited information is available about the retention characteristics of fungicide-derived Cu in soil, especially in various size soil aggregates. This study described the adsorption characteristics of Cu from commonly used fungicide, Bordeaux mixture (CuSO4 + Ca(OH)2), onto various aggregate fractions (2000-1000, 1000-500, 500-250, 250-106, and <106 μm) of orchard soil. The Cu(NO3)2 was selected as a comparison. Two different types of adsorption experiments were conducted as follows: variable pH and variable Cu concentration experiments. The adsorption processes of Bordeaux mixture and Cu(NO3)2 onto the studied soil samples followed well with the Freundlich isotherm, and the adsorption isotherms were the S shaped. The adsorption amounts of Cu from different Cu compounds differed, and Bordeaux mixture can result in more Cu retention in soil than Cu(NO3)2. The adsorption ability of different size soil aggregates varied, and it was mainly governed by soil properties. The findings of this study suggested that both the chemical compositions of Cu compounds and the soil physical structure should be taken into account when performing soil Cu retention experiments with fungicide-derived Cu.
Keywords: Adsorption; Bordeaux mixture; Copper; Copper nitrate; Isotherm; Soil aggregates.