Scholarly record

ASSESSMENT OF DEGRADATION KINETICS AND TRANSFORMATION PRODUCTS FORMATION OF DIURON IN SOIL UNDER SIMULATED DROUGHT-FLOOD STRESS CONDITIONS CONSIDERING CHALLENGES OF CLIMATE CHANGE

Phd. Emoke Dalma Kovacs, Prof. Dr. Teodor Rusu, Prof. Dr. Hab. Dr. Hc. Lech Wojciech Szajdak, Dr. Melinda Haydee Kovacs

Abstract

Human activities as land use and management impact soil functioning. These are amplified also by stress factors as extreme climate events (drought, flood, heat waves) and meteorological anomalies, consequence of climate change. Although there are clues on how these challenging factors affect quality and functioning at its top surface (between 0 пїЅ 15 cm), there are minor information on how these impact soil in its depth profile. This study present obtained data from assessment studies performed on agricultural lands managed under different conditions, targeting especially applied pesticides degradation rate under pressures of management activities and climate change associated stress factors. Briefly, soil sample cores with 0-100 cm depth were collected from different agricultural land where different management, respectively different pesticides were applied in order to facilitate crops production rate. Experience on artificially incubated and exposed soil throughout simulating different meteorological anomalies (excess or reduced watering, increased or low temperature, etc.) were also conducted, and compared with data from field experiences. Also, targeted pesticide fate and degradation pattern was evaluated connecting them with different soil quality parameter as soil physicochemical properties, microbial biomass and extracellular enzymatic activities. Fate of identified transformation products of pesticides were also monitored and compared with data obtained from real field studies. Beside that monitored pesticide characteristics influence strongly their decay rate and entirely pathways, it was observed that microbial biomass vary strongly between soil samples depending also by soil types and properties. Additionally, both microbial biomass and extracellular enzymatic activities of soil present a strong decay (over 50%) once with soil depth profile. However, enzymatic activities were observed even in the deeper part of soil cores (over 30 cm), parts of soil that usually are not monitored. Temperature and soil moisture were observed to influence soil extracellular enzymatic activities, which in turn impact used pesticides decay rate.

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