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Title: TESTING THE IMPACT OF SELECTED PESTICIDES ON DENITRIFICATION
TESTING THE IMPACT OF SELECTED PESTICIDES ON DENITRIFICATION

PlumX Article Metrics by Elsevier
Klara Novotna
10.5593/sgem2025v/3.2/s11.21
10.5593/sgem2025v/3.2
1314-2704
978-619-7603-91-0
English
25
3.2
• Prof. Dr. hab. oec. Baiba Rivza, LATVIA• Prof. DSc. Ildiko Tulbure, GERMANY• Prof. DSc. Oleksandr Trofymchuk, UKRAINE
Hydrology, Water Resources, and Climate Resilience
Denitrifying bioreactors are devices used to treat agricultural run-off in situ. It is usually a trench filled with wood chips. The bioreactors work very well for their main purpose, which is reducing the concentration of nitrates entering the environment. But agricultural run-off contains not only nitrates, but also significant amount of pesticides and their metabolites, veterinary pharmaceuticals, etc.
Fate of five pesticides (metolachlor, metazachlor, tebuconazole, glyphosate and epoxiconazole) during denitrification was tested via 28-day semicontinous laboratory test. Each test was performed in 15 two-litre glass bottles filled with 30 g of poplar woodchips (source of organic carbon for denitrifying bacteria) and 2 L of liquid medium (distilled water with 15 mg.L-1 NO3-N and 0.5 g.L-1 NaHCO3). Five bottles were treated with a pesticide, while another five were exposed to a denitrification inhibitor in conjunction with the pesticide. The remaining five bottles were utilized as controls.
Concentrations of the pesticides were determined in the beginning and in the end of the test. Every 7 days pH, dissolved oxygen and NO3-N were measured.
The most significant decline in concentration (exceeding 80 %) was observed for epoxiconazole and tebuconazole, with the results indicating adsorption as the predominant mechanism. The mean concentration of metolachlor, metazachlor and glyphosate declined by 32 %, 53 % and 12 % respectively. The impact of the selected pesticides on denitrification was negligible.
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The research was financially supported by the Technology Agency of the Czech Republic Research Project SS06020006 Comprehensive Assessment of Soil Contamination by Pesticides and In-Situ Remediation Measures to Prevent Their Entry into Groundwater and by the Brno University of Technology Specific Research Project FAST-S-25-8778 Adsorption of pesticides on wood chips.
conference
https://doi.org/10.5593/sgem2025v/3.2/s11.21
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TESTING THE IMPACT OF SELECTED PESTICIDES ON DENITRIFICATION
Proceedings of 25th International Multidisciplinary Scientific GeoConference SGEM 2025
25th International Multidisciplinary Scientific GeoConference SGEM 2025, 03 - 06 December, 2025
Proceedings Paper
STEF92 Technology
International Multidisciplinary Scientific GeoConference-SGEM
SWS Scholarly Society; Acad Sci Czech Republ; Latvian Acad Sci; Polish Acad Sci; Russian Acad Sci; Serbian Acad Sci and Arts; Natl Acad Sci Ukraine; Natl Acad Sci Armenia; Sci Council Japan; European Acad Sci, Arts and Letters; Acad Fine Arts Zagreb Croatia; Croatian Acad Sci and Arts; Acad Sci Moldova; Montenegrin Acad Sci and Arts; Georgian Acad Sci; Acad Fine Arts and Design Bratislava; Russian Acad Arts; Turkish Acad Sci.
167-174
03 - 06 December, 2025
website
10566
pesticides, denitrification, denitrifying bioreactor

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