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Microlysimeter Soil Columns for Evaluating Pesticide Movement through the Root Zone

Dep. of Soil Sci., Univ. of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI 53706;
Dep. of Agron., Univ. of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR 72701.

^* Corresponding author.

ABSTRACT

Field approaches to studying pesticide movement are subject to numerous variables of the environment, many of which are difficult and expensive to monitor. This study describes the design, construction, operation, and performance of intact microlysimeter soil (Plainfield loamy sand—mixed, mesic, Typic Udipsamment) columns used to examine the mobility of two insecticides through soil from two tillage plots (conventional-moldboard plow and no-till tillage). Field leaching conditions were approximated by simulating a moisture and temperature regime characteristic of a natural soil profile. Measured daily and seasonal temperature fluctuated according to a pattern characteristic of a field soil. Evapotranspiration (ET) from the soil columns was 61% of the total water applied and was nearly equal to the ET measured (63%) from field lysimeters of this soil planted to corn (Zea mays L.). Variation in cumulative drainage was small; total drainage from all columns was within a range of 3.9 cm. There was no significant difference in the transport of bromide (conservative tracer) through columns from the two tillage plots. Bromide leachate loss was 62 and 63% of the amount applied for conventional-moldboard plow and no-till columns, respectively. Intact soil columns established in a microlysimeter fashion provided a means to compare the movement of agricultural chemicals under controlled conditions in the greenhouse that approximate conditions/processes in the field.

Research supported by the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences, Univ. of Wisconsin-Madison.

Received for publication July 14, 1989.