Pesticide amount

Table 1 Comparison of the reaction of pesticides (amounts applied 0.8 ng, without chromatographic development) with N,N-DPDD (Wurster s Red) and TPDD (Wurster s Blue) reagents [4] - = negative, (+) = weakly positive and + + + = positive reaction.

TABLES - pesticides amount at different depths in soil... 

RAPKS - pesticide amount at the bottom of the soil at different times... 

Figure 6. Degradation of 2,4-D ester plus the 2,4-D acid hydrolysis decomposition product with time in the presence of five other formulated pesticides. amount in soil and water 0, amount in water.

Percents volatilized in one day for the various media were calculated using initial pesticide amounts and the overall volatilization rate constants, obtained from the half life for volatilization as output by EXAMS. Mevlnphos results are not included here, for as discussed previously, methods for calculation used in EXAMS are not appropriate for water miscible compounds. The experimental and computer predicted percents volatilized in one day are qualitatively similar (Figure 2). Quantitatively, experimental and predicted percents volatilized agreed within a factor of three for diazlnon, methyl parathion, and malathion, and within a factor of five for parathion. Considering the fact that EXAMS was not intended for use with wet soil systems, these results are encouraging. 

The presence of specific receptor-mediated mechanisms such as are common in pesticides. Amount of data available for training sets. 

David Pimentel and Lois Levitan, "Pesticides Amounts Applied and Amounts Reaching Pests, BioScience 36, no. 2 (February 1986) 87. 

Heico Chemicals is the only producer of acetamide in the United States. Small amounts are imported from Europe and Asia. It is shipped in 32-L (35-gal) dmms weighing about 80 kg. Acetamide appears to have a wide spectmm of appHcations. It suppresses acid buildup in printing inks, lacquers, explosives, and perfumes. It is a mild moisturi2er and is used as a softener for leather, textiles, paper, and certain plastics. It finds some appHcations in the synthesis of pharmaceuticals, pesticides, and antioxidants for plastics. 

Between 1979 and 1991, the amounts of herbicide apphed in the United States have remained constant, but the expenditures on herbicides have increased 54%. Agricultural costs accounted for ah. of this increase and more, since herbicide user expenditures in the government/commercial and home sectors combined dropped 3 to 4% during that period. Increased weed control costs related to crop protection have also contributed to the 37% increase, since 1988, in total annual user expenditures for pesticides in general, ie, herbicides, fungicides, and insecticides. In the United States, agricultural uses (ca 1993) account for more than 67% of total pesticide user expenses and 75% of the quantity used annually. Herbicides are now the lea ding type of pesticides in terms of both user expenditures and volumes used (1). 

Cyclic Hydrocarbons. The cyclic hydrocarbon intermediates are derived principally from petroleum and natural gas, though small amounts are derived from coal. Most cycHc intermediates are used in the manufacture of more advanced synthetic organic chemicals and finished products such as dyes, medicinal chemicals, elastomers, pesticides, and plastics and resins. Table 6 details the production and sales of cycHc intermediates in 1991. Benzene (qv) is the largest volume aromatic compound used in the chemical industry. It is extracted from catalytic reformates in refineries, and is produced by the dealkylation of toluene (qv) (see also BTX Processing). 

Methyl- and dimethylnaphthalenes are contained in coke-oven tar and in certain petroleum fractions in significant amounts. A typical high temperature coke-oven coal tar, for example, contains ca 3 wt % of combined methyl- and dimethylnaphthalenes (6). In the United States, separation of individual isomers is seldom attempted instead a methylnaphtha1 ene-rich fraction is produced for commercial purposes. Such mixtures are used for solvents for pesticides, sulfur, and various aromatic compounds. They also can be used as low freezing, stable heat-transfer fluids. Mixtures that are rich in monomethyinaphthalene content have been used as dye carriers (qv) for color intensification in the dyeing of synthetic fibers, eg, polyester. They also are used as the feedstock to make naphthalene in dealkylation processes. PhthaUc anhydride also can be made from m ethyl n aph th al en e mixtures by an oxidation process that is similar to that used for naphthalene. 

There is a strong relationship between the amount of pesticide appHed and the amount detected in soil and water. Some background information on pesticide usage and terminology is useful in understanding their impact on the environment. 

The heibicides continue to dominate both the amount and total cash value of pesticides sold in the United States. The lea ding pesticides used (by weight) in the United States aie shown in Table 2. 

Limits of Detection. One reason for the concern about pesticides in groundwater has been the abiUty to detect trace amounts of these... 

Persistence of pesticides in the environment is controlled by retention, degradation, and transport processes and their interaction. Retention refers to the abihty of the soil to bind a pesticide, preventing its movement either within or outside of the soil matrix. Retention primarily refers to the sorption process, but also includes absorption into the soil matrix and soil organisms, both plants and microorganisms. In contrast to degradation that decreases the absolute amount of the pesticide in the environment, sorption processes do not affect the total amount of pesticide present in the soil but can decrease the amount available for transformation or transport. 

Transport processes describe movement of the pesticide from one location to another or from one phase to another. Transport processes include both downward leaching, surface mnoff, volatilization from the soil to the atmosphere, as weU as upward movement by capillary water to the soil surface. Transport processes do not affect the total amount of pesticide in the environment however, they can move the pesticide to sites that have different potentials for degradation. Transport processes also redistribute the pesticide in the environment, possibly contaminating sites away from the site of apphcation such as surface and groundwater and the atmosphere. Transport of pesticides is a function of both retention and transport processes. 

Desorption is the reverse of the sorption process. If the pesticide is removed from solution that is in equdibrium with the sorbed pesticide, pesticide desorbs from the sod surface to reestabUsh the initial equdibrium. Desorption replenishes pesticide in the sod solution as it dissipates by degradation or transport processes. Sorption/desorption therefore is the process that controls the overall fate of a pesticide in the environment. It accomplishes this by controlling the amount of pesticide in solution at any one time that is avadable for plant uptake, degradation or decomposition, volatilization, and leaching. A number of reviews are avadable that describe in detad the sorption process (31—33) desorption, however, has been much less studied. 

Water leaves the field either as surface mnoff, carrying pesticides dissolved in the water or sorbed to soil particles suspended in water, or as water draining through the soil profile, carrying dissolved pesticides to deeper depths. The distribution of water between drainage and mnoff is dependent on the amount of water appHed to the field, the physical and chemical properties of the soil, and the cultural practices imposed on the field. These factors also impact the retention and transformation processes affecting the pesticide. 

The documented occurrence of pesticides in surface water is indicative that mnoff is an important pathway for transport of pesticide away from the site of appHcation. An estimated 160 t of atra2ine, 71 t of sima2ine, 56 t of metolachlor, and 18 t of alachlor enter the Gulf of Mexico from the Mississippi River annually as the result of mnoff (47). Field appHcation of pesticides inevitably leads to pesticide contamination of surface mnoff water unless mnoff does not occur while pesticide residues remain on the surface of the soil. The amount of pesticides transported in a field in mnoff varies from site to site. It is controUed by the timing of mnoff events, pesticide formulation, physical—chemical properties of the pesticide, and properties of the soil surface (48). Under worst-case conditions, 10% or more of the appHed pesticide can leave the edge of the field where it was appHed. 

New Herbicides. There are also several significant developments that will have longer-term impact on pesticide usage and residues in water. There has been a steady decrease in the amount of herbicide needed to control weeds since the 1940s (Eig. 7). 

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