STUDY OF DIURON IN SOIL SOLUTION BY MEANS OF A NOVEL SIMPLE TECHNIQUE USING GLASS MICROFIBRE FILTERS

Retention by a glass fibre filter of the liquid phase of a clay loam soil treated with C-14-diuron provides a novel method for analysis of the herbicide in soil solution. At 26.3% (w/w) soil moisture content, less than 10% of the applied diuron was found in solution, and this percentage decreased slightly with diuron dose. The herbicide was rapidly adsorbed on soil during the first day, but adsorption continued and the concentration of diuron in solution could be further reduced by 36-50% during the following 6 days. Drying the soil after treatment, with possible crystallization of herbicide applied at high doses, tended to fix the solution concentrations. Ethanol (3% v/v) in soil water favoured herbicide dissolution. Increasing soil moisture to 36.3% (w/w) slightly decreased the concentration of the herbicide in solution, but increased the percentage held in solution. Frost and a drying-rewetting cycle had little or no subsequent effect on diuron concentration in soil solution.