The leaching of the fungicide triadimenol was investigated in macrolysimeters containing undisturbed soil material of a distroferric Red Latosol and of a distrofic Yellow Red Latosol, under field conditions. A granular formulation of the pesticide was applied at the recommended rate, at 5-cm depth, in soil columns of 1.0 m diameter and 0.45 and 0.90 m long, at the beginning of the rainy season. The volume of percolated water in each lysimeter was measured during the following five months, with samples of this water being periodically taken for analysis of residues of the chemical. The pesticide residues were extracted through partitioning with dichloromethane, and subsequently measured by gas-liquid chromatography, with electron capture detector. The mobility of triadimenol was shown to be very low, and was attributed to its high sorption to the organic matter of the soils. This sorption accounted for the leaching of less than 0.3% of the applied dose, below 0.90 m. Triadimenol was still found in the leaching water at the end of the experiment, and an appreciable portion of the applied dose was estimated to remain in the lysimeters by the end of the rainy season. The leaching of the chemical did not differ markedly between the soils.
Pesticide; degradation; lysimeter; groundwater
