The leaching depth of the herbicides applied on the soil often affects their selectivity to crops. This work aimed to study soil mobility of s-metolachlor in five types of soils (Red-yellow Podzolic, Purple Latosol, Red-yellow Latosol, Quartz Sand-organic and Quartz Sand), as well as to analyze the effect of the initial irrigation management on that process, through bioassays, relating the results found with possible phytotoxicity effects to irrigated crops. The experiments were carried out under, greenhouse conditions using mobility columns, consisting of eight treatments combining two types of initial irrigation (25 mm water lamina irrigated before and after s-metolachlor application), with four soil layers (0-5, 5-10, 10-15 and 15-20 cm), and five types of soils. S-metolachlor rate sprayed was 1.92 kg a.i. ha-1 for all the treatments and the test plant seeded in the plots was the Sorghum bicolor, hybrid BR 304. A tendency for greater s-metolachlor mobility and availability was observed in all soils, when irrigation was accomplished after herbicide application. The largest mobility and availability of s-metolachlor was observed in the Quartz Sand soil. In all types of soils, s-metolachlor concentrated in the superficial layer (0-5 cm). It was concluded that soils with low levels of organic matter and smaller effective CEC increase the predisposition for occurrence of s-metolachlor phytotoxicity effects to the crops, as well as the probability of underground water contamination.
herbicide; soil moisture; weed; bioassay
