The objective of this study was to evaluate the sorption potential of sulfentrazone in five different soil types by bioassays. Herbicide behavior was studied in the following soil types: Haplic Planosol, Red Acrisol, Humic Cambisol, Eutrophic Entisol and Red-Yellow Latosol, in addition to a control treatment, with washed sand only. The experiment was completely randomized, and treatments consisted of seven increasing doses of sulfentrazone in each of the soil types. Twenty-one days after emergence, the indicator plant was collected and dry matter mass and herbicide dose capable of reducing the dry matter mass accumulation of the indicator plants by 50% (C50-) were determined. Based on these data, sorption rate (SR) of sulfentrazone was calculated by comparing the results of C50 of each soil with the C50 obtained in washed sand. Sorption rate values differed between the soils in the following ascending order: Haplic Planosol < Red-Yellow Latosol < Red Acrisol < Humic Cambisol < Eutrophic Entisol; the soils with higher organic matter content showed the highest SR and pH. It was concluded that sulfentrazone sorption is affected by soil organic matter content and pH.
herbicide; indicator plant; biological test
