Influence of Tillage, Antecedent Moisture, and Rainfall Timing on Atrazine Transport

Abstract

Laboratory studies were conducted to determine the effect of rainfall timing and antecedent moisture on atrazine leaching through intact soil cores taken from no-till and conventional-till corn fields. Simulated rainfall was applied to no-till and conventional-till cores 1 to 14 d after atrazine application and, in a second study, one d after atrazine was applied to no-till and conventional-till cores at 1 to 800 kPa soil moisture. Increasing the lag time between atrazine application and rainfall from one to 14 d reduced the amount of atrazine leached by about 50% for both no-till and conventional-till soil cores. During the same time period, the amount of atrazine adsorbed to soil increased by about 30% for both tillages. Soil dryness (antecedent moisture) at the time of atrazine application had no effect on the amount of atrazine leached through conventional-till cores. However, leaching decreased in no-till cores as antecedent moisture decreased from 1 to 33 kPa; drying to 800 kPa had no further effect. The leaching rate of atrazine was much higher for the initial 0.5 pore volume than for the next 1.5 pore volume at all rainfall timing and antecedent moisture levels. This behavior is indicative of preferential transport.