Sorption of pesticides used in banana production on soils of Ecuador

Abstract

There is concern about the migration and adverse impact of pesticides used in banana production systems in Ecuador on aquaculture and ecosystem health. Therefore, we studied the sorption of chlorothalonil, fenamiphos, and its 2 metabolites (fenamiphos sulfone and fenamiphos sulfoxide), by batch method on 6 surface soils from the Guayas River Basin (1–3°S, 79–81°W), a major banana production area of Ecuador. The sorption of chlorothalonil on the 6 soils was high and varied considerably as shown by the K_d values ranging from 68.50 to 152.60 L/kg. The sorption coefficients normalised with the organic carbon content of soil (K_oc) for chlorothalonil ranged from 2330 to 7336 kg/L, with a mean value of 4012 kg/L. These K_oc values are higher than those previously reported in the literature. The sorption of fenamiphos and its metabolites to the 6 soils varied among soils in a similar pattern. The K_d values ranged from 5.66 to 14.31 L/kg for fenamiphos, from 2.81 to 8.79 L/kg for fenamiphos sulfone, and from 0.77 to 4.00 L/kg for fenamiphos sulfoxide, respectively. In all of the soils the sorption coefficients of both metabolites of fenamiphos were lower than that for the parent compound. The K_oc values ranged from 220 to 515 kg/L (mean value 371 kg/L) for fenamiphos, from 29 to 141 kg/L (mean value of 76 kg/L) for fenamiphos sulfoxide, and from 79 to 334 kg/L (mean value of 191 kg/L) for fenamiphos sulfone. Chlorothalonil had much stronger sorption than fenamiphos and its metabolites on the Ecuadorian soil. Due to lower sorption and therefore greater mobility and longer persistence of the fenamiphos metabolites, these compounds need adequate consideration during residue monitoring and assessment of potential off-site impacts on ecosystem health and aquaculture in the Guayas River Basin.