Effects of repeated metolachlor applications on its persistence in field soil and degradation kinetics in mixed microbial cultures

 The persistence of metolachlor, a soil-applied herbicide, was studied under field conditions involving repeated herbicide applications. The test field received four applications of metolachlor over an 8-month period, which included two cropping seasons. There was a trend for more rapid rates of degradation with increasing numbers of previous treatments, with fifty percent dissipation time (DT₅₀) of metolachlor declining from 18 days in the first spray to 2.5 days in the fourth spray. An effort was made to isolate the microbial population which had become acclimated to the herbicide from this field soil. A fungal community isolated from this soil showed the capacity to degrade up to 99.6% of the metolachlor within a span of 20 days. The bacterial community isolated could also degrade up to 81.5% of the metolachlor. Hence, this study clearly indicated that repeated applications of metolachlor to soil resulted in the generation of an adapted microbial population with an enhanced ability to degrade the applied herbicide. Received: 13 November 1998