Effect of concentration, sorption, and microbial biomass on degradation of the herbicide fluometuron in surface and subsurface soils

Abstract

The variation in adsorption and degradation of fluometuron was determined in soil collected from different depths (0-120 cm) of a Beulah silt loam soil profile. Microbial demethylation was the initial degradation step in both surface and subsurface soils, resulting in accumulations of demethylfluometuron (DMFM). After addition of 1500 ng/g of soil of fluometuron, degradation was adequately described by first-order kinetics. However, these kinetics did not describe degradation after addition of 85 ng/g of soil of [ 14 C-trifluoromethyl]fluometuron