MICROBIAL ACTIVITY IN SOILS TREATED WITH FOSAMINE AMMONIUM

Abstract

Soil-nitrification studies were made to examine the possible effect of fosamine ammonium salt (ammonium ethyl carbamoylphosphonate), the active ingredient in Du Pont Krenite brush control agent, on soil bacteria under laboratory conditions. When 0.5, 5, and 20 parts per million of fosamine ammonium were incorporated into two agricultural soils, no effect on the soil-nitrifying process could be found during a 5-week test period. Population and species of soil bacteria and fungi in three agricultural soils were found to be unaltered over an 8-week period after treatment with 10 parts per million of fosamine ammonium. In an agar plate bioassay test, fosamine ammonium showed little or no fungitoxicity at treatment rates up to 100 parts per million.