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. 2024 Nov 7;46(12):493.
doi: 10.1007/s10653-024-02269-9.

Pre-emergence herbicides used in urban and agricultural settings: dissipation and ecological implications

Aney Parven  1   2 , Islam Md Meftaul  1   2 , Kadiyala Venkateswarlu  3 , Mallavarapu Megharaj  4   5
Affiliations

Pre-emergence herbicides used in urban and agricultural settings: dissipation and ecological implications

Aney Parven et al. Environ Geochem Health. .

Abstract

Herbicides are widely recognized as the most cost-effective solution for weed control, but their extensive use in both urban and agricultural settings raise serious concerns about nontarget effects. We assessed the possible hazards associated with pre-emergence herbicides such as dimethenamid-P, metazachlor, and pyroxasulfone, which are frequently applied in both urban and agricultural soils. The dissipation rate constant values (k day-1: 0.010-0.024) were positively linked to total organic carbon (TOC), silt, clay, soil pH, and Al and Fe oxides, but negatively correlated with sand content. In contrast, half-life values (DT50: 29-69 days) of the herbicides showed negative correlations with TOC, clay, silt, soil pH, and Fe and Al oxides, while sand content showed a positive impact. The selected herbicides showed minimal impact on soil dehydrogenase activity (DHA). Mostly, soils with higher organic matter (OM) content exhibited increased DHA levels, highlighting the role of OM in influencing this soil enzyme across different soils. Assessment of environmental indicators like groundwater ubiquity score (GUS:1.69-6.30) and leachability index (LIX: 0.23-0.97) suggested that the herbicides might reach groundwater, posing potential risks to nontarget biota and food safety. Human non-cancer risk evaluation, in terms of hazard quotient (HQ < 1) and hazard index (HI < 1), suggests minimal or no risks from exposure to soil containing herbicide residues at 50% of the initial concentrations. Our data thus help the stakeholders and regulatory agencies while applying these pre-emergence herbicides in soils and safeguarding human and environmental health.

Keywords: Dissipation; Environmental hazard; Nontarget effects; Pre-emergence herbicides; Soil health.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Ct/C0 versus dissipation time of a dimethenamid-P, b metazachlor, and c pyroxasulfone in two urban soils (CAL and FLE) and three agricultural soils (QLD, MAT and TAR)
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Relationship between soil properties (predictors), and half-life (DT50) values (outcome variable) of dimethenamid-P, metazachlor, and pyroxasulfone in urban (CAL and FLE) and agricultural soils (QLD, MAT and TAR)
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
DHA (µg TPF g–1 soil) in urban soils (CAL and FLE) and agricultural soils (QLD, MAT and TAR), untreated and treated with dimethenamid-P (DIP), metazachlor (MET), and pyroxasulfone (PYR). CON = Control
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
Potential non-cancer health hazards in terms of hazard index (HI) for human adults and adolescents exposed to urban soils (CAL and FLE) and agricultural soils (QLD, MAT and TAR), contaminated with dimethenamid-P, metazachlor, and pyroxasulfone residues after 50% dissipation
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