Kinetic studies of controlled-release formulations of diuron containing palm oil mill effluent

Controlled-release formulations of diuron herbicide containing sodium alginate as binder and kaolin or palm oil mill effluent (POME) as fillers were studied. Small ratios of alginates to kaolin or POME in the formulation produce less spherical granular products. The kinetic of release in static water was studied spectrophotometrically at 248nm. Both products with two different fillers showed good first order plots with rate constants about ax10-1 day-1. Preliminary screening on several species of weeds in one square meter boxes in glasshouse showed good effectiveness of the slow release products. Further studies are being carried out especially with the POME formulations which contain quite high major nutrients. (author). 7 refs, 3 figs, 4 tabs