Leaching of 14-Carbofuran into sub-surface water in vegetable agroecosystem

An experimental setup was constructed to investigate leaching of 14CCarbofuran into sub-surface water through Bungor series sandy loam soil. The indoor lysimeter was constructed using homogenous and packed disturbed soil column. The outdoor lysimeter was constructed using undisturbed soil column. In the field, leachate production was influenced by rainfall intensity but tracer transport was independent of water transport to a certain degree. A high rainfall intensity at 39 DAA has not enhanced tracer leaching into sub-surface water in vegetable agroecosystem whereas a lower rainfall intensity at 21 DAA has enhanced its leaching. Indoor lysimeter behaved incoherently and showed non-parallel relationship between applied water and also volume of leachate produced with tracer transport. In both types of lysimeter, tracer transport and carbofuran transport generally correlated. Carbofuran and tracer were leached at a lower magnitude in outdoor lysimeter compared to the indoor lysimeter. The maximum total radioactivities leached were 1.1% and 0.4% of applied radio activities from indoor lysimeter and outdoor lysimeter at 35 and 21 DAA respectively. The maximum total carbofuran equivalent leached were 193.9 μg/L and 39.3 μg/L at 35 DAA and 21 DAA from indoor lysimeter and outdoor lysimeter respectively. (author)