Bioavailability and effects of non-ionic organic pesticides in soil

Abstract

In soil contamination studies the extent of contamination is usually described in terms of the content of the chemical on a dry soil mass basis. However, it has been found that a particular content of a chemical in soil exhibits divergent bio-availability, and thus toxicity, in different soils. Measuring the chemical concentration in the soil pore water is a better method. For evaluating the biological risk of pesticides in soil, concentrations measured in pore water should be compared with soil quality criteria based on the saline-water effect concentrations for soil organisms derived in the laboratory