Acetamiprid fate in a sandy loam with contrasting soil organic matter contents: A comparison of the degradation, sorption and leaching of commercial neonicotinoid formulations

• Published in: The Science of the total environment 2022-10, Vol.842, p.156711-156711, Article 156711
• Main Authors: Potts, Jessica, Jones, Davey L., Macdonald, Andrew, Ma, Qingxu, Cross, Paul
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Acetamiprid; Environmental fate; Environmental risk; Persistence in soil; Soil management
• ISSN: 0048-9697; 1879-1026
• DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.156711

The impacts of neonicotinoids have generally focussed on the responses of the pure active ingredient. Using a selection of two commercial formulations and the active ingredient, we ran three laboratory studies using 14C-labelled acetamiprid to study the leaching, sorption and mineralisation behaviours of the commercially available neonicotinoid formulations compared to the pure active ingredient. We added 14C-spiked acetamiprid to a sandy loam soil that had received long-term additions of farmyard manure at two rates (10 t/ha/yr and 25 t/ha/yr) and mineral fertilisers, as a control. We found significant differences in acetamiprid mineralisation across both the SOM and chemical treatments. Sorption was primarily impacted by changes in SOM and any differences in leachate recovery were much less significant across both treatment types. The mineralisation of all pesticide formulations was comparatively slow, with