SORPTION STUDY OF ETH1ON IN DIFFERENT SOILS

Abstract

Pesticides are in wide use in agriculture crops, gardens etc. Though pesticides are applied in the field for disease control and thus for increased crop yield, but its subsequent fate in the environment can not be overlooked. Production and domestic use of more persistent chlorinated hydrocarbons (such as DDT) have declined. They are being substituted by less persistent but more toxic organic phosphates. Ethion is an OP pesticide. It is a non-systemic acaricide and insecticide used on apples, to kill eggs and scales. In the present project, fate of pesticide in three different soils have been studied through sorption studies. The soils used in this study were collected from three different locations namely, agriculture field near Majra village, Solani riverbed and University Campus near Civil Engineering Department. All soil samples were collected from top soil layer of 30 cm. Agricultural soil, solani riverbed soil and university campus soil represented three soil types i.e. silty clay, fine sand and silty sand respectively. For the classification of soil, particle size distribution, liquid limit and plastic limit tests were performed. pH, organic content and cation exchange capacity of soils were also determined.