Simulation study on vertical transport of atrazine in soil column

A simulation experiment on vertical transport of herbicide atrazine (2-chloro-4-ethylamino-6-isopropylamino-s-triazine) in soil column was conducted using lysimeter system. The atrazine concentrations in leaching water and soil samples in column at 8 layers with 10 cm thick of each layer were detected by high-performance liquid chromatography. The results show total atrazine amount in leaching water increases nonlinearly with the leaching time and the herbicide application rate, and the atrazine concentrations in column soil decrease with the vertical depth after water leaching. The distribution of atrazine mass in the system after 154 days were that among the applied atrazine, 0.3 % is out through leaching water, 1% is methanol extractable residues in soil, 46 % is methanol nonextractable residues in soil, and 52 % is other loss (including volatilization and degradation). The study indicates movement of atrazine in agriculture soil may not only have relation to the properties of herbicide, but also to the herbicide application history.