Reducing pesticide transport in surface and subsurface irrigation return flow in specialty crop production

Damon E. Abdi, James S. Owen, P. Christopher Wilson, Francisca O. Hinz, Bert Cregg and R. Thomas Fernandez

Agricultural Water Management, 2021, vol. 256, issue C

Abstract: This study investigated the transport of 9 pesticides in surface and subsurface irrigation return flow from a container-plant production system over 3 16-day monitoring periods. Pesticides were applied 3 times during the year and the pesticides were selected to provide a range of physiochemical properties. Pesticides are most commonly transported in water and irrigation return flow is a driving factor, therefore, irrigation methods were investigated to determine effects on irrigation return flow volume and transport of pesticides. A control overhead irrigation and two treatments irrigating based on substrate volumetric moisture content (θ) were used. Pesticide transport in irrigation return flow was related to days after application, physiochemical properties and irrigation method. Additionally, pesticide transport was disproportionately reduced, in respect to physiochemical properties, in subsurface irrigation return flow in response to irrigation methods. θ-based irrigation treatments reduced irrigation volume applied by 49% and 77% compared to the control leading to a reduction in the volume of surface irrigation return flow by 71% and 92%. The θ-based treatments reduced the total surface and subsurface volume of irrigation return flow by 52% and 78% versus the control. In most cases, pesticides movement in surface irrigation return flow exhibited a linear or quadratic decrease for the control, while pesticide movement via subsurface irrigation return flow was related more to physiochemical properties limiting mobility rather than irrigation return flow volume or irrigation practice. This study demonstrates pesticide movement in irrigation return flow can be substantially reduced by selecting pesticides with low solubility/high adsorption coefficients whenever possible, and reducing the volume/application of irrigation to non-target areas.

Keywords: Runoff; Pesticide mobility; Water quality; Water security; Water management (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0378377421004005
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:agiwat:v:256:y:2021:i:c:s0378377421004005

DOI: 10.1016/j.agwat.2021.107124

Access Statistics for this article

Agricultural Water Management is currently edited by B.E. Clothier, W. Dierickx, J. Oster and D. Wichelns

More articles in Agricultural Water Management from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().