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Survey of organochlorine pesticides in horticultural soils and there grown Cucurbitaceae

Hilber, Isabel; Mäder, Paul; Schulin, Rainer and Wyss, Gabriela S. (2008) Survey of organochlorine pesticides in horticultural soils and there grown Cucurbitaceae. Chemosphere, 73 (6), pp. 954-961.

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Document available online at: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0045653508008357


Summary

Organochlorine pesticides (OCP) are still found in food and feed crops although they were applied about 40 years ago. There is a considerable knowledge gap concerning the extent of soil and crop contamination by OCP. We performed two surveys in 2002 and 2005 to assess the loads of OCP in 41 Swiss horticultural fields under organic and conventional production and corresponding Cucurbitaceae fruits (cucumbers, zucchini, and pumpkin), whereas these fields stay for intensive agricultural production in Europe. In addition, soil organic carbon, texture, and pH were measured also. OCP were detected in 27 out of 41 fields (65.9%). The farming practice had no influence on the contamination or level of OCP in soil. The sum of OCP-loads per field ranged from <0.01 to 1.3 mg kg−1 dry soil and pentachloroaniline (PCA, 2.1 mg kg−1), p,p′-DDT (0.5 mg kg−1), and p,p′-DDE and dieldrin (0.4 mg kg−1) were the most detected pesticides over all investigated soils. PCA (up to 0.02 mg kg−1), dieldrin (up to 0.04 mg kg−1), α-chlordane and cis-heptachloroepoxide (<0.01 mg kg−1) were detected in five cucumber samples out of 41 Cucurbitaceae samples. Statistical analysis revealed no significant influence of the measured soil properties on the OCP-load of soils and cucumbers, although there is evidence that the bioavailability of OCP in soils to Cucurbitaceae plants was influenced by the sorption of the compounds to soil organic matter and by the polarity of the pesticide molecules. It is suggested, that OCP contamination is widespread in all European regions with intensive plant production and associated pesticide use, and deserves more attention with respect to save food production.


EPrint Type:Journal paper
Keywords:Monitoring, Pesticides, Cucurbits, Soil properties, Plant uptake, Bioavailability, Bodenwissenschaften, Bodenbelastungen, Kürbisgewächse, Organochlorpestizide, Rückstände
Agrovoc keywords:
Language
Value
URI
English
monitoring
http://aims.fao.org/aos/agrovoc/c_4911
English
pesticides
http://aims.fao.org/aos/agrovoc/c_5739
English
Cucurbits
UNSPECIFIED
English
Soil properties
http://aims.fao.org/aos/agrovoc/c_330883
English
Plant uptake
UNSPECIFIED
English
Bioavailability
http://aims.fao.org/aos/agrovoc/c_32390
Subjects: Soil
Crop husbandry > Production systems > Vegetables
Research affiliation: Switzerland > ETHZ - Agrarwissenschaften
Switzerland > FiBL - Research Institute of Organic Agriculture Switzerland > Soil
DOI:10.1016/j.chemosphere.2008.06.053
Deposited By: Mäder, Paul
ID Code:26424
Deposited On:17 Jun 2014 19:11
Last Modified:13 Jan 2021 07:14
Document Language:English
Status:Published
Refereed:Peer-reviewed and accepted

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