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Persistence and Biological Reactions of Pesticides in Soils¹

ABSTRACT

Although microorganisms are often considered to be omnivorous and biochemically omnipotent, they seem unable to destroy at significant rates many synthetic chemicals that enter soil. This unexplained microbial fallibility recently has assumed prominence because of the long persistence of a variety of pesticides. With at least certain compounds, the chemical, physiological, or environmental basis of the biological failings can be established, as illustrated with substituted phenols and phenoxy herbicides.

Microorganisms may detoxify pesticide-treated soil by metabolizing or degrading the added substance. The microflora may also be responsible for the generation of a toxic condition in soil by activation of the applied pest-control agent. The use of laboratory precedents as guides in investigations of natural transformations is considered, and instances of pesticide metabolism in soil are cited.

¹ Contribution from the Department of Agronomy, New York State College of Agriculture, Cornell University, Ithaca, N. Y. as Agronomy Paper No. 665. This review is based in part on investigations supported by Public Health Service Grant EF00547 from the Division of Environmental Engineering and Food Protection. Presented before the general meeting of the Soil Science Society of America, Nov. 16, 1964, Kansas City, Mo., at the invitation of the President of the SSSA.

² Associate Professor of Soil Science.

Received for publication December 21, 1964. Accepted for publication December 22, 1964.

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