Sorption of acetochlor, atrazine, 2,4-D, chlorotoluron, MCPA, and trifluralin in six soils from Slovakia

Sorption of the herbicides (acetochlor, atrazine, 2,4-D, chlorotoluron, MCPA and trifluralin) in their commercially available formulations was characterized on six agricultural soils from Slovakia. Weak acid herbicides (2,4-D and MCPA) were the least sorbed, whereas weak base such as atrazine and nonionic herbicides were the most sorbed in the order: atrazine < acetochlor approximate to chlorotoluron < trifluralin, which was closely related to the hydrophobicity of herbicides expressed as logK(OW). The K (F) values positively correlated with soil organic carbon content for all herbicides. Moreover, all herbicides were the most sorbed by Vertisol with relatively high smectite clay content in proportion to organic carbon content. The K-OC values for each herbicide showed a smaller variation among soils (excluding Vertisol) than the K-F and were used to compare soil mobility potential of herbicides.