EFFECT OF QUINALPHOS ON THE MINERALIZATION OF RICE STRAW

IN SOIL

1
Sharungbam Geeta Devi, 2B.P. Kapadnis, 2R.L. Deopurkar and 3S.P. Kale
1
Department of Environmental Sciences, University of Pune. Pune - 411007
2
Department of Microbiology, University of Pune. Pune - 411007
3
Nuclear Agriculture and Biotechnology Division, Bhabha Atomic Research
Centre. Mumbai. - 400085
sharung@sify.com, bpkap@hotmail.com, rldeopurkar@unipune.ernet.in
skale@vsnl.com

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Mineralization of C - labelled rice straw in flooded and moist soil treated with
an organophosphorus insecticide quinalphos was studied. Quinalphos is an
organophosphorus insecticide and acaricide with contact and stomach actions.
Having wide application in pest control. Non-judicious and widespread use of this
insecticide has lead to deterioration of the environment. Studies were done under
laboratory condition for 40 days. Experiment was conducted in triplicate for each
treatment. Two concentrations (1mgl-1 and 10mgl-1) were used for treatment.
Control flasks were kept to check the mineralization of rice straw in the soil not
treated with insecticide. In all the flasks a vial containing 3ml of 1N NaOH
solution was placed. The amount of mineralization was determined by counting
the 14CO2 trapped in the NaOH solution using liquid scintillation counter. All the
analysis was performed in triplicates. Rapid mineralization of rice straw was
observed in 15days in the untreated moist soil but in the flooded condition the
mineralization rate was significantly slow. It was observed that the mineralization
of the rice straw in the soil treated with quinalphos was significantly retarded both
under moist and flooded conditions irrespective of the concentration used (1mgl-1
and 10mgl-1). Retardation in mineralization was far more significant in the case of
flooded soil. It can be inferred from the above study that quinalphos can adversely
affect the mineralization of rice straw in soil, a substrate in the environment, this
study can help in the restoration of agricultural soil.

1
KEYWORDS
14
C labelled rice straw, quinalphos, organophosphorus insecticide,
mineralization, liquid scintillation counter (LSC)

INTRODUCTION
Quinalphos is an organophosphorus insecticide and acaricide with contact
and stomach actions. It is one of the most widely used organophosphorus
insecticides in the world and in India particularly. Rice is one of the crops
subjected to intensive insecticide application. Soil is the ultimate sink for the
insecticides applied. These insecticide residues may interact with non-target soil
microorganisms and their activities are responsible for transformations of the soil
organic matter. It is common practice to amend rice soil with rice straw to
increase fertility. The use of 14C - labelled plant materials was suggested to obtain
better information on the effects of pesticides on soil microorganisms and their
activities (Anderson1, 1978). The decomposition of 14
C labelled plant materials
had been studied under temperate conditions but in the tropics such studies are
few (Jenkinson and Ayanaba, 1977; Neue3 and scharpenseel (1987). In the earlier
studies using 14C - labelled rice straw it was reported that in aerobic and anaerobic
clay soils treated with insecticides viz: hexachlorohexane, carbaryle and
carbofuran, mineralization of rice straw was more in aerobic than anaerobic soil.
In general insecticides applied to soil at normal field rates and 10-times field rates
had no effect on either the amount of 14CO2 evolved (Murthy et al., 1991). Same
kind of study had been carried out for quinalphos an organophosphorous
insecticide.

MATERIAL AND METHOD

Soil from the nursery (Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Mumbai) was
collected and used for the experiment. The soil was air dried and passed through a
2mm sieve. The soil had following characteristics: pH 7.5; organic carbon 1.2%,
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sand 15%; silt 17%; clay 73%. C- labelled rice straw at an application rate of
0.25mgkg-1 was mixed into 200g of soil in each 250ml Erlenmeyer flasks. Two
sets of experiments were performed. One with the soil which received distilled
water to a 60% water holding capacity [WHC (moist)] and to the other sufficient
distilled water was added to raise the water level to 1cm above the soil surface

2
(flooded). Analytical grade quinalphos was dissolved in acetone and were added
to achieve 1mgl-1 and 10mgl-1 concentrations. Soils treated with acetone but
without insecticide served as controls.

Each vial with 1N NaOH (3ml) was placed individually on the soil in the
flasks using a support. The flasks were incubated at RT (28±3) for 40 days. Flasks
were opened every day for 5min for aeration. NaOH vials were removed and
replaced with fresh ones at regular intervals. Loss of water by evaporation was
compensated at each sampling period by adding appropriate amounts of water.
Radioactivity due to 14CO2 trapped in NaOH was determined by using a cocktail
(4gm PPO, 100gm naphthalene and 900ml dioxane) and counting in a liquid
scintillation counter (Packard tricarb model 2100TR).

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

In untreated soil rapid mineralization of rice straw was observed in the
moist soil which is not in the case of flooded soil. From the figures it was clear
that in the case of untreated moist soil maximum mineralization was observed by
15th day contrary to the extended period beyond 40 days in the case of untreated
flooded soil.

In the moist soil it was observed that the mineralization of rice straw with
-1
10mgl treatment showed significantly slow mineralization of rice straw as
compared to the 1mgl-1 treatment. Soil treated with 1mgl-1 quinalphos showed
significant retardation in the mineralization rate as compare to the untreated soil,
which was showed by its maximum level of mineralization achieved after 24th
day. The same trend was observed in the flooded soil though the mineralization
rate is very slow as compared to moist soil. In the flooded condition the maximum
mineralization for 1mgl-1 and 10mgl-1 treatment was not achieved by 40th day. The
mineralization was significantly retarded in the case of higher concentration. Both
the concentrations of quinalphos used for the studies significantly inhibited the
mineralization of rice straw in both moist and flooded soil. Retardation of
mineralization of rice straw was much more pronounced in the case of higher
concentration in both moist and flooded conditions.

3
 100

80
% Mineralization
60

40
Untreated
-1
1mgl quinalphos
20 -1
10mgl quinalphos

3 6 9 12 15 18 21 24 27 30 33 36 39

Incubation period (Days)

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Figure 1.Mineralization of C - labelled rice straw in moist soil treated with
quinalphos

90 Untreated
-1
80 1mgl quinalphos
-1
70 10mgl quinalphos
60
% Mineralization

50

40

30

20

10

3 6 9 12 15 18 21 24 27 30 33 36 39 40

Incubation Period

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Figure 2. Mineralization of C - labelled rice straw in flooded soil treated with
quinalphos

4
The mineralization of rice straw is an important factor governing soil fertility in
the paddy field. Neue3 and Scharpenseel (1987) reported a slight retardation in the
decomposition of 14C labelled rice straw in lowland rice field soils in comparison
to upland rice-field soil. House2 (1987) reported that the decomposition of
untreated surface crop residue was more rapid than herbicide (glyphosate) treated
surface crop residues. Anderson1, 1978; Rajgopal4, 1984 reported both innocuous
and inhibitory effect on the soil microorganisms and their activities by HCH,
carbaryl and carbofuran. Our study showed that application of quinalphos could
significantly affect the mineralization of rice straw in moist and flooded soil.
Which is the indication of its adverse affect on the soil microbes.

REFERENCES

1. Anderson, J. P. E. Herbicide degradation in soil: influence of microbial

biomass. Soil Biology & Biochemistry, 16, 1978, 483-489

2. House, G.J., Worsham, A.D., Sheets. T.J. and Stinner, R. E. herbicides

effect on soil arthropod dynamics and wheat straw decomposition in North
Carolina no- tillage agroecosystem. Biology and Fertility of soils 4, 1987,
109-114

3. Neue, H.U and and Scharpenseel, H.W. Decomposition pattern of 14C

labelled rice straw in aerobic and submerged rice soil s of Philippines.
Science of total Environment 62, 1987, 431-434.

4. Rajgopal, B. S. Brahmaprakash, G. P., Reddy B. R. Singh U.D. and

Sethunathan N. Effects and persistence of selected carbamate pesticides.
Residue review. 93, 1-99

5. Sethunathan N., Rao V.R., Adhya T.K. and Raghu K. Microbiology of rice
soils. CRC Critical reviews in Microbiology. 10, 125-172, 1983