Influence of microbial activity, organic carbon content, soil texture and soil depth on mineralisation rates of low concentrations of 14C-mecoprop—development of a predictive model

The high number of cases where pesticide residues have been found in groundwater during the last decade has enhanced the need for more knowledge about the fate of pesticides in soil. The purpose of the present study was to extend the knowledge of pesticide mineralisation in soil. Many publications have described the difficulties of finding a useful mathematical model for the description of pesticide mineralisation. In the present study a mathematical model is presented, which was useful for describing cometabolic mineralisation as well as metabolic mineralisation. On the basis of mineralisation studies of mecoprop in Danish soils, a predictive model, which described the mineralisation as a function of biological activity, soil texture, humus content and soil depth, was developed. The model was validated against mecoprop mineralisation studies in German soils and was shown to be very useful for the prediction of time for total mineralisation of mecoprop.