Persistence of insecticides and microbiological attributes in a soil under different management systems

The aim of this research was to evaluate the degradation of bifenthrin, permethrin and thiamethoxam insecticides in a soil under crop-livestock integration (CLIS), no-tillage (NTS) and conventional (CS) systems and its relationship with microbiological attributes (microbial biomass C, basal soil respiration and activities of beta-glucosidase and acid phosphatase). The experiment was carried out using incubated soil (0-10cm) with moisture content about 75% of field capacity at 28 degrees C for 51 days. Besides the increase in soil organic matter content, biomass and microbial activity, CLIS system also favored a faster degradation of the three insecticides in soil compared to the others. Among the evaluated insecticides, thiamethoxam showed the slowest degradation in soil with half-life (DT50) values between 46 and 89 days. Bifenthrin DT50 values were between 14 and 44 days and for permethrin between 9 and 47 days.