The Effects of Mn2+, Ni2+, Cu2+, Co2+ and Zn2+ Ions on Pesticide Adsorption and Mobility in a Tropical Soil

The adsorption behaviour of DDT in a tropical silt-clay soil from Kenya showed that addition of increasing metal ion concentrations from 10 to 100 μg/g of soil, reduced the % DDT adsorption in the soil by factors ranging from 6.1% to 15.4% depending on the type of metal ion. The inhibition of adsorption by metal ions was most observed in the lower ranges of metal ion concentrations in soil, i.e. up to 100 μg/g, beyond which additional increase in metal ion concentration did not result in any further increase in % adsorption. In the standard adsorption test procedure with different soil samples saturated with 100 μg/g of metal ions, the rate of adsorption of the pesticide varied with the type of metal ion and the equilibrium maximum adsorption of DDT was lowered with addition of metal ions, with the % adsorption of 78.4% (control) being reduced to lower values in the range of 67%–77.4%, depending on the type of metal ion. The data for control and samples fitted well into the Freundlich adsorption model and showed that addition of metal ions lowered the Kf values compared with control. The results suggested that in the natural soil–water environments where there was no disturbance, aggregation of humic substances-pesticide molecule complexes altered the observed lowering of adsorption caused by inhibition by metal ions, and enhanced binding to solid soil phase occurred instead. In the leaching experiments, DDT was found to leach more extensively in soils with lower %OC content and the extent of leaching in soil columns saturated with metal ions at 100 μg/g was found to be inhibited compared with control and depended on the type of metal ion.