Investigation into the problem of insecticide sorption by soils.

In view of the importance of the problem of insecticide sorption by certain soils, and its possible implications for mosquito control, an investigation was carried out on the influence of some factors governing sorption.In experiments with thin layers of homogenized soil/insecticide mixtures, in which no diffusion took place, changes in relative humidity had a pronounced influence on the effectiveness of the insecticide, a 10% increase in humidity doubling the toxicity. Further experiments using DDT labelled with (14)C showed that the effect of humidity was the only factor influencing toxicity.Studies with (14)C DDT and bio-assay determination of non-labelled DDT and dieldrin showed that movement of the insecticide in the soil was blocked at both very high and very low humidity, and that inward migration was found only at intermediate humidities. It was also observed that the migration of water in the soil caused the insecticide to move in the same direction.As at a high relative humidity the inward migration of the insecticide is blocked, and as the initial loss in effectiveness by sorption is counterbalanced by the greater availability of the remaining toxicant, the application of the usual field dosage of dieldrin (0.5 g/m(2)) remained effective for a considerable period. This would suggest that sorption might well be a problem in the field only when humidity is low. In work on means of reducing sorption under dry conditions, encouraging results were obtained with wettable powders based on ground solidified melts of dieldrin and certain resins.