Emission and distribution of fumigants as affected by soil moistures in three different textured soils.

Water application is a low-cost strategy to control emissions of soil fumigant to meet the requirements of the stringent environmental regulations and it is applicable for a wide range of commodity groups. Although it is known that an increase in soil moisture reduces emissions, the range of soil moisture for minimizing emissions without risking pest control, is not well defined for various types of soils. With two column studies, we determined the effect of different soil moisture levels on emission and distribution of 1,3-dichloropropene and chloropicrin in three different textured soils. Results on sandy loam and loam soils showed that by increasing soil moisture from 30% to 100% of field capacity (FC), peak fluxes were lowered by 77-88% and their occurrences were delayed 5-15 h, and cumulative emissions were reduced 24-49%. For the sandy soil, neither peak fluxes nor the cumulative emissions were significantly different when soil moisture increased from 30% to 100% FC. Compared to the drier soils, the wetter soils retained consistently higher fumigant concentrations in the gas-phase, suggesting efficacy may not be impacted in these soils. The air-filled porosity positively and linearly correlated with the cumulative emission loss across all soil types indicating that it may serve as a good indicator for estimating emissions. These laboratory findings can be further tested under field conditions to conclude what irrigation regime should be used for increasing soil water content before fumigant application that can achieve maximum emission reduction and uniform fumigant distribution with high exposure index values.