Fate of the herbicides atrazine and metolachlor, released to the atmosphere and deposited in rain, was studied following their field application in a small agricultural watershed located in Maryland.  We monitored delivery of herbicides in the rain in both open and closed canopy areas of a forested riparian buffer at different distances from the field.  We observed a direct linear relationship between precipitation amounts and decreases in the volume of rain collected under a tree canopy, as compared to the volume of rain collected in the tree-free areas.  For the lowest range precipitation, the rain volume collected under the tree canopy was around 60% of the rain collected in the open area; however, for precipitations above 30 mm, it was around 90%.  We utilized an established relationship to calculate atmospheric deposition of herbicides to the riparian buffer during rain based on monitored precipitation and herbicides analyses of the rain.

Herbicide washoff from forest canopy through-fall depends on rainfall dynamics

244th National Meeting (2012)

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