Effect of different rates of spent mushroom substrate on the dissipation and bioavailability of cymoxanil and tebuconazole in an agricultural soil

Physicochemical methods to immobilize pesticides in vulnerable soils are currently being developed to prevent water contamination. Some of these methods include the use of different organic residues to modify soils because they could limit the transport of pesticides and/or facilitate their dissipation. Spent mushroom substrate (SMS) may be used for these purposes. Accordingly a study was conducted under laboratory conditions to know the dissipation and bioavailability of the fungicides cymoxanil and tebuconazole over time in a vineyard soil amended with two rates of spent mushroom substrate (SMS) (5% and 50% (w/w)), selected to prevent the diffuse or point pollution of soil. The dissipation of cymoxanil was more rapid than that of tebuconazole in the different soils studied. The dissipation rate was higher in the amended soil than in the unamended one for both compounds, while no significant differences were observed between the amended soils in either case. An apparent dissipation occurred in the amended soil due to the formation of non-extractable residues. Bound residues increased with incubation time for tebuconazole, although a proportion of this fungicide was bioavailable after 303days. The major proportion of cymoxanil was tightly bound to the amended soil from the start, although an increasing fraction of bound fungicide was bioavailable for mineralization. Soil dehydrogenase activity was significantly affected by SMS application and incubation time; however, it was not significantly modified by fungicide application. The significance of this research suggests that SMS applied at a low or high rate to agricultural soil can be used to prevent both the diffuse or point pollution of soil through the formation of non-extractable residues, although more research is needed to discover the time that fungicides remain adsorbed into the soil decreasing either bioavailability (tebuconazole) or mineralization (cymoxanil) in SMS-amended soils.