1Department of Chemistry, Himachal Pradesh University, Shimla-171005, India
2Department of Chemistry, SVGC, Ghumarwin-174021, India
The evaluation of leaching behavior of pesticides is one of the major steps to control environmental and health hazards associated with their uses. The pesticide leaching is operative only on unadsorbed fraction of the pesticide and influence the extent of surface and ground water contamination. In the present manuscript, leaching behavior of zineb fungicide in terms of ground ubiquity score (GUS) has been evaluated based on its adsorption on soils of different characteristics. To accomplish the above objective, a spectrophotometric methodology has been developed which is based on the measurement of yellow copper(I) bis-dithiocarbamate complex at 354 nm formed from the reaction of zineb with copper(I) perchlorate. The GUS values in the range 1.2–1.4 classify it as non-leacher fungicide. If used in recommended dose, it does not represent hazard to ground water contamination.
Agro-environmental pollution, leaching, soil adsorption, zineb
