| Abstract: | A method is described for the analysis of the herbicide bromoxynil and its octanoate in soils. Following extraction with aqueous acidic acetonitrile, the octanoate was separated from the phenolic bromoxynil by solvent partitioning. The ester and the phenol were assayed by gas-liquid chromatography without further modification or preparation of a derivative. Recoveries in excess of 93% were obtained from soils treated with the phenol and the ester at levels of 0.5 or 0.1 μg g?1. The persistence of bromoxynil octanoate applied at a rate of 3 μg g?1 was studied in the laboratory on a heavy clay and a sandy loam at 85% of field capacity moisture and 20°1°C, both alone and in the presence of 2,4-D (2 μg g?1); MCPA (2 μg g?1); MCPA+asulam (both at 2 μg g?1); and MCPA+difenzoquat (both at 2 μg g?1). In each soil there was a rapid conversion of bromoxynil octanoate to the free phenol, which then underwent a rapid degradation, so that after 7 days, over 90% of the original treatment had disappeared. There appeared to be no effect on bromoxynil breakdown by any of the herbicides added in combination. Small field plots were treated, in early May 1977 and 1978 at two locations in Saskatchewan, with a combination of commercial formulations containing asulam, bromoxynil octanoate, and MCPA at rates of 1 kg ha?1 each. After 10 weeks the plots were sampled and analysis showed that in all cases, no asulam, bromoxynil, or bromoxynil octanoate could be extracted from the top 10 cm of soil. |
