Abstract
Biofumigation can be used as an alternative to conventional soil fumigation to control soil-borne pests. With biofumigation, plant tissue with a natural content of glucosinolates (cruciferous plants) is damaged and incorporated into the topsoil. When the plant tissue is damaged, the glucosinolates come into contact with the endogenous enzyme myrosinase, which catalyse the hydrolysis of glucosinolates into various products depending on the reaction conditions. Isothiocyanates are among the potential products formed from these reactions. We investigated if the isothiocyanates from rape plant material were leached through the soil to drain depth when a heavy rainstorm followed the biofumigation. We applied isothiocyanates from rape plant material (1,480 μmol m−2) to four large (0.6 m diameter, 1.0 m long) intact soil monoliths from a loamy and a sandy soil and conducted a leaching experiment under semi-field conditions. The soil monoliths were irrigated with 70–90 mm (10 mm h−1) and the concentrations of three isothiocyanates (3-butenyl, 4-pentenyl and 2-phenethyl) were monitored in the leachate. Between 0 and 14.8 mmol isothiocyanates were leached for each mol of isothiocyanates applied during application of 70–90 mm irrigation. The distribution coefficient estimated from leached concentrations was 0.04–1.19 for 3-butenyl, 0.04–1.15 for 4-pentenyl isothiocyanate and 0.037–0.97 for 2-phenethyl isothiocyanate. The concentration of total isothiocyanates in the leachate was in the same order of magnitude as the LD50 of isothiocyanates for sensitive aquatic organisms.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Bending GD, Lincoln SD (2000) Inhibition of soil nitrifying bacteria communities and their activities by glucosinolate hydrolysis products. Soil Biol Biochem 32:1261–1269
Brown PD, Morra MJ (1997) Control of soil-borne plant pests using glucosinolate-containing plants. Adv Agron 61:167–231
Elberson LR, Borek V, McCaffrey JP, Morra MJ (1996) Toxicity of rapeseed meal-amended soil to wireworms, Limonius californicus (Coleoptera: Elateridae). J Agr Entomol 13:323–330
Gimsing AL, Kirkegaard JA (2005) Glucosinolate and isothiocyanate concentration in soil following incorporation of Brassica biofumigants. Soil Biol Biochem Submitted (and hopefully accepted before this paper is printed)
Gimsing AL, Strobel BW, Hansen HCB (2006) Benzyl and 2-propenyl isothiocyanate sorption and degradation in soil. Environ Toxicol Chem Submitted (and hopefully accepted before this paper is printed)
Guo MX, Yates SR, Zheng W, Papiernik SK (2003) Leaching potential of persistent soil fumigant residues. Environ Sci Technol 37:5181–5185
Haramoto ER, Gallandt ER (2004) Brassica cover cropping for weed management: a review. Renew Agr Food Sys 19:187–198
Ibekwe AM (2004) Effects of fumigants on non-target organisms in soils. Adv Agron 83:1–35
Kirkegaard JA, Matthiessen JN (2004) Developing and refining the biofumigation concept. Agroindustria 3:233–239
Kirkegaard JA, Sarwar M (1998) Biofumigation potential of brassicas - I. Variation in glucosinolate profiles of diverse field-grown brassicas. Plant Soil 201:71–89
Kjaer A (1976) Glucosinolates in Cruciferae. In: Vaughan JG, Macleod AJ, Jones BMG (eds) The biology and chemistry of the Cruciferae. Academic Press, London, pp 207–219
Klute A, Dirksen C (1986) Hydraulic conductivity and diffusivity: laboratory methods. In: A. Klute (ed) Methods of soil analysis, Part 1. 2nd Ed. Agron. Monogr. 9. ASA and SSSA, Madison, WI, pp 687–734
Lazzeri L, Manici LM (2001) Allelopathic effect of glucosinolate-containing plant green manure on Pythium sp and total fungal population in soil. Hortscience 36:1283–1289
Lazzeri L, Tacconi R, Palmieri S (1993) Invitro activity of some glucosinolates and their reaction-products toward a population of the nematode heterodera-schachtii. J Agr Food Chem. 41:825–829
Manici LM, Lazzeri L, Baruzzi G, Leoni O, Galletti S, Palmieri S (2000) Suppressive activity of some glucosinolate enzyme degradation products on Pythium irregulare and Rhizoctonia solani in sterile soil. Pest Manag Sci 56:921–926
Matthiessen JN, Shackleton MA (2005) Biofumigation: environmental impacts on the biological activity of diverse pure and plant-derived isothiocyanates. Pest Manag Sci 61:1043–1051
Matthiessen JN, Warton B, Shackleton MA (2004a) Enhanced biodegradation reduces the capacity of metham sodium to control soil pests. Aust J Entomol 43:72–76
Matthiessen JN, Warton B, Shackleton MA (2004b) The importance of plant maceration and water addition in achieving high Brassica-derived isothiocyanate levels in soil. Agroindustria 3:277–280
Michaelsen S, Møller P, Sørensen H (1992) Factors influencing the separation and quantitation of intact glucosinolates and desulfoglucosinolates by micellar electrokinetic capillary chromatography. J Chromatogr 608:363–374
Mithen RF (2001) Glucosinolates and their degradation products. Adv Bot Res 35:213–262
Morra MJ, Kirkegaard JA (2002) Isothiocyanate release from soil-incorporated Brassica tissues. Soil Biol Biochem 34:1683–1690
Norsworthy JK, Meehan JT (2005) Herbicidal activity of eight isothiocyanates on Texas panicurn (Panicum texanum), large crabgrass (Digitaria sanguinalis), and sicklepod (Senna obtusifolia). Weed Sci 53:515–520
Petersen J, Belz R, Walker F, Hurle K (2001) Weed suppression by release of isothiocyanates from turnip-rape mulch. Agron J 93:37–43
Rumberger A, Marschner P (2003) 2-Phenylethylisothiocyanate concentration and microbial community composition in the rhizosphere of canola. Soil Biol Biochem 35:445–452
Sarwar M, Kirkegaard JA, Wong PTW, Desmarchelier JM (1998) Biofumigation potential of brassicas - III. In vitro toxicity of isothiocyanates to soil-borne fungal pathogens. Plant Soil 201:103–112
Schultz TW, Yarbrough JW, Woldemeskel M (2005) Toxicity to Tetrahymena and abiotic thiol reactivity of aromatic isothiocyanates. Cell Biol Toxicol 21:181–189
Smith BJ, Kirkegaard JA (2002) In vitro inhibition of soil microorganisms by 2-phenylethyl isothiocyanate. Plant Pathol 51:585–593
Soil Survey Staff (1999) Keys to soil taxonomy. Pochahontas Press, Inc., Blacksburg, Virginia, USA
Sørensen H (1990) Glucosinolates: structure–properties–function. In: Shahidi F (ed) Canola and rapeseed. production, chemistry, nutrition and processing technology. Van Nostand Reinhold, New York, pp 149–172
Toride N, Leji FJ, van Genuchten MTh (1999) The CXTFIT code for estimating parameters from laboratory or field tracer experiments. Vers. 2.1. Research Report No. 137. U.S. Salinity Laboratory, Agricultural Research Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Riverside, California
Warton B, Matthiessen JN (2005) The crucial role of calcium interacting with soil pH in enhanced biodegradation of metam-sodium. Pest Manag Sci 61:856–862
Warton B, Matthiessen JN, Shackleton MA (2003) Cross-enhancement: enhanced biodegradation of isothiocyanates in soils previously treated with metham sodium. Soil Biol Biochem 35:1123–1127
Warton B, Matthiessen JN, Shackleton MA (2001) Glucosinolate content and isothiocyanate evolution - Two measures of the biofumigation potential of plants. J Agr Food Chem 49:5244–5250
Acknowledgements
This work was funded by the Danish Research Councils (Contract no. 23-02-0152). We thank Stig T. Rasmussen, Bodil B. Christensen and Jørgen M. Nielsen for excellent technical assistance.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Laegdsmand, M., Gimsing, A.L., Strobel, B.W. et al. Leaching of isothiocyanates through intact soil following simulated biofumigation. Plant Soil 291, 81–92 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-006-9176-2
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-006-9176-2