Rose, M.T., Zhang, P., Rose, T.J., Scanlan, C., McGrath, G. & Van Zwieten, L. (2022) Herbicide residues in Australian grain cropping soils at sowing and their relevance to crop growth. Science of The Total Environment 833 155105. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.155105
Highlights
- Cropping soils contained a median of 6 to 7 herbicide residues in a two-year survey.
- Glyphosate, AMPA, trifluralin, diflufenican and 2,4-D were found in >40% of samples.
- There is a lack of crop toxicity threshold data for contextualising agronomic risk.
- Preliminary analysis suggests low crop toxicity risk because farmers select tolerant crops.
- More work needed to ascertain herbicide spatial distribution and bioavailability.