About This Special Issue
Due to their toxic design, herbicides can adversely affect ecosystem and human health. The increased usage has resulted in the contamination of water resources. Contamination of water resources is a major concern. It is difficult to study the travel time of different herbicides due to different nature of herbicides under different combinations of soil and environmental conditions. The behavior of herbicides can be studied with the help of radiolabeled herbicides. Processes determining the fate of herbicides include (i) volatilization (ii) Sorption by organic and mineral matter (iii) Chemical, biological transformation and degradation (iv) Transport in air, liquid or solid phases (v) Absorption by plants and animals. Movement of pesticides, their bioavailability and biotransformation are controlled by adsorption-desorption mechanisms operating at the interface between organic and inorganic soil colloids. High-resolution magic angle spinning, Fourier-kansform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and nuclear magnetic resonance techniques can distinguish mobile and immobile phases of herbicides. Data from sorption studies indicated that sorption coefficients are the most sensitive parameters for environmental risk assessment and soil properties like pH and clay content govern the glyphosate (an herbicide) adsorption. World health organization's International agency for research on cancer (IARC) has confirmed that glyphosate herbicide is "probably carcinogenic to humans." Glyphosate-based herbicides often contaminate drinking water sources, air, and precipitation in agricultural regions. As the usage of glyphosate-based herbicides continues to increase, investment in epidemiological studies, biomonitoring, and toxicology studies based on the principles of endocrinology should be done. Apart from cancer, glyphosate role has caused chronic kidney disease due to drinking water faced by Sri Lankan farmers. The role of drinking water has also been reported in another study which caused ill health in Indian farmers. Fate of herbicides is linked with diseases. In a study related to phenyl urea herbicide sorption to biochars and agricultural soil, the sorption sequence of herbicides was in the sequence of linuron > diuron> monuron > wood feedstock biochar > turkey litter biochar > enhanced biochar > hog waste biochar > soil. There is a lack of information related to these aspects. Keeping these aspects under consideration, the special issue will discuss the trajectory of herbicide molecule while passing through the phases of plant, soil, water and human systems. The special issue will address (i) the movement of herbicide molecule with the use of 14C radioisotope in the plant system (i) the sorption behavior of herbicides using liquid scintillation counting in soils of different composition, and (ii)) to link soil aspects related to fate of glyphosate resulting in contamination of water resources (iii) molecular aspects of diseases caused due to intake of contaminated water with the help of molecular techniques like Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy. The overall objective of the special issue will be to study the pathway of herbicide molecule via plant, soil, water and human systems.
Aims and Scope:
- Organic molecule
- Glyphosate
- Weeds
- Soil systems
- Sorption behavior and contamination of water bodies
- Diseases due to water pollution by organic molecules