Effect of pendimethalin and quizalofop on N2-fixing bacteria in relation to availability of nitrogen in a Typic Haplustept soil of West Bengal, India.

Amal C Das, Hemanta Nayek, S Devi Nongthombam

Index: Environ. Monit. Assess. 184(4) , 1985-9, (2012)

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Abstract

An experiment was conducted under laboratory conditions to investigate the effect of two systemic herbicides viz., pendimethalin and quizalofop, at their recommended field rates (1.0 kg and 50 g active ingredient ha(- 1), respectively) on the growth and activities of non-symbiotic N(2)-fixing bacteria in relation to mineralization and availability of nitrogen in a Typic Haplustept soil. Both the herbicides, either singly or in a combination, stimulated the growth and activities of N(2)-fixing bacteria resulting in higher mineralization and availability of nitrogen in soil. The single application of quizalofop increased the proliferation of aerobic non-symbiotic N(2)-fixing bacteria to the highest extent while that of pendimethalin exerted maximum stimulation to their N(2)-fixing capacity in soil. Both the herbicides, either alone or in a combination, did not have any significant difference in the stimulation of total nitrogen content and availability of exchangeable NH(4)(+) while the solubility of NO(3)(-) was highly manifested when the herbicides were applied separately in soil.