Ageing of atrazine in manure amended soils assessed by bioavailability to Pseudomonas sp. strain ADP

Bio-engineered sensing of Atrazine by green CdS quantum dots: Evidence from electrochemical studies and DFT simulations

The present investigation reports a comprehensible and responsive strategy for identifying atrazine in several conditions using an extensive electrochemical method. CdS Quantum dots were synthesized via a greener approach, and their formation was endorsed by numerous characterization techniques such as FTIR, SEM, Raman, UV-Vis, and XRD. Owing to the splendid electrocatalytic behavior, Green CdS quantum dots (QDs) of crystallite size ∼2 nm was opted as the sensor material and were, therefore, incorporated on the bare carbon paste electrode's surface. The developed sensor demonstrated an impressive outcome for atrazine sensing accompanied by superior selectivity and sensitivity. The lower detection limit (LLOD) of 0.53 μM was attained using the developed sensor in a linear concentration range of 10-100 μM. Furthermore, the practical pertinence of the developed sensor was examined on distilled water, wastewater, and fresh liquid milk, resulting in a tremendous retrieval of atrazine (91.33-99.8%).

Adsorption-desorption characteristics of atrazine on soil and vermicompost prepared with different ratios of raw materials

In this work, vermicompost was prepared with maize stover and cattle dung in ratios of 60:40 (VC1), 50:50 (VC2) and 40:60 (VC3), and the physicochemical properties of the vermicompost were related to the ratio of the raw materials used. The effect of the vermicomposts on the adsorption kinetics, adsorption isotherms and desorption of atrazine were investigated in unamended soil (S) and soil amended with 4% (w/w) of VC1(S-VC1), VC2(S-VC2) and VC3(S-VC3). The total organic carbon (TOC) content of VC1, VC2 and VC3 was 38.46, 37.33 and 34.47%, the HA content was 43.50, 42.22 and 39.28 g/kg, and the HA/FA ratios was 1.47, 0.44 and 0.83, respectively. The adsorption of atrazine on the soil, on the vermicompost and on soils amended with vermicompost followed a pseudo-second-order kinetic model. The Freundlich equation better fitted the adsorption isotherm of atrazine. The vermicomposts enhanced atrazine adsorption and decreased atrazine desorption. Correlation analysis showed that the TOC and HA were significantly positively correlated with Kf, which indicated that TOC and HA of the vermicomposts contributed significantly to the adsorption and desorption of atrazine. This study demonstrated that vermicomposts have great potential in the bioremediation of atrazine pollution and that their role is related to the raw materials used to prepare them.

Sequestration and bioavailability of perfluoroalkyl acids (PFAAs) in soils: Implications for their underestimated risk

Different from typical hydrophobic organic contaminants (HOCs), perfluoroalkyl acids (PFAAs) are more soluble in water and less partitioned to soil than the HOCs. It remains unclear whether and to what extent PFAAs could be sequestrated in soil. In this study, sequential extraction of PFAAs in soil and bioaccumulation of PFAAs in earthworm were carried out to understand the sequestration and bioavailability of PFAAs in soils with different soil organic matter (SOM) and aged for different time periods (7 and 47d). Sequestration occurred in different degrees depending on the amount and compositions of SOM in soil, structural properties of PFAAs and aging time. Surprisingly, in one peat soil with high fraction of organic carbon (f_oc, 59%), the PFAAs were completely sequestrated in the soil. Aging might lead to further sequestration of PFAAs in soil with relatively lower f_oc. As a consequence of sequestration, the bioavailability of PFAAs in peat soils was reduced 3-10 times compared to that in the plain farmland soil. However, the sequestrated PFAAs were still bioaccumulative in earthworms to some extent. The results indicated that the risk of PFAAs in field soil with high content of SOM could be underestimated if only free PFAAs using mild solvent extraction were monitored.