ARS | Publication request: PREDICTING TRANSPORT AND THE CONTROL OF PLANT PESTS AFTER SOIL FUMIGATION

Submitted to: American Chemical Society National Meeting
Publication Type: Abstract
Publication Acceptance Date: December 15, 2005
Publication Date: March 26, 2006
Citation: Yates, S.R. 2006. Predicting transport and the control of plant pests after soil fumigation. American Chemical Society National Meeting. Paper No: AGRO 32/C103, Symposium:Advances in Pesticide Environmental Fate and Exposure Assessments. Atlanta, GA, March 26-30, 2006.

Technical Abstract: For decades, U.S. agriculture has relied heavily on soil fumigation to control plant pests. After 2005, only three fully registered chemical fumigants will remain. This is a significant reduction in available materials and demonstrates that soil fumigants share intrinsic properties that can cause environmental problems. The future use of fumigants must become more efficient and have fewer negative environmental impacts, or they too will become susceptible to adverse environmental regulation. New, reduced-emission methods have been proposed to reduce human and environmental health risks. However, the effect on pest control efficacy requires expensive long-term field-testing. To assist in this activity, new and easy-to-use tools are needed to help integrate new and improved fumigation methods into agricultural operations. A new method will be presented to predict fumigant fate, transport and the control of plant pests after soil fumigation. A description of the methodology and a comparison between predicted and measured pest control will be presented