Combined effects of two sulfonylurea herbicides on soil microbial biomass and N-mineralization

The interaction effect of two sulfonylurea herbicides, bensulfuron methyl (B) and metsulfuron methyl(M), were tested on microbial biomass C, N, N mineralization and C/N ratio in a loamy sand soil. The herbicides were applied at various levels of: control (B0M0), 0.01 and 0.01 (B1M1), 0.01 and 0.1 (B1M2), and 0.01 and 1.0 (B1M3) μg/g soil. Determinations of soil microbial biomass C, N and N mineralization contents were carried out at 1, 3, 5, 7, 10, 15, 25 and 45 days after herbicides application. The results showed that the soil microbial biomass C (C mic ) and microbial biomass N (N mic ) decreased consistently with the increasing rates of herbicides. The results further indicated that B1M1 and B1M2 caused a significant reduction in C mic and N mic within first 10 and 7 days of incubation, respectively, as compared with the control. These reductions in C mic and N mic were also significant ( P =0.05) with B1M3 application especially within first 15 days of incubation. A significant reduction in N mineralization (N min) was observed with high doses (B1M2, B1M3) of herbicides within first 5 days of incubation, while low rate (B1M1) failed to produce any significant effect. An increase in the soil microbial biomass C:N ratio was also noted.