Modelling pesticides leaching in cropping systems: Effect of uncertainties in climate, agricultural practices, soil and pesticide properties

Abstract

Modelling of pesticide leaching is paramount to managing the environmental risks associated with the chemical protection of crops, but it involves large uncertainties in relation to climate, agricultural practices, soil and pesticide properties. We used Latin Hypercube Sampling to estimate the contribution of these input factors with the STICS-MACRO model in the context of a 400 km(2) catchment in France, and two herbicides applied to maize: bentazone and S-metolachlor. For both herbicides, the most influential input factors on modelling of pesticide leaching were the inter-annual variability of climate, the pesticide adsorption coefficient and the soil boundary hydraulic conductivity, followed by the pesticide degradation half-life and the rainfall spatial variability. This work helps to identify the factors requiring greater accuracy to ensure better pesticide risk assessment and to improve environmental management and decision-making processes by quantifying the probability and reliability of prediction of pesticide concentrations in groundwater with STICS-MACRO.

Keywords

Uncertainty analysis; Latin hypercube sampling; Meta-model; Pesticide leaching; STICS-MACRO

Published in

Environmental Modelling and Software
2018, volume: 109, pages: 342-352
Publisher: ELSEVIER SCI LTD

SLU Authors

• Moeys, Julien

  • Department of Soil and Environment, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

Associated SLU-program

SLU Plant Protection Network

Global goals (SDG)

SDG6 Clean water and sanitation
SDG12 Responsible consumption and production

UKÄ Subject classification

Agricultural Science

Publication identifier

• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsoft.2018.08.007

Permanent link to this page (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/96765