ArticlePublisher preview available

Influence of glyphosate and aminomethylphosphonic acid on the mobility of trace elements in uncontaminated and contaminated agricultural soils

September 2023
Environmental Science and Pollution Research 30(47):1-13

DOI:10.1007/s11356-023-29660-w

Authors:

Nathan Bemelmans

Catholic University of Louvain

Bryan Arbalestrie

Catholic University of Louvain

Show all 5 authorsHide

Glyphosate is one of the most widely used herbicides in the world. In addition to its herbicidal effect, glyphosate is a chelating agent that can form complexes with trace elements. Yet, agricultural soils can be contaminated with both organic and mineral substances, questioning the possible influence of glyphosate application on the trace element mobility. In this context, we specifically studied the extractability of trace elements in uncontaminated and metal-contaminated agricultural soils by adding glyphosate, formulated glyphosate, and aminomethylphosphonic acid (AMPA, a degradation product of glyphosate) in batch experiments from 0 to 100 mg L⁻¹. Results showed that, on average, glyphosate enhanced the extractability of the elements considered (e.g., As, Cd, Cu, Pb, and Zn) at 20 and 100 mg L⁻¹. Surprisingly, the uncontaminated soil highlighted the highest influence of glyphosate compared to the contaminated ones, likely resulting from a higher natural element extractability in the contaminated soils. Although formulated glyphosate presented an overall higher impact than unformulated glyphosate, it was evidenced that AMPA showed lower influence meaning that glyphosate degradation is beneficial to limit deleterious effects.

Concentrations (lines) and proportion (pie charts) of molecule remaining in solution after extraction (n = 3; a) and extractability (n = 3) of Cu (b), As (c), Mo (d), and Pb (e) in the uncontaminated soil (Vieusart) following four extraction modalities: control (Milli-Q water), glyphosate (20 and 100 mg L⁻¹), formulated glyphosate (100 mg L⁻¹), and AMPA (100 mg L⁻¹). Numbers indicate the tested modality/control extractability ratios (the dashed line represents the control value). The Latin and Greek letters on the top of the bars represent the statistically significant differences (Kruskal–Wallis test and Dunn test with Bonferroni adjustment) for concentrations and substances, respectively

…

of tested modality/control extractability ratios (n = 3) for each studied element in the uncontaminated (Vieusart) and the three contaminated (Sainte-Walburge, Bressoux, and Aubange) soils. Colours represent the range of positive (purple) or negative (green) influence compared to the control

…

Concentrations (lines) and proportion (pie charts) of molecule remaining in solution after extraction (n = 3; a) and extractability (n = 3) of Cu (d, e, f), Pb (g, h, i), As (j, k, l), and Mo (m, n, o) in the three contaminated soils (Sainte-Walburge, Bressoux, and Aubange) following four extraction modalities: control (Milli-Q water), glyphosate (20 and 100 mg L⁻¹), formulated glyphosate (100 mg L⁻¹), and AMPA (100 mg L⁻¹). Numbers indicate the tested modality/control extractability ratios (the dashed line represents the control value). The Latin and Greek letters on the top of the bars represent the statistically significant differences (Kruskal–Wallis test and Dunn test with Bonferroni adjustment) for concentrations and substances, respectively

…

Extractability potential of trace elements of each tested modalities compared to extractability potential in the control (n = 3): glyphosate 20 mg L⁻¹ (a), glyphosate 100 mg L⁻¹ (b), formulated glyphosate 100 mg L⁻¹ (c), and AMPA 100 mg L.⁻¹ (d). The solid line represents the 1:1 ratio, and the dashed lines represent the 2:1 ratio (upper line) and 1:2 ratio (lower line)

…

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Environmental Science and Pollution Research (2023) 30:103983–103995

https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-023-29660-w

RESEARCH ARTICLE

Inﬂuence ofglyphosate andaminomethylphosphonic

acid onthemobility oftrace elements inuncontaminated

andcontaminated agricultural soils

NathanBemelmans1 · BryanArbalestrie1 · HélèneDailly1· EtienneBodart1· YannickAgnan1

Received: 7 June 2023 / Accepted: 29 August 2023 / Published online: 11 September 2023

Abstract

Glyphosate is one of the most widely used herbicides in the world. In addition to its herbicidal eﬀect, glyphosate is a chelat-

ing agent that can form complexes with trace elements. Yet, agricultural soils can be contaminated with both organic and

mineral substances, questioning the possible inﬂuence of glyphosate application on the trace element mobility. In this context,

we speciﬁcally studied the extractability of trace elements in uncontaminated and metal-contaminated agricultural soils by

adding glyphosate, formulated glyphosate, and aminomethylphosphonic acid (AMPA, a degradation product of glyphosate)

in batch experiments from 0 to 100mg L−1. Results showed that, on average, glyphosate enhanced the extractability of the

elements considered (e.g., As, Cd, Cu, Pb, and Zn) at 20 and 100mg L−1. Surprisingly, the uncontaminated soil highlighted

the highest inﬂuence of glyphosate compared to the contaminated ones, likely resulting from a higher natural element extract-

ability in the contaminated soils. Although formulated glyphosate presented an overall higher impact than unformulated

glyphosate, it was evidenced that AMPA showed lower inﬂuence meaning that glyphosate degradation is beneﬁcial to limit

deleterious eﬀects.

Keywords Glyphosate· AMPA· Trace elements· Mobility· Agricultural soil· Contamination

Introduction

Glyphosate (N-(phosphonomethyl)glycine), a non-selective

post-emergence organophosphorus herbicide that inhibits the

biosynthesis of the aromatic amino acids (Pline etal. 2002), is

widely used in agriculture. The commercial glyphosate–based

products include additional molecules (alsocalled co-formu-

lants) to enhance the herbicide role of the active substance

(e.g., by facilitating penetration through the cuticle; Leaper

and Holloway 2000). Unfortunately, the composition of these

glyphosate co-formulants are usually unknown due to com-

mercial conﬁdentiality (Mesnage etal. 2019). The common

glyphosate concentration in the commercial formulated prod-

ucts is 360g L−1, then diluted by the farmer for ﬁeld appli-

cation. The maximum authorized application of glyphosate

depends on both culture and country: for example, in Bel-

gium, it reaches up to 6L ha−1 of 360g L−1 glyphosate solu-

tion (i.e., 2160g ha−1; Phytoweb 2015).

With a theoretical half-life of 16days (Lewis etal. 2016),

glyphosate is considered to be non-persistent in soil. The

degradation rate, however, varies according to environmen-

tal conditions, such as climate (moisture and temperature),

soil microbial activity, soil organic matter (Alletto etal.

2010; Bento etal. 2016), or even formulation (Wilms etal.

2023). Its main degradation product is aminomethylphos-

phonic acid (AMPA) with a similar chemical structure.

AMPA, however, is more persistent in soil with a typical

half-life that is ranging widely from 23 to 958days (Bento

etal. 2016; Lewis etal. 2016; Bergström etal. 2011). Due

to the widespread use of glyphosate, both glyphosate and

AMPA are largely present as pesticide residues in agricul-

tural soils (Silva etal. 2019). In soil, these molecules can

interact with soil constituents. Indeed, with its three acid

functions (phosphonate, carboxylic, and amino; pKa of 2.6,

5.6, and 10.6, respectively; Sprankle etal. 1975), glypho-

sate has three negative and one positive charges in most

Responsible Editor: Kitae Baek

* Yannick Agnan

yannick.agnan@biogeoscience.eu

1 Earth andLife Institute, Université catholique de Louvain,

Louvain-La-Neuve1348, Belgium

Content courtesy of Springer Nature, terms of use apply. Rights reserved.

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Influence of glyphosate and aminomethylphosphonic acid on the mobility of trace elements in uncontaminated and contaminated agricultural soils

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