Measurement and Prediction of Picloram Disappearance Rates from Soil

We have shown by means of laboratory experiments with a wide range of soil types that the decomposition rate of picloram (4-amino-3,5,6-trichloropicolinic acid) in soil is dependent on soil temperature and moisture content and to no significant extent on organic matter, sand, silt, clay, pH, or initial concentration. A fractional order rate law (0.8) describes the disappearance rate best. It was not possible to develop a suitably precise equation for prediction of loss rate as affected by the above soil and climatic factors. Application of the Arrhenius equation to the data indicates an activation energy of 5.4 kcal/mol for the decomposition of picloram in soil, thus suggesting that the reaction is biological rather than chemical.