Persistence and binding of p,p'-DDE in soil

Soil was treated with 14C‐p,p'‐DDE and left under field conditions for 545 days. The dissipation of the chemical was apparently biphasic; halflife of dissipation 271 days. After one year, 61% of the initially applied radiocarbon was lost from soil. Methanol‐extractable residues declined to about 29% after one year and were shown by TLC and HPLC, to contain mainly p,p’, DDE and a small amount of DDMU. Initially, the proportion of bound (unextractable) residues was very small but increased gradually to 8.7% after one year and declined thereafter to 7% after 1.5 years. These soil‐bound residues, released by treatment with sulfuric acid consisted exclusively of p,p'‐DDE. Volatilization and to a lesser extent mineralization were the main mechanisms for the loss of DDE residues from the soil.