Methyl bromide emission from fields partially covered with a high-density polyethylene and a virtually impermeable film
- USDA-ARS, Riverside, CA (United States). Salinity Lab.
Recent field studies in the interior valley of southern California have indicated that 56--73% of methyl bromide (MeBr) used in soil fumigation is lost to atmospheric emission when the fields are covered completely with a high-density polyethylene (HDPE) film. The emission can be reduced to less than 5% when a virtually impermeable film or Hytibar is used to cover the fields. This study was conducted to determine MeBr emission from bedded field plots where only the beds were covered with a HDPE or a virtually impermeable plastic film. The results provide an assessment on MeBr emission from field beds partially covered with the HDPE film and the suitability of using a virtually impermeable film for emission reduction. Methyl bromide gas was applied to replicated field beds covered with either a HDPE or the Hytibar film. The films were removed 6 days after MeBr application. Replicated soil cores were taken from different locations of the field beds, 20 days after MeBr application, for the determination of soil bromide ion concentrations. The total amount of MeBr degraded from each plot was calculated from the measured bromide ion concentrations, and the potential emission was determined as the difference between the amount of applied and that of degraded. Results indicated that the potential emission from this bedded system was about 95% for the HDPE treatment and 90% for the Hytibar-covered plots. Regardless of the small improvement with the virtually impermeable film, the experiment clearly indicates that partially covering the field with either a HDPE or a virtually impermeable film would result in unacceptably high emission losses.
- OSTI ID:
- 655393
- Journal Information:
- Environmental Science and Technology, Vol. 32, Issue 17; Other Information: PBD: 1 Sep 1998
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
Laboratory-scale measurements and simulations of effect of application methods on soil methyl bromide emission
Methyl bromide emissions from tarped fields