Dissipation of chloroacetanilide herbicides in soil and associated bacterial communities

Dissipation of two widely used chloroacetanilide herbicides, S-metolachlor and butachlor, was evaluated in soil laboratory microcosms at two environmentally relevant doses (15 and 150 µg·g-1) and for two agricultural soils (paddy and crop). High-throughput sequencing of the bacterial 16S rRNA gene showed that soil type and duration of herbicide exposure were the main determinants of bacterial community variation. In contrast, herbicide identity and spiking dose had no significant effect.