Persistence of Endosulfan and Endosulfan Sulfate in Soil as Affected by Moisture Regime and Organic Matter Addition.

This article focuses on endosulfan which has been widely used as a broadspectrum cyclodiene insecticide on a wide range of crops including upland cotton and wetland rice systems. It persists in soil and water environments for 3 to 6 months or more. However, it is generally less persistent in environment than other cyclodienes. Endosulfan can undergo degradation to non-toxic or less toxic endosulfan diol or oxidation to equally or more toxic endosulfan sulfate in plants, microbial cultures and soils. Endosulfan sulfate appears to be the most persistent metabolite of endosulfan in soils, but undergoes rapid degradation in cotton foliage.