Influence of nitrogen-phoshorus-potassium (NPK-15:15:15) fertilizer application on adsorption capacity of pendimethalin in soil

Abstract

Batch equilibrium method was use to examine the influence of Nitrogen-Phosphorus-Potassium (NPK-15:15:15) fertilizer application on adsorption of pendimethalin (3,4-Dimethyl-2,6-dinitro-N-pentan-3-yl-aniline) in soil. Soil sample taken from the surface horizon of the Federal University of Agriculture Makurdi Teaching and Research Farm was amended with various amount of NPK fertilizer ranging from 5 gram to 30 gram labeled as 5 g NPK, 10 g NPK, 15 g NPK, 20 g NPK, 25 g NPK, 30 g NPK and 0 g NPK (the control/blank sample). The amended soils gave higher values for physic-chemical properties (Table 1) than the un-amended soil except for pH. Effect of parameters such as initial adsorbate concentration, contact time, temperature, adsorbent dose and pH on adsorption, all gave positive correlation with increase amount of NPK-15:15:15 except adsorbent dose and pH which correlated negatively with increased amount of NPK fertilizer.