EVALUATION OF GLYPHOSATE EFFECTS ON ACRISOL SOIL QUALITY - A FIELD SURVEY AT DONG NAI AND CU CHI RUBBER FAMRS

Abstract

Glyphosate is commonly used in modern agriculture and research due to its effects in prevention of weed growth. Recently, glyphosate becomes more important to unprogressive agricultural countries as Vietnam. To examine glyphosate impacts on soil quality, a number of soil samples were collected before and after glyphosate treatment and qualified via some criteria such as pH, soil moisture, total NPK content, total soil microbes (TSMs) and herbicide degrading microbes (HDMs). Results showed that soil pH was not affected by glyphosate however it decreased soil moisture of dry season and nitrogen content (NiC) in both seasons. Furthermore, glyphosate also increased either phosphorus content (PhC) or potassium content (PoC) in dry season. However, TSMs and HDMs were uninfluenced by glyphosate during 15 days of the survey. Results also indicated some of recommendations as spraying glyphosate in dry and rainy seasons. Nevetheless, it is necessary to have wise insights about glyphosate treatment. Developing non-chemical weed management to minimize its negative impacts on the ecosystem must be considered.

Keywords: Glyphosate, rubber farms, herbicide, soil environment.