Leaching and degradation of 4-aminopyridine-14C in several soil systems.

Leaching and degradation of 4-aminopyridine (a frightening agent for protecting grain crops from blackbirds) was studied in seven soils. Carbon 14-labeled 4-aminopyridine was strongly adsorbed onto soil colloids, with the degree of adsorption related to pH. Application of seven in. of simulated rainfall over 20 days to surface-treated alkaline soils leached to 0.02 percent to 0.18 percent of the -14C; radioactivity was detected in the runoff from only one of the four acidic soils. Degradation of 4-aminopyridine-14C to -14CO(2) was negligible in soils incubated up to two months under anaerobic conditions. Under aerobic incubation, there was a one-week lag before extensive breakdown began. Degradation rates increased with increasing temperature and soil moisture during incubation, but soil composition had a greater influence. After three months at 30 degrees C and 50 percent moisture, evolution of -14CO(2) ranged from 0.4 percent for a highly acidic loam (pH 4.1) to more than 50 percent for a lighter-textured, alkaline, loamy sand (pH 7.8); the half-life of 4-aminopyridine in soils under these test conditions ranged from 3 to more than 22 months. A theoretical scheme is presented for the degradation of 4-aminopyridine in soils.