| PMEP Home Page |  |
Pesticide Active Ingredient Information | |
EXTOXNET: The Extension Toxicology Network | |
Metiram to Propoxur | |
Metolachlor |
|
A Pesticide Information Project of Cooperative Extension Offices of Cornell University, Michigan State University, Oregon State University, and University of California at Davis. Major support and funding was provided by the USDA/Extension Service/National Agricultural Pesticide Impact Assessment Program.
|
Metolachlor acts by inhibiting protein synthesis. High-protein crops can be adversely affected by metolachlor applications (13). Certain additives included in product formulations to help protect sensitive crops like sorghum from injury.
Metolachlor is a general use pesticide.
The acute oral LD50 in rats for technical grade metolachlor is from 1,200 mg/kg (7) to 2,780 mg/kg (11). The oral LD50 of Dual 8E, a product containing metolachlor, is 2534 mg/kg in rats (5, 10). The 4-hour exposure inhalation LC50 of technical metolachlor for rats is greater than 1.7 ppm (11). The inhalation LC50 of Dual 8E in rats is greater than 6.0 ppm for 4 hours (5). The dermal LD50 in rabbits is greater than 10,000 mg/kg for technical-grade metolachlor, and is greater than 5,009 mg/kg for the product Dual 8E (5, 11). Moderate exposure to metolachlor can cause slight skin irritation. While these results indicate that metolachlor has a low dermal toxicity to humans, this chemical could cause skin sensitivity.
In rats fed metolachlor for ninety days, the level at which no adverse compound related effects were noted was about 90 mg/kg/day (15). This indicates that the compound is capable of causing chronic toxic effects at exposure levels substantially below levels that cause acute toxicity.
In a two-year study of rats fed moderate doses (150 mg/kg), no negative effects on mortality or organ weights were observed. However, females fed metolachlor did not gain as much weight as the female controls, and both sexes showed microscopic changes in their livers (12).
In animals, trace amounts of metolachlor metabolites were found in kidneys, liver, blood, and milk. But, no residues were found in eggs, meat, or fat samples of laying chickens. It is unlikely the compound would concentrate in organisms through the food chain.
Studies on algae and fish exposed to metolachlor in water indicate that very little is accumulated and that any accumulated material is excreted rapidly when the organisms are placed in clean water (4). Residues in fish were quite low and do not pose a threat to human health.
Wildfowl can tolerate metolachlor exposure. Both the mallard and the bobwhite quail can survive five day exposures of greater than 10,000 mg/kg, an indication that metolachlor is practically nontoxic to upland game birds and waterfowl (4). However, although mallard ducks showed no impairment of reproductive capabilities at high level long-term exposures, bobwhite quail fed a diet containing high levels of metolachlor for 17 weeks during mating, egg laying, and egg hatching produced fewer chicks.
The breakdown of metolachlor in corn, soybean, peanuts, and sorghum is similar. Metabolites are found in varying levels throughout the plant. For example, the roots, grain, and oil contain little, if any, residues of metolachlor or its metabolites. However the plants retain their metolachlor metabolites. Animals which eat these plants are able to rapidly break down and eliminate the chemical. Livestock should not be fed foliage from crops such as cotton because the leaves can hold metolachlor residues at much higher levels than the seeds.
Metolachlor is mobile in the soil, is easily leached, and resists breakdown for long periods of time. The breakdown of the compound is affected by temperature, moisture, microbe activity, amount of leaching, soil type, nitrification, oxygen concentrations and sunlight. Soil metabolism primarily occurs by both aerobic and anaerobic microorganisms. Some of these microorganisms can rapidly break down the chemical if the organisms are provided with enough energy. In one study using an aerobic bacterium, complete breakdown occurred in 16 days (8). Anaerobic degradation rates are even slower (4).
Any temperature and moisture changes which affect microbial activity will also affect the breakdown of this herbicide. As temperature increases, the degradation rate also increases. Also, the deeper the chemical is in the soil, the less organic matter and fewer soil microbes are present, so the herbicide takes longer to degrade. Most of acetanilide herbicides, of which metolachlor is a member, are lost through microbial decomposition (17).
Breakdown by sunlight is another important degradation pathway. About fifty percent of applied metolachlor was found to have degraded on sunlit soil over a period of eight days. But, if this chemical was incorporated into the top two inches of soil, then degradation by photolysis was minimal (6% over one month) (4).
Metolachlor degradation also depends on binding to the soil. Breakdown rates decrease, and binding increases, with increased soil organic matter and clay content. Half-lives of 30 to 50 days in northern areas, and 15 to 25 days in southern areas have been observed (17). However, clay loams have significant soil water content and this contributes to more rapid breakdown. Half-lives found in the field were 17 days in clay loams at an average temperature of 20 degrees C, and 23 days in sandy loams at an average temperature of 23 degrees C (17).
Metolachlor is moderately persistent in silt loams, taking 10.1 weeks to halve the initial herbicide concentration from a depth of 10 to 20 cm at 23 degrees C (1). Extensive leaching occurs, especially in soils with low organic content (4). Very little metolachlor volatilizes from the soil.
Metolachlor is stable to breakdown in water over a wide water acidity. Its half-life at 20 degrees C is more than 200 days in highly acid waters and, in highly basic waters, the half-life is 97 days (4). Metolachlor is also relatively stable in water under natural sunlight. About 6.6 percent was degraded by sunlight in 30 days, a slow and minimal rate (4).
Because of the slow microbial and anaerobic degradation rates of this chemical and its ability to leach through soil, metolachlor has the potential to contaminate groundwater. Leaching is greatest if the soils are coarse and the ground water is near the surface. Metolachlor was one of four pesticides that were extensively studied throughout the nation in the National Alachlor Well Water Survey. This several year project analyzed the contents of over six million private and domestic well. Metolachlor was detected in about one percent of the wells (about 60,000 wells) at concentrations ranging from 0.1 to 1.0 ppb (11, 12, 18).
Metolachlor has been found in 1,644 of 1,997 surface water samples from 312 locations in 14 states, at the maximum concentration of 138 ppb (12). These levels may result from runoff during spring and summer applications in crop fields (11).
Technical metolachlor is stable for at least one year at room temperature (4). The shelf storage life of Dual 8E is 3-5 years when in a dry place (5).
| NOEL: | 1.5 mg/kg/day (dog); 2.5 mg/kg/day (rat) |
|---|---|
| ADI: | 0.092 mg/kg/day (11) |
| MPI: | 0.075 mg/day (4) |
| Drinking water health advisory: | Drinking water equivalent level: 0.525 mg/L |
| CAS #: | 51218-45-2 |
|---|---|
| Solubility in water: | 530 ppm (at 20 degrees C) (15) |
| Solubility in solvents: | very soluble in benzene, dichloromethane, hexane, methanol, and octan-1-ol; miscible with xylene toluene, dimethyl formamide, methyl cellusolve, butyl cellusolve, ethylene dichloride, and cyclohexanone. Insoluble in ethylene glycol and propylene glycol. |
| Boiling point: | 100 degrees C (at 0.001 mm Hg) (15) |
| Vapor pressure: | 1.3 X 10 to the minus 5 mm Hg at 20 degrees C (14) |
| Koc: | 1.48 at a soil depth of 10-20 cm; 0.92 at 40-50 cm (1) |
| Kd: | 2.73 (3) |
To Top
For more information relative to pesticides and their use in New York State, please contact the PMEP staff at:
|
 |
This site is supported, in part, by funding from the  |