Controls on roxarsone transport in agricultural watersheds

The use of the organoarsenical roxarsone, added to poultry feed to increase weight gain, results in elevated As concentrations (10–50 mg/kg) in poultry litter. This litter is used extensively as fertilizer in agricultural regions. The authors investigated the sources and sinks of As within the vadose zone of an agricultural watershed in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, USA, an area of intense poultry production. Batch experiments were constructed to examine adsorption and biotransformation characteristics of roxarsone within the Ap and Bt soil horizons of Frederick series soils, common in the Shenandoah Valley. Roxarsone exhibits weak adsorption to the Ap soils; however, it is rapidly biotransformed to As(V) in this soil horizon. Although the Bt horizon demonstrated strong adsorption of roxarsone and thus may act as a sink for As species, soil water data collected from lysimeters at an agricultural field site suggest that As, as As(V), is mobile in the Bt soil water. It is unclear if this mobilization is due to competitive reactions with phosphate or organic acids, also present in litter. These results have implications for As cycling within poultry-dominated watersheds. For watersheds that have experienced years of litter application, As and other litter-associated species will be attenuated in soils through adsorption to mineral surfaces, but a variety of geochemical processes, such as competitive adsorption, may allow for enhanced transport of As through the vadose zone and into aquifer systems.