Diffusive gradients in thin films (DGT) for measuring potentially bioavailable pesticide residues in soil systems: current challenges and perspectives
Date
2025
Authors
Aralappanavar, V.K.
Sarkar, B.
Doolette, C.L.
Donnellan, L.
Mason, S.
Rose, M.
Hoffmann, P.
Zhang, H.
Lombi, E.
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Journal article
Citation
Critical Reviews in Environmental Science and Technology, online, 2025; online(17):1-22
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Abstract
Pesticide residues in terrestrial ecosystems may cause unintended toxicity toward soil micro- and macro-fauna and plants leading to detrimental effects on environmental quality and crop productivity. However, conventional methods for measuring pesticide residues only quantify the total pesticide concentration in soil, which may in some cases be higher than the portion to which organisms are actually exposed (i.e., the bioavailable fraction). To measure potentially bioavailable pesticide residues and/or other organic pollutants (OPs), the diffusive gradients in thin films (DGT) technique has been proposed. DGT is an in situ passive sampling technique that mimics the diffusional flux of a target compound toward plant roots under a diffusion-limited system, typically present in the soil. In other words, DGT measures the analyte present in the soil solution and analyte fractions that are resupplied from the solid phase. Due to this benefit, DGT has been designed and tested for measuring the potential bioavailability of various OPs but with less focus to date on soil pesticide residues. This paper reviews recent advances in the application of the DGT technique, focussing on pesticides in soil system, and provides perspectives on using this method to accurately assess the potential bioavailability of soil pesticide residues to plants. Research to date suggests that the DGT technique can predict the concentration of bioavailable pesticide residues more accurately than conventional solvent extraction techniques or soil pore water analyses. This presents many opportunities for the development of DGT-based standard methods for supporting soil pesticide management and risk assessments.
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Data source: supplementary material, https://doi.org/10.1080/10643389.2025.2520553
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Copyright 2025 The Authors. (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)
Access Condition Notes: This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, and is not altered, transformed, or built upon in any way. The terms on which this article has been published allow the posting of the Accepted Manuscript in a repository by the author(s) or with their consent.