Comparison of copper levels in runoff from fresh-Market vegetable production using polyethylene mulch or a vegetative mulch

摘要

Runoff from tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill.) production with polyethylene mulch has been implicated in the failure of commercial shellfish farms in the Mid-Atlantic Region of the United States. Copper, applied in the from of copper hydroxide, is the most widely used fungicide-bactericide for control of tomato diseases and recently has been detected in the Chesapeake Bay(USA) watershed. Elevated levels of copper have been shown to have adverse effects on shellfish, finfish, and Other aquatic organisms. This research evaluates the off-site movement of copper with the dissolved phase and the particulate phase Of runoff from controlled field plots containing tomato plants grown in either polyethylene mulch or a vegetative mulch, hairy Vetch(Vicia villosa Roth.).