Project Description

The fate of a pesticide in soil is governed by three fundamental processes:

1) sorption by soil organic matter and other soil particles,

2) chemical or biological transformation, and

3) transportation to the atmosphere, surface water and/or ground water.

The soil properties such as texture, structure, microbial populations and activity, nutrient status of soil, pH, and organic carbon contents are variable in space and time and these in turn affect the sorption, degradation and transport of pesticides in soils.  Estimations by pesticide fate models may be improved if this variability is accounted for. The purpose of this Ph.D project at SLU is to gain a better understanding of the variability of pesticide fate at catchment scale.

Supervisors

Prof. Dr. Nick Jarvis

Prof. Dr. Lars Bergström

Dr. John Stenström

Dr. Jenny Kreuger

Dr. Mats Larsbo

Previous Degrees

M.Sc. (Hons.) in Soil and Environmental Sciences from University of Agriculture, Faisalabad-Pakistan

B.Sc. (Hons.) Agriculture with major in Soil Science from University of Agriculture, Faisalabad-Pakistan

Publications

Ghafoor, A; Moeys, J; Stenström, J; Tranter, G; Jarvis, N. 2011. Modeling spatial variation in microbial degradation of pesticides in soil. Environmental Science & Technology, 45, 6411-6419.

Ghafoor, A., Jarvis, N.J., Thierfelder, T. & Stenström, J. 2011. Measurements and modeling of pesticide persistence in soil at the catchment scale. Science of the Total Environment, 409 (10), 1900-1908.

Ghafoor, A.,  M. Zia-ur-Rehman ; A. Ghafoor ; G. Murtaza ; M. Sabir. 2008. Fractionation and availability of cadmium to wheat as affected by inorganic amendments. International Journal of Agriculture and Biology, 10 (5), 469-474.

Ahmad, I., Alvi, A., Tarar, F.S.A., Ghafoor, A., Tarar, Z.H., and Mehmood, T . 2005. Yield and yield component's response of mungbean to different phosphorus levels and row spacings. Indus. J. Biolo. Sci, 2 (1),  27-31.

Alvi, A., Yaseen, M., Khalid, J., Ghafoor, A., and Ali, M.A. 2004. Determination of optimum phosphorus rate in rice-wheat cropping systems: growth and yield paramters. Pak. J. Soil Sci.  23(1-2) ,28-34.