Effects of atrazine on soil microarthropods in experimental maize fields.

Atrazine treatment of experimental fields cultivated with maize may or may not cause significant decreases in microarthropod populations living in the 0-10cm layer. Immediate negative effects on Acarina and Collembola population density were found in one field and no effects in another. In the first field atrazine had only very limited or nil effects on soil microarthropod populations at the recommended agricultural dose of 2 kg /ha treated plot, any negative effects were followed by a recovery one month from treatment. The microarthropods living below 10 cm depth never showed any significant reduction in numbers