title: Critical review on the environmental fate of quaternary ammonium herbicides in soils devoted to vineyards.
abstract: Quaternary Ammonium Herbicides (QUATs) are nonselective contact herbicides, widely used at weed emergence to protect a wide range of crops. The benefits achieved by the use of these herbicides are indisputable. In soils devoted to vineyards, their uses increase the yield and the quality of the grapes for winemaking. However, several environmental dangers have emerged from the overuse of these compounds. Therefore, there has been a great interest in the presence of these compounds in soils, water, and food. Once in the soil, the mobility of these agrochemicals plays an important role in their fate and transport in the environment. This is why we mainly focused our review on (a) their physical and chemical properties and their activity, (b) the factors affecting their mobility in soils, (c) the quality of surrounding waters, and (d) the measures to reduce their contamination, especially in the case of agricultural soils devoted to vineyards.
authors.affiliation: Soil and Agricultural Science Group, Plant Biology and Soil Science Department, Faculty of Food Science and Technology, University of Vigo, Ourense Campus, E32004 Ourense, Spain.
authors.forename: Mirian
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Pateiro-Moure
authors.forename: Manuel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Arias-Estévez
authors.forename: Jesús
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Simal-Gándara
mesh_terms: D018556:Crops, Agricultural; D006540:Herbicides / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism; D000644:Quaternary Ammonium Compounds / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism; D012989:Soil Pollutants / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism; D027843:Vitis; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D006540:Herbicides; D000644:Quaternary Ammonium Compounds; D012989:Soil Pollutants; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical