Tebuthiuron is a residual herbicide recommended in pre-emergence application for weed control in sugarcane crops. However, the behavior of this herbicide on the straw left on the soil surface of sugarcane areas harvested mechanically without burning is not very known. To better understand tebuthiuron behavior, this study evaluated tebuthiuron dynamics in sugarcane straw at different interval times and different rainfall intensities after such application. Four trials were carried out to using a completely randomized design with four replications. The first trial evaluated herbicide transposition in 0; 1; 2; 4; 6; 8; 10; 15 and 20 t ha-1 of straw at the moment of application; the second trial evaluated herbicide transposition in 5; 10 and 15 t ha-1 of straw, simulating rainfall equivalent to 2.5; 5.0; 10; 15; 20; 35; 50 and 65 mm, one day after tebuthiuron application (DAA). The third trial evaluated the effect of different tebuthiuron permanence times (0; 1; 7; 14 and 28 DAA) on the straw (10 t ha-1) in function of the same simulated precipitations as in the second trial and 20 mm of rainfall at 7 and 14 DAA. The fourth trial studied transposition of the herbicide applied in 10 t ha-1 of straw, with posterior simulated rainfall at 20 mm using water, and another treatment with 20 mm of simulated rainfall using vinasse one day after tebuthiuron application (DAA). In all these studies, the quantification of the herbicide was accomplished by HPLC. The dynamics studies showed that the highest amounts of straw had the lowest amounts of transposed herbicides at the moment of the application. The second trial showed, that highest amount of straw provided the lowest total amount extracted in the simulation of maximum precipitation. The third trial results indicated that the higher the period the product remained on the straw before the rain, the lesser is the total amount of the product extracted using 65 mm precipitation. Even simulating rain of 20 mm at 7 and 14 DAA, minimum amounts of the product were extracted. Using vinasse as simulated rainfall provided an increase of 17% of leached tebuthiuron, compared with the same amount of simulated rainfall using water.
herbicide; leaching; raw sugarcane
