Toxicity comparison of atrazine on Eisenia fetida in artificial soil and three natural soils

Atrazine has been widely used in the world and caused environmental pollution, especially soil pollution. When assessing the toxicity of atrazine in soil, most studies used standardized artificial soils, while few studies focused on the real soil environments. In the present study, three natural soils and artificial soil were selected as test soils to study and compare the toxicities of atrazine to Eisenia fetida. Acute toxicity of atrazine was determined by filter paper and soil tests. In chronic toxicity study, after atrazine exposure, the content of reactive oxygen species in Eisenia fetida significantly increased and showed a dose-response relationship. The activity changes of three antioxidant enzymes and glutathione transferase showed that atrazine had obvious oxidative stress effect on earthworms. The contents of malondialdehyde and 8-hydroxy deoxyguanosine in 0.1 and 1 mg/kg atrazine treatment groups were significantly higher than the control, indicating that medium and high concentrations of atrazine could cause lipid and DNA damage in Eisenia fetida. The acute toxicity results and the integrated biomarker response index for chronic toxicity indicated that the toxicity order of atrazine was: red clay > fluvo-aquic soil > artificial soil > black soil, and that the toxicity of atrazine in artificial soil was not representative of its toxicity in real soil environment. The results of correlation analysis showed that three soil property parameters of organic carbon, organic matter and sand were most related to the toxicity of atrazine. [Display omitted] •The toxicity of atrazine to earthworms in artificial soil cannot represent the toxicities in natural soils.•Atrazine showed greatest toxicity in red clay.•Toxicity order was: red clay > fluvo-aquic soil > artificial soil > black soil.•Atrazine induced oxidative stress in earthworms in different soils.