Cotton and wool yarns were buried in flooded, half-flooded or unflooded soil containing pesticide (CAT, 2, 4-D, DCMU) or heavy metal (cadmium, copper, lead).
These yarns were taken at intervals from the soil after 2-20 days and were dried in the air for a day after cleaning in running water. Degradation of the yarns were estimated by Schopper's yarn tensile strength tester as reduction in the tensile strength.
The degradation of cotton yarns in flooded and unflooded soil containing DCMU, wool yarns in flooded and unflooded soil containing 2, 4-D and wool yarns in flooded soil containing cadmium were inhibited strongly by comparison with the degradations in soil without the chemicals.
The other chemicals used in this experiment delayed the time required for degradations of the yarns, but did not influence so very strongly on the degradations in any soil conditions.