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Chemical Pesticides and Soil Health: The Urgent Need for a...
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Chemical Pesticides and Soil Health: The Urgent Need for a New Concept in Agriculture

A special issue of Agriculture (ISSN 2077-0472). This special issue belongs to the section "Agricultural Soils".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (10 June 2024) | Viewed by 3455

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Romualda Bejger

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Bioengineering, West Pomeranian University of Technology in Szczecin, Papieża Pawła VI No 3, 71-459 Szczecin, Poland
Interests: behavior of pesticides; soil organic matter; spectroscopic methods
Dr. Małgorzata Włodarczyk

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Bioengineering, West Pomeranian University of Technology in Szczecin, Papieża Pawła VI No 3, 71-459 Szczecin, Poland
Interests: pesticides mobility; formulation; soil; hydrogel microcapsules;controlled release of pesticides

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Progress in the use of chemical pesticides is the result of progress in a variety of areas, such as production technique, the technical scope of application equipment, agricultural production technology and farm management framework. The intensive application of chemical pesticides contributes to the intensification of food production, but at the same time, may be one of the main source of the anthropogenic pollution of soils. The widespread use of pesticides in agricultural areas promotes the deterioration of soil quality. Pesticide residues occurring in the soil are primary toxic chemicals that adversely affect human health and represent a serious risk regarding their introduction into the food chain. Thus, the health-related and environmental effects of chemical pesticides pose a serious problem that urgently requires new approaches, especially in terms of the reformation of agricultural practices and the implementation of sustainable and environmentally friendly methods.

This Special Issue will focus mainly on the impact of pesticides on the health of agricultural soils through different approaches and will present new agricultural concepts that are able to address the problem of pesticides' harmful effects and eliminate the difficulties associated with their use.

Dr. Romualda Bejger
Dr. Małgorzata Włodarczyk
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • soil health
  • soil pollution
  • organic contaminants
  • pesticides
  • herbicides
  • fungicides
  • insecticides
  • food security
  • sustainable practices
  • reforming agricultural practices

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

22 pages, 5324 KiB  
Article
Evaluation of the Impact of Flutriafol on Soil Culturable Microorganisms and on Soil Enzymes Activity
by Diana-Larisa Roman, Mariana Adina Matica, Bianca-Vanesa Boros, Constantina-Bianca Vulpe and Adriana Isvoran
Agriculture 2024, 14(9), 1445; https://doi.org/10.3390/agriculture14091445 - 24 Aug 2024
Viewed by 1089
Abstract
Fungicides play a role in managing plant diseases but raise concerns about environmental impact, emphasizing the need to understand and minimize their effects on non-target ecosystems. Flutriafol is a fungicide used to combat fungal diseases in crops. It has two enantiomers that exhibit [...] Read more.
Fungicides play a role in managing plant diseases but raise concerns about environmental impact, emphasizing the need to understand and minimize their effects on non-target ecosystems. Flutriafol is a fungicide used to combat fungal diseases in crops. It has two enantiomers that exhibit different levels of efficacy and environmental impact. This study focuses on evaluating the effects of different doses of flutriafol on soil microorganism populations and enzyme activity and the possible specificity of enantiomer interactions with soil enzymes by combining experimental and computational approaches. The effects of different doses of flutriafol on the population of microorganism and on the activity of soil enzymes were experimentally assessed. Molecular docking of the enantiomers with soil enzymes was used to assess the possible stereoselectivity of the interactions. Regardless of the dose used (normal dose recommended by the manufacturer for cereal crops, half this dose, and double dose), flutriafol had no significant impact on soil microbial communities or on catalase activity. The half dose of flutriafol produced increases in the activity of dehydrogenases (8%), phosphatases (26%), and urease (33%) during the first 7 days of incubation. Molecular docking showed that both enantiomers were able to bind to the active sites of dehydrogenases and phosphatases. The average value of the interaction energy observed for (R)-flutriafol with dehydrogenases was −7.85 kcal/mol, compared to −7.45 kcal/mol for the interaction of (S)-flutriafol with these enzymes. Similarly, the interaction energy obtained for the interaction of (R)-flutriafol with phosphatase was −9.16 kcal/mol, compared to −9.04 kcal/mol for the interaction of (S)-flutriafol with this enzyme. This study confirms the need to implement optimized application practices when using flutriafol by considering the enantiomer that is most effective on the target organism and less toxic to non-target ecosystems. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Chemical Pesticides and Soil Health: The Urgent Need for a New Concept in Agriculture)
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23 pages, 5725 KiB  
Article
Impact of Cypermethrin (Arpon G) on Soil Health and Zea mays Growth: A Microbiological and Enzymatic Study
by Agata Borowik, Jadwiga Wyszkowska, Magdalena Zaborowska and Jan Kucharski
Agriculture 2023, 13(12), 2261; https://doi.org/10.3390/agriculture13122261 - 11 Dec 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1675
Abstract
In defining the research objective, consideration was given to the expanding range of applications of third-generation pyrethroids, including cypermethrin—the active substance in Arpon G preparation. The interest in cypermethrin is due to its high thermostability and photostability. This study verified the effect of [...] Read more.
In defining the research objective, consideration was given to the expanding range of applications of third-generation pyrethroids, including cypermethrin—the active substance in Arpon G preparation. The interest in cypermethrin is due to its high thermostability and photostability. This study verified the effect of Arpon G on both the soil condition and the growth and development of Zea mays. To this end, the alpha and beta diversity of bacterial and fungal communities were characterized using the NGS (Next Generation Sequencing) method, as was the response of soil enzymes. The positive response of Z. mays to the soil application of cypermethrin corresponded to higher soil microbial and biochemical activity. Sowing the soil with Z. mays moderated changes in the biodiversity of alpha- and beta-bacterial communities to a greater extent than cypermethrin. The influence of both parameters was less significant for fungi. Although bacteria belonging to the Actinobacteria phylum and fungi from the Ascomycota phylum dominated in the soil, the use of Arpon G reduced the abundance of unique nucleotide sequences in the mycobiome to a greater extent than in the bacteriobiome. The inhibitory potential of Arpon G was only evident for acid phosphatase (by 81.49%) and arylsulfatase (by 16.66%) in the soil sown with Z. mays. The activity of catalase, dehydrogenases, β-glucosidase, arylsulfatase, and alkaline phosphatase was most strongly associated with the abundance of bacteria, while dehydrogenases were correlated with the abundance of fungi at the genus level. Arpon G can, thus, be considered a safe insecticide for soil conditions and, consequently, for its productive function. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Chemical Pesticides and Soil Health: The Urgent Need for a New Concept in Agriculture)
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