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In China, pesticide retailers have often been accused of providing inaccurate advice on pesticide use to farmers in a chaotic pesticide market. However, it is unclear whether governmental regulation of sales and advice on pesticide use by pesticide retailers induces them to provide accurate advice.Using survey data of 242 pesticide retailers in 2016, this study analyzes how pesticide retailers in China provide advice on pesticide use to farmers and examines whether governmental regulation induces pesticide retailers to provide accurate advice. The surveyed retailers were found to advise farmers to use the correct active ingredients in only 75.6% of observations. Retailers recommended pesticide application rates higher than the scientifically recommended levels among 57.2% of observations. The bivariate probit model estimation results show that highly intensive governmental regulation increases the probability of correct advice on pesticide use of pesticide retailers in the county and township seats by 13% and 19%, respectively. Moreover, highly intensive regulation can also increase the probability of pesticide non-overuse advice by the retailers from the retailers in the villages by 38%.Highly intensive governmental regulation can induce pesticide retailers to provide more accurate advice on pesticide use to farmers, but the effects differ across the locations of pesticide retailers. © 2021 Society of Chemical Industry.

The ubiquitous presence of contaminants like pesticides in the various environmental matrices has become a concern for environmental sustainability and global stability. Pesticides are a distinctive class of environmental contaminants that are specifically introduced into the environment to kill or inhibit pests attacking the different crops. Although pesticide application is beneficial to crop production by serving several significant purposes, like protection against vector-borne diseases and crop loss, there are substantial concerns as they have a persistent nature and can possess serious consequences because of harmful effects to non-targeted beings comprising humans also. Pesticide consumption has reached 4.1 million tonnes/year in 2017 almost 81% from 1990. Recent data suggest pesticides account for 14–20% of global suicides from 2006 to 2015 resulting in 111,000–168,000 deaths annually from 2010 to 2014. About 14 million people have died from suicide by consuming pesticides since the beginning of the Green revolution. About 1 million accidental pesticide poisoning occur each year causing 20,000 fatalities approximately. For this reason, the occurrence of pesticides in different mediums like crop, air, water resources, fruits and vegetables, soil, plants, birds, animal products, and human beings was reviewed. This paper presents an overview of pesticides occurrence, distribution, extraction method, analytical techniques for their detection. This review will assist policymakers to enforce guidelines to restrict the redundant use of pesticides.

Introduction. Pesticides as biologically active compounds posing potential hazard to worker’s health may cause both acute and chronic occupational poisonings (diseases). Apart from the occupational setting, many people get exposed to pesticides during their use in personal subsidiary plots. Various pesticide application techniques, such as ground-based boom spraying of field crops, air blast spraying of gardens, aerial spraying of fields and forests, treatment of greenhouses, seed dressing, fumigation of grain and warehouses, preparation and application of baits, require a differentiated approach to precautionary measures. Safety use practices for pesticides developed by F.F. Erisman Federal Scientific Center of Hygiene in the past shall be revised to incorporate changes in formulations, techniques, and regulations. Objective. To substantiate hazard-specific safety requirements for various pesticide application techniques and equipment in the agricultural industry. Materials and methods. We analyzed regulatory documents and guidelines, results of our own long-term studies, and publicly available information on the safe use of pesticides in agriculture. Results. Based on our findings, we suggest measures for the safe use of pesticides complying with appropriate regulations for the processed crops and application rules and taking into account conditions of the equipment used. We also provide recommendations for prevention of acute pesticide poisoning for agricultural workers, farmers and users from the standpoint of occupational health. Conclusion. It is important to develop a profound document summarizing occupational safety and health requirements for all pesticide use practices.

Background Integrating unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) as a new method of pesticide application into existing commercial crop protection systems requires extensive research and comparison to conventional, proven application technology. Pest control expressed as efficacy against target pests, and spray quality expressed as coverage and chemical residue are three key criteria. We investigated and compared these quantitative parameters between a multi-rotor UAV and conventional piloted airplanes in two commercial alfalfa production systems. Results Effective and equivalent control of leaf-feeding insect pests was achieved by both methods of aerial application when delivering chlorantraniliprole at the same labeled use rate in different spray volumes (46.8 and 93.5 L/ha) on commercially grown alfalfa in California. Residue levels and spray coverage were also comparable and consistent between the UAV and airplane applications across three sampling techniques, specifically residue levels on alfalfa, insecticide recovery from filter paper, and spray coverage on water sensitive cards. Differences in droplet size and deposit characteristics were more variable for the UAV than airplanes based on analysis of deposition images. Conclusion The results of this study provide confidence supporting the use of small-scale multi-rotor UAVs for pesticide application on agricultural crops. According to the parameters tested, UAV application quality and crop protection performance were comparable to that of the conventional fixed wing airplane application. However, the droplet spectrum and the short-term fate of droplets from unmanned aerial spray system require further optimization for effective and efficient crop protection with minimal risk to the environment.

BACKGROUND The assessment of the environmental risks for pesticides is a current topic of the European Union (EU) strategy 'Farm to Fork'. Therefore, an analysis of the status quo of pesticide use from 2010 to 2015 and the associated environmental risks was performed for sugar beet cultivation in Germany. Based on this assessment, crop protection strategies should be developed that contribute to risk reduction. RESULTS Pesticide use data from 2314 randomly chosen sugar beet growing farms were available from annual farm surveys from 2010 until 2015. Possible environmental risks from pesticide applications were calculated with the model SYNOPS-GIS. Each pesticide application pattern was combined with several model fields. The concentrations of active ingredients in the non-target compartments, namely soil, neighboring surface waters and field margins, were used to determined risk indices (exposure toxicity ratios, ETRs) for different terrestrial and aquatic reference species. ETRs were mainly lower than a risk threshold used throughout this study (ETR = 1). The risks caused by herbicide use were studied in more detail since herbicides are applied on nearly all fields. The aquatic risks posed by herbicides were independent of specific active ingredients or application patterns. Instead, certain combinations of active ingredients, application dates and field-specific environmental conditions provoked higher risks. The aquatic risks were strongly influenced by the distance of the fields to surface waters. CONCLUSIONS Further risk mitigation seems possible by combining field-specific measures and technical options. © 2021 Society of Chemical Industry.

Pesticides are widely used to protect food production and meet global food demand but are also ubiquitous environmental pollutants, causing adverse effects on water quality, biodiversity and human health. Here we use a global database of pesticide applications and a spatially explicit environmental model to estimate the world geography of environmental pollution risk caused by 92 active ingredients in 168 countries. We considered a region to be at risk of pollution if pesticide residues in the environment exceeded the no-effect concentrations, and to be at high risk if residues exceeded this by three orders of magnitude. We find that 64% of global agricultural land (approximately 24.5 million km2) is at risk of pesticide pollution by more than one active ingredient, and 31% is at high risk. Among the high-risk areas, about 34% are in high-biodiversity regions, 5% in water-scarce areas and 19% in low- and lower-middle-income nations. We identify watersheds in South Africa, China, India, Australia and Argentina as high-concern regions because they have high pesticide pollution risk, bear high biodiversity and suffer from water scarcity. Our study expands earlier pesticide risk assessments as it accounts for multiple active ingredients and integrates risks in different environmental compartments at a global scale. Pesticide pollution is a risk for two-thirds of agriculture land. A third of high-risk areas are in high-biodiversity regions and a fifth are in low- and lower-middle-income areas, according to environmental modelling combined with pesticide application data.

Pesticide overuse is still prevalent in many developing countries. And improving farmers' pest control ability is considered to be the key to achieve pesticide reduction. Based on the survey data of 822 rice farmers from Hubei, Jiangxi, and Zhejiang provinces in the Yangtze River Basin, we demonstrated the impact of pest control ability and technical guidance on farmers' pesticide overuse. We find that rice farmers' insufficient pest control ability does not necessarily lead to pesticide overuse, which depends on whether there is external technical guidance. The technical guidance of government agrotechnical stations and pesticide retailers can weaken pesticide overuse caused by lack of personal ability. In terms of sample, variable and method substitution, the above estimated results are still robust. In addition, we find that different subjects and links of pesticide technical guidance will bring different impacts. The technical guidance of agrotechnical stations mainly plays a role in the time and type of pesticide application, while the pesticide retailers mainly play a role in the time and dosage of pesticide application. This paper emphasizes that strengthening the guidance and regulation of pesticide technology guidance subject is also an efficient way of pesticide reduction. This will help to improve the effect of agricultural extension and accelerate the realization of pesticide reduction target in China.

Termites are major emerging pests of cocoa in Africa. However, their dispersion models on cocoa trees as well as their sampling plans remain unclear. Moreover, the effect of shade trees on the severity of termite infestation on cocoa is poorly known. We evaluated the severity of termite infestation on cocoa trees in relation to shade management in five cocoa agroforestry systems in southern Cameroon with shade cover ranging from rustic to full sun. The dispersion models of termites on cocoa were analyzed using Taylor’s power law, Nachman model and Iwao’s method. We then simulated the optimal sampling sizes for pest monitoring based on parameters of the best-fitted dispersion model using Southwood’s and Green’s formulas. Our results suggest that shade trees reduce belowground infestation by termites and encourage aboveground infestation; however, belowground infestation is more severe. Taylor’s power law was the best-fitted model to describe the aggregative dispersion pattern of termites on cocoa trees. The estimated sampling plans suggested that Green’s sampling was more precise for termites sampling, where less trees is required, than Southwood’s sampling. This study is pioneer on dispersion patterns and sampling plans of termites on cocoa and could be used by researchers and farmers for decision making about pesticide application.

Agricultural technical education is widely used in Chinese agricultural production to reduce farmers’ pesticide overuse. However, the effectiveness of technical education is questioned by scholars ...

The article analyzes the existing various plant protection products to regulate the number of pests. They are an integral part of modern technologies for growing crops. To make the optimal decision on the application of any method of plant protection, it is necessary to consider the agroecosystem as a whole. Over the past two decades, significant changes in weather conditions, their distribution by seasons, have affected not only the quality and environmental friendliness of products, but also the conservation of resources in agri-environmental approaches to agriculture. The advantages and disadvantages of the use of chemical plant protection, which currently dominates in the plant protection system, are presented. The potential of the biological method of plant protection, which is an alternative to chemical in the cultivation of crops, is revealed. Recently, this method is receiving more and more attention due to the fact that the widespread use of chemical methods is a danger to human health and disrupts environmental processes in nature, has a detrimental effect on the beneficial microflora. Consideration of the environmental damage, economic viability and environmental safety of chemical protection measures must be mandatory. Technical, economic and economic efficiency of pesticide application make it possible to evaluate the results of plant protection. Environmental problems arising from the use of pesticides encourage the search for new methods of regulating the number of pests. The new concept of integrated plant protection is the management of population dynamics of harmful and beneficial organisms on the basis of phytosanitary forecasts of different timeliness and purposeful application of modern methods and means of plant protection taking into account environmental protection and use of economic thresholds. The basic principle of nature management should be the ecological and economic principle.

The primary factors that impact food safety are the quality and safety of agricultural products. The quality and safety of agricultural products are closely related to farmers’ decision-making behavior. In addition, the decision-making behavior of the government and consumers is the key factor of farmers’ decision-making behavior. The study explores the ideal state among the government, farmers and consumers to promote the improvement of the quality of agricultural products, thereby contributing to food safety. The study includes the government, farmers and consumers in an evolutionary game model to explore game relationships and evolution paths of decision making among the three stakeholders. The dynamic analysis of the decision replication, the stability analysis of strategy evolution, and the numerical simulation experiment verify the following: the evolutionary process of the decision-making behavior of the three stakeholders to an ideal state is affected by many factors, and the value ranges of the different factors have different impacts on the convergence speed of the three stakeholders to an ideal state; When certain conditions are met, the decision-making behaviors of the three stakeholders can evolve to an ideal state, and effective government supervision can promote the transformation of farmers from nongreen to green pesticide application behavior, and encourage consumers to purchase high-quality agricultural products.

Farmers suffer from injuries and diseases due to extreme pesticide exposure and inadequate knowledge on farming health-safety behaviors. This study focused on developing health and welfare awareness of farmers towards conventional pesticide application. It aimed to identify the level of farmers’ awareness of the negative effects and preventive use of pesticides. One hundred and seventy-five rice and vegetable farmers’ respondents were sampled randomly from selected barangays of San Jose, Camarines Sur. Combinations of internationally published qualitative and quantitative research methods were utilized in this study including survey, interview, and focus group discussion using a standardized questionnaire. The data gathered were tabulated and analyzed by means of descriptive statistics. Findings revealed that farmers who had long exposure to pesticides suffer from skin and respiratory diseases. The majority of the farmers were aware of the health hazards caused by pesticides but refused to wear personal protective gear due to convenience and cost-availability factors. It was suggested that training on proper usage of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and health welfare awareness campaign must be conducted through extension services by SUC’s and the Department of Agriculture in collaboration with the Rural Health Unit of San Jose, Camarines Sur.

The present study investigated levels of understanding of pesticide handling among the farmers of Punjab by focusing on their ability to understand the information displayed on product labels, which might affect risk reduction. A set of 9 statements were put to the farmers through Google forms during the Covid-19 pandemic period as it was not possible to visit individual farms of the farmers. Basic information about the farmer such as gender, age, educational level, and farming practices (crop types and yields, agrochemical products used etc.) was recorded. A discussion was also performed with individual farmer regarding practices of pesticide application followed. It was found that 27 (24.32 %), 60 (54.10%) and 24 (21.62%) farmers were in the age group of young (up to 30 yr), middle age (30-50 yr ) and elder (>50 yr) , respectively. The land holding status revealed that 46 (41.44%), 32 (28.83%) and 33(29.73%) farmers possessed less than 2 ha, 2 to 4 ha and more than 4 ha. indicating that majority population falls under small land holding ( 50 yr) were either equally or more aware than the younger population. The study revealed that there was no correlation between the land holding, age and awareness level about various pesticides usage and its harmful effects. Hence, it was observed that the education level could have played a significant role in the awareness level of farmers.

Current operator feedback from in-field pesticide application operations conveys limited information and often does not allow the operator to visualize a true representation of their performance. Farm management information systems (FMIS) typically do not account for overlap, varying application rates across the width of the spray boom during turns, or off-rate errors due to controller response. The pesticide application coverage training (PACT) tool was developed to deploy data analytics methodologies to sprayer operational data collected during field applications. The goal was to compare enhanced feedback via the PACT tool versus data generated from commercially available FMIS software today. Data were collected for multiple Nebraska fields and processed by the PACT program which consisted of a novel MATLAB program developed for this project. The PACT program successfully generated high-resolution as-applied maps and the automated application report further quantified the contributions of these errors to the total error to illustrate how overlap, turning errors or controller response issues may have individually affected application accuracy. PACT program output metrics were compared with current data provided by FMIS software. Field-average metrics were not found to be significantly different when comparing the PACT program to the FMIS output; however, when examining how in-field errors were distributed amongst various application rate ranges, significant differences were noted in comparison to the FMIS output. Thus, the PACT program was able to quantify and illustrate application rate variation due to boom section overlap and turning movements unaccounted for in traditional FMIS software.

Promoting agrochemical reduction is a prerequisite for high-quality development of agriculture. It is still controversial whether Internet use can reduce pesticide use. This study uses the survey data of 670 vegetable growers of two provinces in China, Shandong and Shaanxi. Probit model and bootstrap method were used to analyze the impact of Internet use in reduction of pesticide application by farmers. Shallow use and deep use of the Internet were taken into account. On this basis, multiple mediating effects were tested on the following three aspects: information acquisition ability, awareness of green production, and e-commerce sales capability. The study found that shallow use and deep use of the Internet have a significant direct impact on pesticide reduction by farmers. Information acquisition ability, awareness of green production, and e-commerce sales capability all play a significant positive mediating role in the deep use of the Internet affecting pesticide reduction. However, in the process of shallow use of the Internet affecting pesticide reduction, only the mediating effect of green production awareness is significant. Concurrently, compared with the shallow use of the Internet, the deep use of the Internet has a significant positive impact on rural groups with weak human capital and weak social capital.

Gender plays an important role in agriculture from managing work at the farm field to communicate with buyers. There is a significant division of labor among rice farmers in Nepal; thus, the study was conducted to identify the role of males and females in a farm field and also in decision making and other relevant activities. A random sampling survey was conducted where the respondents aged between 35-55 were highest and 85% of the respondents were males. The area was found to be dominated by the Brahmins. Female workers were found to be involved in highly unskilled work like transplanting, uprooting, weeding, and male workers were found to be involved in decision making, marketing, land preparation, pesticide application. Harvesting was done by females and then threshing by males. Equal involvement of males and females laborers was observed in the irrigation of rice crops. Women's less access to decision making was found to be due to lack of land ownership and lower level of education than those of males. Thus, the need for women empowerment is necessary for the area and also exposure of female labors to different skill-oriented training should be encouraged. The focus of NGOs/ INGOs should be headed to uplift the women's role in farming in Nepal.

We present a synthetic review and expert consultation that assesses the actual risks posed by arthropod pests in four major crops, identifies targets for integrated pest management (IPM) in terms of cultivated land needing pest control and gauges the implementation “readiness” of non-chemical alternatives. Our assessment focuses on the world’s primary target pests for neonicotinoid-based management: western corn rootworm (WCR, Diabrotica virgifera virgifera) in maize; wireworms (Agriotes spp.) in maize and winter wheat; bird cherry-oat aphid (Rhopalosiphum padi) in winter wheat; brown planthopper (BPH, Nilaparvata lugens) in rice; cotton aphid (Aphis gossypii) and silver-leaf whitefly (SLW, Bemisia tabaci) in cotton. First, we queried scientific literature databases and consulted experts from different countries in Europe, North America, and Asia about available IPM tools for each crop-pest system. Next, using an online survey, we quantitatively assessed the economic relevance of target pests by compiling country-level records of crop damage, yield impacts, extent of insecticide usage, and “readiness” status of various pest management alternatives (i.e., research, plot-scale validation, grower-uptake). Biological control received considerable scientific attention, while agronomic strategies (e.g., crop rotation), insurance schemes, decision support systems (DSS), and innovative pesticide application modes were listed as key alternatives. Our study identifies opportunities to advance applied research, IPM technology validation, and grower education to halt or drastically reduce our over-reliance on systemic insecticides globally. he authors would like to thank the Stichting Triodos Foundation (The Netherlands) for funding the Task Force on Systemic Pesticides (TFSP) as a totally independent research group, for making this study and the relative open access possible. The Stichting Triodos Foundation received funds from the Umwelt Stiftung Greenpeace (Germany), Pollinis (France) and the M.A.O.C. Gravin van Bylandt Stichting (The Netherlands).

The development of agriculture yield is closely related to the use of pesticides. This review categorizes and identifies the pathway of toxicity in the environment and their prevention measures to reduce risks from pesticide use. The inherent properties of selected pesticides released into the environment through different routes such as spray, drift, vaporization, surface run-off, unlawful acts, spills and drainage discharges, and through leaching or soil dust are related to their potential effects on environmental health. The intensive use of various pesticides like BHC, endrin, heptachlor, heptachlor epoxide, DDT, endosulfan and pyrethroids have harmful effects on non-target organisms and interfere in the development of agriculture crops. The preventive measures for pesticides are the crop rotation, use of protective equipment, integrated pest management, protection and regulation policy in pesticide application. The development of alternatives to pesticides is also needed in order to advance the design of better farming systems. A regular monitoring programme of pest management would help to improve the production of high quality of food as well as to protect the health of the environment and humans.

Rice is a source of staple food whose fulfillment is a basic human right in realizing quality human resources. Therefore, in order to meet food needs, the Indonesian government has conducted various programs to increase production of various food commodities. One of the most important is the increase in national rice production through an intensification and intensification program. Control of plant pests (OPT) is a problem that is often faced by farmers. The use of synthetic pesticides is the easiest step for farmers to take. The use of pesticides in South Manokwari Regency is very high, this can be seen from the presence of kiosks that sell synthetic pesticides with a variety of trademarks, active ingredients and formulators in every agricultural center in the area of ​​South Manokwari Regency. There are 1 distributor and 12 retailers and 148 types of pesticides that have been circulating in the area of ​​South Manokwari Regency. The purpose of this study was to determine the Application of Pesticides and Residue Analysis in Farmer Rice Production in Sidomulyo Village, Oransbari District, South Manokwari District. This research is descriptive with survey techniques, direct interviews to obtain an overview of the application procedures, types, dosages, and frequency of use of pesticides and analyze the accumulation of pesticides in rice. The types of pesticides most widely used by farmers in Sidomulyo village in their efforts to control Plant Pests (OMO) in lowland rice cultivation are Demolish, Resotin and Klensect. The application is carried out by farmers by spraying so that there is direct contact between the control material, the control target and the plants. The dosage used by farmers in control is 300-340 liters / ha with the frequency of spraying 6-7 times each season. The results of the analysis of pesticide residues on rice products from Sidomulyo village farmers show that the residue is below the maximum residue limit set so that the rice produced by these farmers is safe for consumption. The research analysis shows that there is no correlation between the pesticide residues in rice produced by farmers in Sidomulyo village and the types of pesticides used, the frequency of application, the dosage / concentration of pesticides and the application method used by farmers.

In Bangladesh, the use of different types of pesticides has increased in crop protection purposes. These pesticides may affect farmers’ health and contaminate the aquatic environment. The objectives of the current study were to assess the use of pesticide by the vegetable farmers and their associated health hazards caused by pesticide application. A structured questionnaire was used to collect data from fifty vegetable farmers of three different villages at Mymensingh Sadar Upazila during February and March of 2019. Results showed that the mostly used pesticide was Mefonexam (used by 40% interviewed farmers), followed by Thiamethoxam + Chlorantraniliprole (24%), Profenofos + Cypermethrin (20%), and Propineb (10%). The highest application frequency was reported as 30 times for Ebamectin. The present study recorded Chlorpyrifos as the highest using dose (7.5 kg/ha) in vegetable farms. Approximately 42% of the farmers were reported to increase the amount of applying pesticide in the last 5 years where 46% continued same. More than half of the respondents (56%) were reported to use at least one protective measure during pesticide application. Most of the interviewed farmers (56%) reported no health risk while applying pesticides. Sixty percent of the interviewed farmers were claimed to have faced some negative health symptoms. Respondents were reported to face headache (31%), eye irritation (27%), vomiting (20%), dizziness (12%), and skin irritation (7%). The study indicates that the farmers of Mymensingh are not conscious about the proper use of pesticide, thus this kind of injudicious use of pesticide causes serious occupational health hazards. Res. Agric., Livest. Fish.7(1): 165-174, April 2020

Specialty crops, such as apples, are vulnerable to insects and pathogens, and require higher pesticide input than row crops, a significant fraction of which is off-target loss, causing adverse environmental and socio-economic impacts. An advanced laser-guided variable-rate sprayer (VRS) could improve spray deposition uniformity and minimize pesticide waste, while maintaining efficacy against insects and pathogens. Despite these merits, retrofitting a conventional sprayer with laser-guided variable-rate spraying functions adds to its cost. Thus, the objective of this study was to analyze the techno-economics of a conventional pesticide sprayer retrofitted with VRS, in comparison to a conventional constant-rate sprayer (CRS) for pesticide application during apple production. A techno-economic model was developed for the apple orchards covering areas of 4 and 20 ha, which are common orchard sizes in the USA. The model incorporated cost for operation, equipment, fuel use and labor during pesticide application. The data were obtained from field tests in orchards in Ohio, USA in years 2016 and 2017, literature, and the original VRS development team at USDA-ARS and Ohio State University. The results indicated that VRS can reduce pesticide costs by 60–67%, pesticide application time by 27–32% and labor and fuel by 28% compared to CRS. For larger orchards, VRS also reduced equipment requirement. Compared to CRS, overall annual pesticide application cost savings by using VRS were between $1420 and $1750 ha−1. The payback time for using VRS was estimated to be between 1.1 and 3.8 years for apple orchards between 4 and 20 ha, respectively, in Ohio.

It is of great theoretical and practical significance to understand the rules of the differences in pesticide use behaviors between large-scale and small-scale farmers, so as to regulate the behavior of farmers differently and improve the quality and safety of rice. The overall pesticide use behavior of large-scale farmers was characterized by large doses and high application frequency, while that of small-scale farmers was characterized by small doses and low application frequency. The econometric test showed that (i) the proportion of staple food ration has a significant negative impact on the single dose exceeding the standard and pesticide application frequency of small-scale farmers, and the increase of the proportion of staple food ration will reduce the demand among small-scale farmers for pesticides; (ii) yield effect has a greater impact on the frequency of pesticide application by large-scale farmers, and the large yield effect will increase the frequency of pesticide application among large-scale farmers. Therefore, in pesticide use behaviors, large-scale farmers should reduce pesticide quantity and increase efficiency, while small-scale farmers improve the level of plant protection.

Aphids are the primary vector of plant viruses. Transient aphids, which probe several plants per day, are considered to be the principal vectors of non-persistently transmitted (NPT) viruses. However, resident aphids, which can complete their life cycle on a single host and are affected by agronomic practices, can transmit NPT viruses as well. Moreover, they can interfere both directly and indirectly with transient aphids, eventually shaping plant disease dynamics. By means of an epidemiological model, originally accounting for ecological principles and agronomic practices, we explore the consequences of fertilization and irrigation, pesticide deployment and roguing of infected plants on the spread of viral diseases in crops. Our results indicate that the spread of NPT viruses can be i) both reduced or increased by fertilization and irrigation, depending on whether the interference is direct or indirect; ii) counter-intuitively increased by pesticide application and iii) reduced by roguing infected plants. We show that a better understanding of vectors’ interactions would enhance our understanding of disease transmission, supporting the development of disease management strategies., Author summary A range of both experimental and theoretical studies show that the behaviour and population dynamics of insects depend strongly upon interactions with other insect species. These interactions have the potential to greatly affect the dynamics of insect-vectored plant disease, as transmission of viruses is intimately dependent on the local density of vectors, as well as how they select and move between potential host plants. Surprisingly, the effects of interaction between vector species on epidemics remains little studied and even worse understood, probably because experimentation is costly and difficult. Here, we present a model which permits us to investigate the effect of interaction between a virus, two vector species and the host plant on the spread of viral disease in crops. In this study, our model is used to explore the consequences of common agronomic practices on epidemics. Our study highlights the importance of exploring vectors’ interactions to enhance the understanding of disease transmission, supporting the development of disease management strategies.

Pesticides are widely used in tropical regions of the world, and therefore explorations of user practices and drivers of pesticide usage among farmers are important for sustainable agriculture. Therefore, perceptions, knowledge, and drivers leading to the practices of pesticide use among farmers were explored using a semi-structured questionnaire survey using 246 farmers in upcountry vegetable growing areas and low country field crop cultivation areas in tropical Sri Lanka. The study revealed a significant increase in pesticide usage in upcountry vegetable growing areas. The differences in pesticide user practices; adulteration of pesticides prior to application (χ2 = 11.201, p

Increasing population pressure and decreasing cultivable land brought the agricultural sector at an alarming situation of food production particularly in the developing countries. To feed the burgeoning population, the agriculture sector needs to become more productive and diversified while facing the adversity of climate change and limitations of natural resources. During 1960–70, the improved irrigation facilities, the use of fertilizers and pesticides in the cultivation of high yielding varieties of cereals successfully led to the Green revolution in India. In the present scenario, the low irrigation and fertilizer use efficiencies, poor pesticide application and delivery are amongst the important issues in developing countries that need to be addressed for getting higher productivity. Also, fertilizer and pesticide usage also had severe associated environmental consequences like eutrophication, resistance and resurgence in pest, toxicity to non-target organisms, residues in food and feed, accumulation in the environment, etc. In such conditions, organic farming, a traditional practice coupled with the exploration of bio-nanoparticles to achieve a sustainable production system seems to be a better option. This review focuses on current research developments in the areas of bio-nano-enabled crop nutrition, protection, post-harvest management, and the possibility of bio-nanomaterials and organic farming confluence to revolutionize the agricultural sector by ensuring sustainable food security for coming generations.

In agricultural landscapes, the amount and organization of crops and semi-natural habitats (SNH) have the potential to promote a bundle of ecosystem services due to their influence on ecological community at multiple spatio-temporal scales. SNH are relatively undisturbed and are often source of complementary resources and refuges, therefore supporting more diverse and abundant natural pest enemies. However, the nexus of SNH proportion and organization with pest suppression is not trivial. It is thus crucial to understand how the behavior of pest and natural enemy species, the underlying landscape structure, and their interaction, may influence conservation biological control (CBC). Here, we develop a generative stochastic landscape model to simulate realistic agricultural landscape compositions and configurations of fields and linear elements. Generated landscapes are used as spatial support over which we simulate a spatially explicit predator-prey dynamic model. We find that increased SNH presence boosts predator populations by sustaining high predator density that regulates and keeps pest density below the pesticide application threshold. However, predator presence over all the landscape helps to stabilize the pest population by keeping it under this threshold, which tends to increase pest density at the landscape scale. In addition, the joint effect of SNH presence and predator dispersal ability among hedge and field interface results in a stronger pest regulation, which also limits pest growth. Considering properties of both fields and linear elements, such as local structure and geometric features, provides deeper insights for pest regulation; for example, hedge presence at crop field boundaries clearly strengthens CBC. Our results highlight that the integration of species behaviors and traits with landscape structure at multiple scales is necessary to provide useful insights for CBC., Author summary In the agricultural context, the loss of semi-natural surfaces often results in high pest abundance requiring elevated pesticide loads. Habitat heterogeneity resulting from the agricultural intermixing of arable fields and semi-natural areas is key to allow organism fluxes across agro-ecological interfaces by influencing ecological processes. Semi-natural habitats (SNH) are often restricted to linear structures, such as hedgerows, but they play an important role by hosting a large number of species. However, the effect of hedgerows is controversial, as it could result in a positive, ineffective or negative effect for CBC. Usually, the impacts of landscape structure on pest population dynamics and resulting CBC are assessed through field experiments with a specific focus, which cannot be generalized, lack flexibility and are limited by the need to manipulate relatively large landscapes. Here, we tackle the challenge to investigate the controversial role of semi-natural habitats for CBC by presenting a simulation-based approach, which allows us to characterize the joint influence of landscape structure and species traits on CBC service. Our study corroborates that spatial heterogeneity, species traits and their interactions are fundamental for CBC. We show that hedge presence alone is not sufficient to lead to strong pest reduction, but hedge-based predators help to maintain the pest density under the pesticide threshold. Instead, SNH presence coupled with appropriate predator traits leads to stronger decrease of pest population. Moreover, we highlight an important scaling effect of SNH, which at the local scale has an even more important impact on CBC as local properties are considered.

Notwithstanding popular perception, the environmental impacts of organic agriculture, particularly with respect to pesticide use, are not well established. Fueling the impasse is the general lack of data on comparable organic and conventional agricultural fields. We identify the location of ~9,000 organic fields from 2013 to 2019 using field-level crop and pesticide use data, along with state certification data, for Kern County, CA, one of the US’ most valuable crop producing counties. We parse apart how being organic relative to conventional affects decisions to spray pesticides and, if spraying, how much to spray using both raw and yield gap-adjusted pesticide application rates, based on a global meta-analysis. We show the expected probability of spraying any pesticides is reduced by about 30 percentage points for organic relative to conventional fields, across different metrics of pesticide use including overall weight applied and coarse ecotoxicity metrics. We report little difference, on average, in pesticide use for organic and conventional fields that do spray, though observe substantial crop-specific heterogeneity., There is much uncertainty on use and impact of pesticides in organic agriculture. Here, the authors compare pesticide use in conventionally and organically managed fields in Kern County (US), finding that organic fields are less likely to be treated but, when they are, they receive similar pesticide amount as the conventional fields.

Thailand is known for its agricultural productivity and rice exportation. Most farms use small machines and manual labor, creating potential exposure to multiple health hazards. A cross-sectional study was conducted to measure pollutants liberated during preparation, pesticide application, and harvesting. Thirty rice farmers, mostly males from 41 to 50 years old, participated. The participant survey data showed that 53.3% of the respondents spent &gt, 2 h per crop on preparation, &lt, 1 h on pesticide application, and about 1–2 h harvesting, 86.7% of the respondents maintained and stored mechanical applicators at home, suggesting possible after-work exposures. Gloves, fabric masks, boots, and hats were worn during all activities, and &gt, 90% wore long sleeved shirts and pants. VOCs and SVOCs were collected using charcoal tubes and solid phase micro sample extraction (SPME). An analysis of the charcoal and SPME samplers found that 30 compounds were detected overall and that 10 were in both the charcoal tubes and SPME samplers. The chemicals most often detected were 1, 1, 1 Trichloro ethane and xylene. Additionally, farmers experienced the highest exposure to particulates during harvesting. These results demonstrated that farmers experience multiple exposures while farming and that risk communication with education or training programs may mitigate exposure.

The rate of pesticide application in the agricultural field is surging. Farmers are getting exposed to pesticide hazards from the misuse and unsafe handling of pesticides. The study was conducted among 101 potato growers in Kaverpalanchok district of Nepal in 2018. The objective of the study was to assess the knowledge, status, and pesticide handling practices among potato growers. Around 94% farmers applied pesticides against early and late blight. Only 5% growers treated seed before potato sowing. About 93 and 73% farmers sprayed pesticides 2-10 times/season into the field and spent 2-6 hours/pesticide spray respectively. More than 2/3rd growers did not read the pesticide labels, and nearly 95% growers received information on pesticide applications from agrovet rather than authorized government bodies. Only 13% farmers had received Integrated Pest Management (IPM) training. However, 1/4th of them had practiced IPM techniques. The majority of the growers used masks, rubber boots, and long-sleeved clothes during pesticide handling. Nearly 2/3rd growers threw pesticide containers anywhere in the environment. Concerned authorities should provide IPM training, skill-building programs on pesticide handling and awareness on waiting period and environmental hazards to avoid pesticide risk.

In this study, artificial intelligence and image recognition technologies are combined with environmental sensors and the Internet of Things (IoT) for pest identification. Real-time agricultural meteorology and pest identification systems on mobile applications are evaluated based on intelligent pest identification and environmental IoT data. We combined the current mature AIoT technology and deep learning and applied it to smart agriculture. We used deep learning YOLOv3 for image recognition to obtain the location of Tessaratoma papillosa and analyze the environmental information from weather stations through Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) to predict the occurrence of pests. The experimental results showed that the pest identification accuracy reached 90%. Precise positioning can effectively reduce the amount of pesticides used and reduce pesticide damage to the soil. The current research provides the location of the pest and the extent of the pests to farmers can accurately use pesticide application at a precise time and place and thus reduce the agricultural workforce required for timely pest control, thus achieving the goal of smart agriculture. The proposed system notifies farmers of the presence of different pests before they start multiplying in large numbers. It improves overall agricultural economic value by providing appropriate pest control methods that decrease crop losses and reduce the environmental damage caused by the excessive usage of pesticides.

In Bihar 90 per cent farmers are small holder farmers. Small Holder farmers are future of world agriculture to feed mammoth population. Being the small holder farmers are resource poor, it becomes imperative to study their information sources and need to support better decision making in farming. The study was conducted in Bihar Province of India among seven hundred twenty farmers. From the study it was noted that the major information needs of the farmers were seed availability, crop disease management, insect pest management, weed management and weather information and pesticide application. Farmers decision making was positively and significantly correlated with crop disease management(0.196*), insect pest management of crop (0.208*) and weed management (0.239**). Through the Path Analysis it was noted that farmers decision making on disease management was mediated by the information sources-agri-input dealers, Progressive Farmer, Bihar Agricultural University-Kisan Diary, Mobile Apps (Bihar Krishi Apps) and Kisan Salahkar. On an average, farmers used three to four information sources in decision of farming. ICT tools are becoming emerging information sources for the farmers. It can be concluded that these much needed information should be provided to the farmers though different ICT tools and extension personnel should be trained to operate these ICT tools for accelerated use of ICT tools by the farmers in their decision making.

Relevance. Ukraine actively exports its agricultural products to the markets of Europe and the world. The growth rate of agricultural exports from Ukraine to the EU in May 2019 was 49.9%. Objective was to analyze and hygienically evaluate changes in the assortment and ranges of pesticide application in Ukrainian agriculture over the last 5 years (from 2015 to 2019). Materials and methods. The object of our research was changes in the assortment and ranges of pesticide application in Ukrainian agriculture from 2015 to 2019. Growth and growth rates were calculated. Results. Herbicides are leaders among the pesticides authorized for use in Ukraine: in 2019 their fraction was 56 % of the total (321 formulations). The following in number are fungicides: in 2019 – 25 % (147 formulations); and in third place are insecticides and acaricides: 19 % (107 formulations). Most of all classes’ pesticides are monoformulations. Their growth rate from 2015 to 2019 was 93 %, increasing rate - 52%. In second place - combined formulations with two active substances: their number during 2015-2019 increased by 42%. For pesticides with three active substances, the growth rate from 2015 to 2019 was 145%. Also in 2017 there were herbicide formulations with four active substances, but their number is insignificant: in 2017 – 2, in 2019 – 3 formulations. Conclusion. It was found that in the period from 2015 to 2019, the increase of all chemical plant protection products was 47%. The tendency towards an increase in different classes of pesticides does not change significantly every year and the leaders among them are herbicides, second place is occupied by fungicides and third – by insecticides and acaricides. Pesticides with one active substance (monoformulations) predominate.

Digital agriculture predetermines the development of robotic agricultural technologies for the application of pesticides and fertilizers using unmanned aerial systems, which are based on unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) with a certain working load for monitoring agricultural land and applying agrochemicals. ( Research purpose ) To develop a technology for variable-rate application of pesticides and fertilizers using unmanned aerial vehicles in digital agriculture. ( Materials and methods ) In the process of study, the authors used the methodological recommendations on the application of chemicals in the precision farming system (offered by VIM), as well as the normative and technical documentation for unmanned aircraft systems. ( Results and discussion ) It was shown that the developed technology includes the sequential execution of information and technological operations in off-line and on-line modes. It was found that the application rate of the liquid pesticides of 10-20 liters per hectare reduces losses due to drift from the treatment area and ensures the highest productivity of pesticide application using unmanned aerial vehicles. It was determined that the field processing performance increases as the run length increases, and decreases with the increasing flow rate of the liquid chemical. The rational run length was established to equal 0.8-3.2 kilometers. The authors established requirements for the spraying quality of unmanned aerial vehicles. It was proved that to increase the productivity of unmanned aerial vehicles during plant top-dressing, it is necessary to use unmanned aerial vehicles with a larger working load of 300-400 kilograms. ( Conclusions ) The authors have developed a technology for variable-rate application of pesticides and fertilizers using unmanned aerial vehicles, algorithms for preparing them for flight, monitoring agricultural lands, making a field orthophotomap, electronic maps of vegetation indices, the phytosanitary status of crops, and variable-rate application of pesticides and fertilizers.

Purpose California is the largest US producer of processing tomatoes, generating 96% of all domestic production and nearly 30% of global supply. Processing tomatoes are mostly processed into diced and paste products. Consumers and actors along their supply chains are increasingly interested in understanding their environmental burdens and identifying opportunities for improvements. This study applies life cycle assessment (LCA) to California diced and paste products over a 10-year timeframe to characterize current impacts and historical trends. Methods The LCA considers a scope from cradle-to-processing facility gate and accords with relevant Product Category Rules as published by the International EPD® System. Extensive primary data were collected for tomato cultivation for the years 2005 and 2015, and from processing facilities for 2005, 2010, and 2015 to understand the effects of evolving practices and technologies. We estimate crop and regional specific nitrous oxide and nitrate leaching emissions using a biogeochemical model, and the USES-LCA model is used to determine potential impacts from pesticide application. A suite of impact assessment categories is included based on the CML method (only global warming potential and freshwater consumption values are in the abstract). Results and discussion The 2015 results of the study indicate that diced tomatoes are responsible for 0.16 kg CO2e and 71 L of freshwater per kg, and paste is responsible for 0.83 kg CO2e and 328 L of freshwater per kg. The main opportunities for improvement include natural gas use in the greenhouse phase, energy for irrigation pumping and fertilizer type in the cultivation phase, and natural gas and electricity use in the facility processing phase. These hotspots are consistent with studies of processing tomato in other parts of the world. Evaluating trends over time showed that technological improvements in the industry had reduced life cycle impacts; for example, global warming potential decreased by 12% for paste and 26% for diced products between 2005 and 2015. Conclusions Trends over time show increasing efficiency at the cultivation and processing facility stages that have led to reductions in all impact categories evaluated. However, additional opportunities exist beyond efficiency improvements. Fertilizer and pesticide choice are potential opportunities for further reducing impacts. Also, the introduction of renewables in each phase of the supply chain (solar-powered irrigation pumps and onsite solar energy generation for facilities) could reduce the overall supply chain GWP100 impacts by 9–10%.

The introduction of the pesticide registration system in pesticide risk assessments has promoted the scientific and safe use of pesticides, and the assessment of occupational exposure risk. In the ...

BACKGROUND Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) have been used in agriculture to collect imagery for crop and pest monitoring, and for decision‐making purposes. Spraying‐capable UAVs are now commercially available worldwide for agricultural applications. Combining UAV weed mapping and UAV sprayers into an UAV integrated system (UAV‐IS) can offer a new alternative to implement site‐specific pest management. RESULTS The UAV‐IS was 0.3‐ to 3‐fold more efficient at identifying and treating target weedy areas, while minimizing treatment on non‐weedy areas, than ground‐based broadcast applications. The UAV‐IS treated 20–60% less area than ground‐based broadcast applications, but also missed up to 26% of the target weedy area, while broadcast applications covered almost the entire experimental area and only missed 2–3% of the target weeds. The efficiency of UAV‐IS management practices increased as weed spatial aggregation increased (patchiness). CONCLUSION Integrating UAV imagery for pest mapping and UAV sprayers can provide a new strategy for integrated pest management programs to improve efficiency and efficacy while reducing the amount of pesticide being applied. The UAV‐IS has the potential to improve the detection and control of weed escapes to reduce/delay herbicide resistance evolution. © 2019 The Authors. Pest Management Science published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Society of Chemical Industry., The integration of UAVs for weed and pest detection with currently commercially available UAV sprayers can increase the efficiency of pesticide applications and help manage pesticide resistance.

Quantifying and comparing sustainability indicators are essential to improve the sustainability of smallholder rice cropping systems. The sustainability of rice production systems can be measured based on economic, environmental, social, and institutional indicators. In this paper, we restrict our assessment to economic and environmental indicators. During 2012–2015, farmers were interviewed from 847 households from intensively irrigated rice production regions in Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, and China. We assessed the sustainability of their farming practices using economic and environmental indicators, i.e., eight of the 12 performance indicators (PIs), as defined by the Sustainable Rice Platform (SRP). Across the six sites, there was a yield gap of 24–42% and a profit gap of 36–82% between the 10% highest-performing farms (mean of top decile) and the mean-performing farms. In addition, there was a labor productivity gap of 12–32%, a nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) gap of 11–20%, a phosphorus use efficiency (PUE) gap of 1–29%, and a water productivity gap of 12–42%. Deliberate modification of conventional practices, including not flooding the field for >30 days before rice planting, incorporating pre-rice crop residue >30 days before planting, and adoption of mid-season drainage or alternate wetting and drying irrigation rather than continuous flood irrigation during the rice growing period, could substantially reduce the greenhouse gas (GHG) emission in irrigated rice fields without yield penalty. There is an urgent need to adopt improved management strategies for nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), potassium (K) fertilizer, irrigation water-use efficiency, as well as for decreasing pesticide use frequency, without sacrificing profitability and yield. We identified the following priority interventions for each site: a) increasing fertilizer use and adopting higher-yielding varieties in Bago, Myanmar; b) reducing pesticide application rates in Can Tho, Vietnam; c) reducing fertilizer use in Guangdong, China; d) reducing nitrogen and labor use in Yogyakarta, Indonesia; e) reducing fertilizer and water use in Polonnaruwa, Sri Lanka and; f) reducing fertilizer use in Nakhon Sawan, Thailand. Additional uses of the PI analysis clearly demonstrated that rice yield and profit gaps can sustainably be closed by increasing efficiencies that will also lead to reduced environmental footprint.

The augmented rates of pest infestation in stored grains have forced humans to rely on pesticide application in stored food grains even in developed countries. The greater incidence and alarming rate of pesticide resistance and safety concerns about their use in the food industry also contribute to ill-being of grain consumers and environment, thereby alluring constructive attempts to reduce the levels of agrochemical use. The current research elucidated the synergistic role of Hypericum japonicum (a medicinal plant) and pyrethroid deltamethrin in controlling the most common storage pest rice weevil, Sitophilus oryzae even at low concentrations than recommended by FAO. The screening of pesticidal property of methanolic extract of H. japonicum, pyrethroid deltamethrin, and their combinatorial assay was evaluated by standard procedures under laboratory conditions and mortality was gauged after 24 h of exposure. The LC50 and LC90 concentrations of deltamethrin alone (0.725 mg/l and 3.577 mg/l respectively) and in combination with Hypericum methanolic extract (LC50 0.119 mg/l and LC90 1.27 mg/l respectively) were found to be potent. The study revealed that the supplementation of plant extract in the pest controlling formulation substantially reduced the effective individual LC90 concentration of the pesticide required for pest control. The plant extracts showed synergy towards deltamethrin with SF 6.09. This is the foremost report on the synergistic effect of H. japonicum with deltamethrin against rice weevil, which could serve as an effective and more safer storage pest control method against the indiscriminate pesticide use and abuse.

International audience; There is a growing demand in the last years for farm-level sustainability data reflected in various initiatives from farmers, science and food industries. An alternative to creating new tools and indicator assessment frameworks is to further develop existing farm monitoring systems, such as the EU-wide Farm Accountancy Data Network (FADN), towards inclusion of sustainability-related data. This article reports on a study carried out within the EU-project FLINT comparing indicators for pesticide costs, application quantity and pesticide toxicity calculated for 416 farms in four EU countries (France, Germany, Hungary, Poland). The farm sample was a non-representative subsample of the national FADN samples in these countries. Major focus of the comparison was to analyse the suitability of the indicators for implementation in a large so-far primarily economic farm-level monitoring system, such as the FADN. The FADN currently includes farm-level expenditure for crop protection as the only indicator with reference to pesticides. We show that it is possible to extend the current FADN with reasonable effort towards indicators for pesticide application quantity (pesticide usage, treatment index) and pesticide toxicity (here exemplarily used: lethal dose 50 in rats), while the data demands of more elaborated indicators could not be met with the current system. The correlation between indicators, reflecting the extent to which indicators come to the same conclusion, was small between pesticide costs and pesticide usage or toxicity, thus the use of pesticide costs as an ecological indicator, as was done in other studies, cannot be recommended. A combined consideration in the FADN system of pesticide quantity and toxicity, which showed moderate correlation, could be a suitable approach instead.

Following the arrival of Tuta absoluta Meyrick in the eastern African subregion in 2012, several studies have shown numerous ecological aspects of its invasion. We investigated the impact of T. absoluta on people’s livelihoods across four counties of Kenya. Here, 200 farmers in the country were interviewed in person using semistructured questionnaires. In addition to livelihood surveys, T. absoluta distribution was mapped between 2016 and 2018 to determine its current distribution across four countries (Kenya, Sudan, Tanzania, and Uganda) in the subregion. Albeit a recent invader, T. absoluta is abundant and distributed throughout the subregion and is viewed as the worst invasive alien species of agriculturally sustainable livelihoods by tomato farmers. The arrival of T. absoluta in the subregion has resulted in livelihood losses and increased both the cost of tomato production and frequency of pesticide application. We recommend the implementation of biological control along, with other control measures in an integrated approach, against T. absoluta in the subregion, where its impact on sustainable livelihoods is serious and long-term control strategies are required to curb its detrimental effects.

La provincia de Neuquén está ubicada al oeste de Argentina, en el extremo norte de la Patagonia. En esta provincia, la información sobre la distribución y calidad de las aguas subterráneas es muy escasa y el monitoreo de la calidad de los recursos hídricos no se realiza periódicamente. Es bien sabido que en esta región se aplican varias familias de pesticidas, tales como organofosforados, carbamatos y neonicotinoides, para mantener la calidad y la producción de los cultivos. La aplicación de pesticidas por equipos de pulverización en tierra, las condiciones climáticas y las propiedades físicas y químicas de estos compuestos, facilitan que una fracción sustancial del ingrediente activo pueda llegar a las fuentes de aire, suelo y agua. El objetivo de este estudio fue evaluar la presencia de plaguicidas en aguas subterráneas, con el fin de proporcionar información sobre la calidad del agua para consumo humano. Diecisiete organofosforados y cuatro carbamatos fueron monitoreados entre 2014 y 2015 por cromatografía de gases con detector de nitrógeno-fósforo, en muestras de aguas subterráneas recogidas de pozos profundos ubicados en zonas rurales correspondientes a las ciudades de Senillosa, Plottier, Vista Alegre y Centenario, en la provincia de Neuquén. Estas ciudades son zonas agrícolas intensivas, que abastecen a la región norte de Patagonia con frutas y verduras frescas, y donde el agua subterránea se utiliza para consumo humano. En este estudio, la concentración de organofosforados y carbamatos fue menor a 0.020 y 0.030 μg/L, respectivamente, e inferior a los límites aceptables establecidos por la guías para la calidad del agua potable de Canadá (2017) y de la Organización Mundial de la Salud (2011) para estos plaguicidas. Neuquén province is located in the west of Argentina, at the northern end of Patagonia. In this province, information regarding groundwater distribution and quality is very scarce, and the monitoring of water resources quality is not carried out periodically. It is well known that several pesticide families, such us organophosphates, carbamates and neonicotinoids, are applied in this region to maintain crop quality and production. Pesticide application by ground-based spraying equipment, the climatic conditions and the physical and chemical properties of these compounds, facilitate that a substantial fraction of the active ingredient may reach air, soil and water sources. The objective of this study was to evaluate the pesticide presence in groundwater, in order to provide information about the water quality for human consumption. Seventeen organophosphate and four carbamate residues were monitored from 2014 to 2015 by gas chroma-tography with a nitrogen-phosphorus detector, in groundwater samples collected from depth wells, located in rural areas corresponding to Senillosa, Plottier, Vista Alegre and Centenario cities, in Neuquén province. These cities are intensive agricultural areas, which supply the North Patagonia region with fresh fruits and vegetables, and where groundwater is utilized for human consumption. In this study, organophosphate and carbamate concentrations were below 0.020 and 0.030 µg/L, respectively, and lower than the accepted limits established by the Guidelines for Canadian drinking water quality (2017) and the Guidelines for drinking water quality (2011) of the World Health Organization for these pesticides. Fil: Sánchez, Victoria Guadalupe. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Patagonia Norte. Centro de Investigaciones en Toxicología Ambiental y Agrobiotecnología del Comahue. Universidad Nacional del Comahue. Facultad de Ciencias Agrarias. Centro de Investigaciones en Toxicología Ambiental y Agrobiotecnología del Comahue; Argentina. Universidad Nacional del Comahue. Facultad de Ingeniería. Departamento de Química; Argentina Fil: Gutiérrez, César Argentino. Instituto Nacional de Tecnologia Agropecuaria. Centro Regional Cordoba. Estacion Experimental Agropecuaria Manfredi. Agencia de Extension Rural San Francisco.; Argentina Fil: Gomez, Diego Sebastian. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Patagonia Norte. Centro de Investigaciones en Toxicología Ambiental y Agrobiotecnología del Comahue. Universidad Nacional del Comahue. Facultad de Ciencias Agrarias. Centro de Investigaciones en Toxicología Ambiental y Agrobiotecnología del Comahue; Argentina. Universidad Nacional del Comahue. Facultad de Ciencias del Ambiente y la Salud. Departamento de Ciencias del Ambiente; Argentina Fil: Loewy, Ruth Miriam. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Patagonia Norte. Centro de Investigaciones en Toxicología Ambiental y Agrobiotecnología del Comahue. Universidad Nacional del Comahue. Facultad de Ciencias Agrarias. Centro de Investigaciones en Toxicología Ambiental y Agrobiotecnología del Comahue; Argentina Fil: Guiñazu Alaniz, Natalia Lorena. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Patagonia Norte. Centro de Investigaciones en Toxicología Ambiental y Agrobiotecnología del Comahue. Universidad Nacional del Comahue. Facultad de Ciencias Agrarias. Centro de Investigaciones en Toxicología Ambiental y Agrobiotecnología del Comahue; Argentina. Universidad Nacional del Comahue. Facultad de Ciencias del Ambiente y la Salud. Departamento de Ciencias del Ambiente; Argentina

During the pest growth generations there exist a number of internal and external perturbations including birth pulses and pulse pesticide applications, which result in a complex growth pattern within each pest growth generation due to the variation of perturbation timings. In order to show how multiple pulse perturbations affect the dynamics of the pest population, we have extended the classical Fisher reaction-diffusion equation by involving instant birth and control perturbations. The main results indicate that the pulse perturbations have a remarkable influence on the existence and stability of a spatially homogeneous periodic solution. In particular, the birth rate and killing efficacy can affect the traveling wave and its spreading speed, while the timing of pesticide application does not make any effects on those threshold conditions. However, numerical investigations reveal that the timing of pesticide applications can significantly affect the spatial distributions of the pest population. Within each generation too early or too late pesticide application could result in a faster growth and wider spread of the pest, and the optimal timing of pesticide application is the middle of each generation provided that the efficacy of the pesticide is relatively low. Bifurcation analyses reveal that even generations and odd generations display a different spatial pattern, which depict some important issues related to the pest control and pest management, for example the different control strategies should be adopted for even and odd generations. To address how the spatial heterogeneity affects on the cost of the pest control, we further formulate the cost function to investigate the optimal pest control strategy, and the optimal spatial dependent killing rates which minimize the cost have been obtained numerically.

Pest and disease are limiting factors in red chili cultivation. Chili farmers often use synthetic pesticides to control pest and disease However, improper application of pesticide can cause deleterious effects to human and environment. The objective of research was to know the level of red chilli farmers understanding regarding pesticides use. This research was conducted in Bumijawa Subdistrict, Tegal District by interviewing farmers. A total number of 140 farmers were purposely selected and divided into 4 groups, namely integrated pest management (IPM) monoculture, non IPM monoculture, IPM multiple cropping, and non IPM multiple cropping. Data analysis was performed using cross tabulation for likert scale questionnaire and Rank Spearman to analyze the relation among variables. Results showed that all four farmer groups had similar characteristics, i.e age range of 20-65 years, dominance of elementary school graduates, and more than 10 years of farming experience. These group of farmers had positive score for application and safety principle of pesticide but they still had negative score on ecological aspect. Farmer’s age, level of education, and farming experience did not affect the knowledge of non IPM monoculture and IPM monoculture groups. The level of education in non IPM multiple cropping group affected the application of pesticides. Farmer’s knowledge on pesticides usage and its safety application had significant correlation with farmer age and farming experience for IPM multiple cropping group.

The indiscriminate use of agrochemicals for the maximization of the crop yield has adverse effects on the air, water, soil, non-target organisms, and human health. Reducing the impacts of agrochemicals on the environment and human health is instrumental for agricultural sustainability and cleaner production. To date, limited studies have focused on the issues of rice intensification, realistic agrochemical-saving targets, human health concerns associated with agrochemical use, and protective measures that may help to reduce occupational exposure during pesticide application. Cross-sectional data of 360 rice growers were collected from September to October 2017 from 9 districts of Punjab, Pakistan using multistage sampling technique. A combination of descriptive statistics and econometric methods was used in this study. The results found a 60% rice efficiency, which is evidence that farm resources were not utilized at the optimal level. An artificial neural network method (ANN) was suggested to reduce the quantity of pesticides and pure N by 45.2 and 37.2%, respectively, at a given level of rice yield. However, pure P, pure K, zinc, and farm yard manure (FYM) were recommended to increase by 490.9, 18.4, 64.7, and 32.6%, respectively than existing level. The results of the Cobb-Douglas (CD) production function found positive significant impacts of pure P, pure K, zinc, and FYM on the rice yield. According to a Tobit regression model, the rice efficiency significantly increased with education and farming experience, while it decreased with increasing crop area under rice cultivation and the distance among rice plots. Pesticide application caused skin irritation, eye irritation, cough, dizziness, nausea, and diarrhoea in 33, 41.7, 38, 30.5, 27.5, and 12% of the population, respectively. A few cases of death (3%) and serious illness (10%) due to drinking pesticides intentionally or unintentionally were also discovered. A Poisson regression model confirmed that pesticide poisoning significantly increased the incidence of eye irritation, skin irritation, dizziness, cough, and nausea during pesticide application. Moreover, cases of occupational health exposure were significantly higher among those who did not adopt protective measures. A negative binomial regression suggested that the use of protective measures, such as protective clothes, goggles, mask, gloves and boots, during chemical application significantly reduced the risk to human health. A lack of education and awareness about the appropriate and safe use of agrochemicals are the main reasons for the overutilization of pesticides and for the negative consequences on human health. This study stresses the importance of using agrochemicals at the recommended level and instead using bio-chemicals for agricultural sustainability and to protect human health. Moreover, the use of pesticide protective measures is highly recommended to avoid respiratory and dermal exposure to pesticides.

Exposure to pesticides may have increased risk of oxidative stress and genetic damage and hence of development of chronic diseases. The aim of this longitudinal follow-up study is to compare oxidative stress and DNA damage between the pre- and post-pesticide application seasons among 56 male farmers. The study also investigated the factors associated with changes in oxidative stress, DNA damage, and health symptoms during the pesticide application season. The eligibility criteria for the subjects were men aged between 25 and 55 years, applied pesticide mixtures during May and June 2018, and healthy without current illness. Ten milliliters of venous blood samples was collected twice from each subject in the pre- and post-pesticide application seasons for determination of superoxide dismutase (SOD), 8-hydroxy-2′-deoxyguanosine (8-OHdG), comet tail length, and comet tail moment. The remarkable findings included a statistically significant increase in SOD activity during the pesticide application season (P

Pesticides variety for agricultural purposes is constantly renewed via creation of preparations that are more effective and less hazardous for environment. Implementation of new technologies of their use often anticipates studies of consequences of their application, from the viewpoint of health risk for workers and population. The article covers hygienic evaluation of the pesticide application with aerosol generator use.

The impact of conventional pesticide treatment and deep ploughing on oribatid mite communities was investigated in an abandoned arable land. The experimental plots were divided in “pesticide and pl...