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Worldwide pesticide usage and its impacts on ecosystem

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Pesticides are extensively used in modern agriculture and are an effective and economical way to enhance the yield quality and quantity, thus ensuring food security for the ever-growing population around the globe. Approximately, 2 million tonnes of pesticides are utilized annually worldwide, where China is the major contributing country, followed by the USA and Argentina, which is increasing rapidly. However, by the year 2020, the global pesticide usage has been estimated to increase up to 3.5 million tonnes. lthough pesticides are beneficial for crop production point of view, extensive use of esticides can possess serious consequences because of their bio-magnification and persistent nature. Diverse pesticides directly or indirectly polluted air, water, soil and verall ecosystem which cause serious health hazard for living being. In the present manuscript, an attempt has been made to critically review the global usage of different pesticides and their major adverse impacts on ecosystem, which will provide guidance for a wide range of researchers in this area.
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SN Applied Sciences (2019) 1:1446 | https://doi.org/10.1007/s42452-019-1485-1
Review Paper
Worldwide pesticide usage andits impacts onecosystem
AnketSharma1,2 · VinodKumar3· BabarShahzad4· MohsinTanveer4· GaganPreetSinghSidhu5· NehaHanda2,6·
SukhmeenKaurKohli2· PoonamYadav2· AditiShreeyaBali7· RipuDamanParihar8· OwiasIqbalDar9·
KirpalSingh9· ShivamJasrotia9· PalakBakshi2· M.Ramakrishnan10· SandeepKumar11· RenuBhardwaj2·
AshwaniKumarThukral2
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2019
Abstract
Pesticides are extensively used in modern agriculture and are an eective and economical way to enhance the yield qual-
ity and quantity, thus ensuring food security for the ever-growing population around the globe. Approximately, 2 million
tonnes of pesticides are utilized annually worldwide, where China is the major contributing country, followed by the USA
and Argentina, whichis increasing rapidly. However, by the year 2020, the global pesticide usage has been estimated
to increase up to 3.5 million tonnes. Although pesticides are benecial for crop production point of view, extensive use
of pesticides can possess serious consequences because of their bio-magnication and persistent nature. Diverse pes-
ticides directly or indirectly polluted air, water, soil and overall ecosystem which cause serious health hazard for living
being. In the present manuscript, an attempt has been made to critically review the global usage of dierent pesticides
and their major adverse impacts on ecosystem, which will provide guidance for a wide range of researchers in this area.
Keywords Global pesticide usage· Pesticide application· Pesticide bio-magnication· Pesticide ecotoxicology
1 Introduction
Pesticides are the chemicals (natural or synthetic)
employed in various agricultural practices to control pests,
weeds and diseases in plants. Pesticides include a wide
range of herbicides, insecticides, fungicides, rodenticides,
nematicides, etc. In the process of agricultural develop-
ment, pesticides became a vital tool for plant protection
and for enhancing crop yield. Approximately, 45% of the
annual food production is lost due to pest infestation;
therefore, eective pest management by using wide range
of pesticides is required to confront pests and to increase
the crop production [1]. However, in the last half of the
nineteenth century, robust growth in the world economy
including both industrial and agricultural sectors has led
to the progressive mount in the generation and utiliza-
tion of agriculture-based chemicals which often induce
calamitous eects on the environment. Injudicious use of
pesticides and other persistent organic pollutants in agri-
cultural soils have devastated future repercussions. The
Received: 31 May 2019 / Accepted: 11 October 2019 / Published online: 21 October 2019
Anket Sharma, Vinod Kumar and Babar Shahzad have contributed equally to this work.
* Anket Sharma, anketsharma@gmail.com | 1State Key Laboratory ofSubtropical Silviculture, Zhejiang A&F University, Hangzhou311300,
China. 2Plant Stress Physiology Lab, Department ofBotanical andEnvironmental Sciences, Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar,
Punjab143005, India. 3Department ofBotany, DAV University, Sarmastpur,Jalandhar, Punjab144012, India. 4School ofLand andFood,
University ofTasmania, Hobart, TAS, Australia. 5Department ofApplied Sciences, UIET, Chandigarh160014, India. 6Department
ofBotany, School ofBioengineering andBiosciences, Lovely Professional University, Phagwara, Punjab144411, India. 7Department
ofBotany, M.C.M. DAV College forWomen, Chandigarh160036, India. 8Department ofZoology, DAV University, Sarmastpur,Jalandhar,
Punjab144012, India. 9Department ofZoology, Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar143005, India. 10Division ofPlant Biotechnology,
Entomology Research Institute, Loyola College, Chennai, India. 11Department ofEnvironmental Sciences, DAV University,
Sarmastpur,Jalandhar, Punjab144012, India.
Content courtesy of Springer Nature, terms of use apply. Rights reserved.
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Herbicide resistant weeds have been observed since the early years of synthetic herbicide development in the 1950's and 1960's. Since that time there has been a consistent increase in the number of herbicide resistance cases and the impact of herbicide resistant (HR) weeds. While the nature of crop production varies widely around the world, herbicides have become a primary tool for weed control in most areas. Dependence on herbicides continues to increase as global populations migrate away from rural areas into cities and the agricultural labor force declines. This increased use of herbicides and concurrent selection pressure has resulted in a rise in cases of multiple resistance leaving some farmers with few or no herbicide options for certain weed infestations. Global population and economic forces drive many farmer choices regarding crop production and weed control. The challenge is how to insert best management practices into the decision making process while addressing various economic and regulatory needs. This review endeavors to provide a current overview of herbicide resistance challenges in the major crop production areas of the world and discusses some research initiatives designed to address portions of the problem.
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The triazine herbicide atrazine (2-chloro-4-ethylamino-6-isopropyl-amino-s-triazine) is one of the most used pesticides in North America. Atrazine is principally used for control of certain annual broadleaf and grass weeds, primarily in corn but also in sorghum, sugarcane, and, to a lesser extent, other crops and landscaping. Atrazine is found in many surface and ground waters in North America, and aquatic ecological effects are a possible concern for the regulatory and regulated communities. To address these concerns an expert panel (the Panel) was convened to conduct a comprehensive aquatic ecological risk assessment. This assessment was based on several newly suggested procedures and included exposure and hazard subcomponents as well as the overall risk assessment. The Panel determined that use of probabilistic risk assessment techniques was appropriate. Here, the results of this assessment are presented as a case study for these techniques. The environmental exposure assessment concentrated on monitoring data from Midwestern watersheds, the area of greatest atrazine use in North America. This analysis revealed that atrazine concentrations rarely exceed 20 μg/L in rivers and streams that were the main focus of the aquatic ecological risk assessment. Following storm runoff, biota in lower-order streams may be exposed to pulses of atrazine greater than 20 μg/L, but these exposures are short-lived. The assessment also considered exposures in lakes and reservoirs. The principal data set was developed by the U.S. Geological Survey, which monitored residues in 76 Midwestern reservoirs in 11 states in 1992-1993. Residue concentrations in some reservoirs were similar to those in streams but persisted longer. Atrazine residues were widespread in reservoirs (92% occurrence), and the 90th percentile of this exposure distribution for early June to July was about 5 μg/L. Mathematical simulation models of chemical fate were used to generalize the exposure analysis to other sites and to assess the potential effects of reduction in the application rates. Models were evaluated, modified, and calibrated against available monitoring data to validate that these models could predict atrazine runoff. PRZM-2 overpredicted atrazine concentrations by about an order of magnitude, whereas GLEAMS underpredicted by a factor of 2 to 5. Thus, exposure models were not used to extrapolate to other regions of atrazine use in this assessment. The effects assessment considered both freshwater and saltwater toxicity test results. Phytoplankton were the most sensitive organisms, followed, in decreasing order of sensitivity, by macrophytes, benthic invertebrates, zooplankton, and fish. Atrazine inhibits photophosphorylation but typically does not result in lethality or permanent cell damage in the short term. This characteristic of atrazine required a different model than typically used for understanding the potential impact in aquatic systems, where lethality or nonreversible effects are usually assumed. In addition, recovery of phytoplankton from exposure to 5 to 20 μg/L atrazine was demonstrated. In some mesocosm field experiments, phytoplankton and macrophytes were reduced after atrazine exposures greater than 20 μg/L. However, populations were quickly reestablished, even while atrazine residues persisted in the water. Effects in field studies were judged to be ecologically important only at exposures of 50 μg/L or greater. Mesocosm experiments did not reveal disruption of either ecosystem structure or function at atrazine concentrations typically encountered in the environment (generally 5 μg/L or less). Based on an integration of laboratory bioassay data, field effects studies, and environmental monitoring data from watersheds in high-use areas in the Midwestern United States, the Panel concluded that atrazine does not pose a significant risk to the aquatic environment. Although some inhibitory effects on algae, phytoplankton, or macrophyte production may occur in small streams vulnerable to agricultural runoff, these effects are likely to be transient, and quick recovery of the ecological system is expected. A subset of surface waters, principally small reservoirs in areas with intensive use of atrazine, may be at greater risk of exposure to atrazine. Therefore, it is recommended that site-specific risk assessments be conducted at these sites to assess possible ecological effects in the context of the uses to which these ecosystems are put and the effectiveness and cost-benefit aspect of any risk mitigation measures that may be applied.