Open AccessHistorical trends of the ecotoxicological pesticide risk from the main grain crops in Rolling Pampa (Argentina)
Author(s) -
Diego Ferraro,
Felipe Ghersa,
Regina C.M. de Paula,
Alejandra C. Duarte Vera,
Sebastián Pessah
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
plos one
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.99
H-Index - 332
ISSN - 1932-6203
DOI - 10.1371/journal.pone.0238676
Subject(s) - pesticide , crop , pesticide application , cropping , agriculture , agronomy , environmental science , toxicology , pesticide residue , integrated pest management , ecotoxicity , biology , toxicity , ecology , chemistry , organic chemistry
We showed the results of the first long-term analysis (1987–2019) of pesticide (herbicides, fungicides and insecticides) impact in the Rolling Pampa, one of the main agricultural areas of Argentina. Using a clear and meaningful tool, based not only on acute toxicity but also on scaling up the results to total sown area, we identified time trends for both pesticide impact and the ecoefficiency of modal pesticide profiles. By the end of the time series, soybean showed a pesticide impact four times greater than maize crop in the studied area. However, the time trend in the subperiod (2012–2019) showed a sustainable pattern of pesticide use in soybean crop, with an improvement in its ecoefficiency. Oppositely, maize showed a relatively constant ecoefficiency value during most of the time series, suggesting a possible path towards an unsustainable cropping system. Findings from this study suggest that some efforts have to be made to improve the pest management decisions towards a more efficient pesticide profiles in maize crop and to keep improving the ecotoxicity pesticide profile in soybean crops because of its large sown area in the studied area.