Pesticides Research Paper

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The judicious use of Pesticides in agricultural sector and its discharge in aquatic environment is increasing day by day due to which contamination of fresh water became a matter of concern. These pesticides are carried to fresh water by means of either surface run-off, disposal through waste or through direct application. Over 98% of pesticides effect non-target species because they are sprayed or spread across entire agricultural fields. Pesticides are usually not entirely specific in their action, and can affect plants and animals they are not intended to harm. There are several categories of pesticides designed to control different groups of animals. These categories include insecticides (insects), nematicides (nematodes), and rodenticides …show more content…

Carbamates are esters of N-methyl carbamic acid and are introduced in market in 1950’s[1].They are broad spectrum insecticides that possess short biological half-life, low bioaccumulation potential and short term toxicity, they are slightly to highly toxic to fish and are very highly toxic to aquatic invertebrates. Like other insecticides, Carbaryl possess some ecological and environmental risks as well, which can both directly and indirectly impact humans. It is primarily used as an insecticide on various commercial crops, including corn, soybean, cotton, citruses, pears, and nuts. It is applied to croplands (>100 crop species), rangelands, forests, wetlands, oceans, and sewage treatment plants to exterminate animal pests, as well as in domesticated animals to control lice, mites, ticks, and fleas. Carbaryl is well known mutagen which is toxic to the kidney, liver, ovaries and testes, and causes behavioral problems in humans and animals. It act by adding a carbaryl moiety to the active site of the acetylcholinesterase enzyme. Acetylcholinesterase is an enzyme found in the nervous system, red blood cells and blood plasma and act by hydrolyzing …show more content…

Different toxicity assays using various physiological and biochemical biomarkers have been performed to generate the data concerned with the adverse effects of carbaryl on aquatic animals especially fish. In toxicological studies of acute exposure, change in activities and concentration of various enzymes may reflect the cell damage or abnormality in metabolic pathway that starts due to the stress developed because of toxicant exposure and the different changes occurring within the body to cope up with the deleterious effect of the pollutant. Fig. 1shows the various changes caused by any toxicants in the body of aquatic animals. These changes- behavioral, biochemical or molecular, when noticed carefully provide the evidence of exposure of certain pollutants on the organisms. Using enzymatic biomarkers which reflects the biochemical and molecular changes of the body is one of the sensitive and rapid tools for diagnosing the direct impact of pesticide on organism. Such biomarkers provide early warning signals if any catastrophe is going to occur due to some toxicants prevailing in the water body which cannot be indicated by mere assessment of various physico-chemical water quality

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