Historical trends of the ecotoxicological pesticide risk from the main grain crops in Rolling Pampa (Argentina)

• Published in: PloS one 2020-11, Vol.15 (11), p.e0238676
• Main Authors: Ferraro, Diego O, Ghersa, Felipe, de Paula, Rodrigo, Duarte Vera, Alejandra C, Pessah, Sebastián
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Acute toxicity; Agricultural land; Agricultural management; Agricultural production; Agricultural research; Agriculture; Agriculture - methods; Argentina; Biology and Life Sciences; Cereal crops; Chemical pest control; Comparative analysis; Corn; Crop insecticides; Cropping systems; Crops; Crops, Agricultural - drug effects; Ecology and Environmental Sciences; Ecotoxicology - methods; Environmental aspects; Environmental Monitoring - methods; Environmental toxicology; Fungicides; Fungicides, Industrial - adverse effects; Glycine max - drug effects; Grain crops; Herbicides; Herbicides - adverse effects; Insecticides; Insecticides - adverse effects; Insects; Medicine and Health Sciences; Pest control; Pest Control - methods; Pesticides; Pesticides - adverse effects; Research and Analysis Methods; Soybeans; Time series; Toxicity; Trends; Zea mays - drug effects
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0238676

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.