Activity of soil protease enzyme as influenced by dimethomorph and pyraclostrobin fungicides to groundnut Arachis hypogaea L. soil.

Abstract

Soil microbial diversity is indispensable to maintain functional diversity and enzyme-mediated critical soil processes that detoxify soil from environmental pollutants, like pesticides. Thus, the present study was carried out to assess the effect of different concentrations of the fungicides on the activity of protease, in clay and sandy loam groundnut soils of Anantapuramu District of Andhra Pradesh , India. The use of pesticides in agriculture has highly increased during the last 40 years to increase crop yields. However, today most pesticides are polluting water, soil, atmosphere and food. Pesticides are also impact soil enzymes, which are essential catalysts ruling the quality of soil life. A laboratory experiment was conducted to study the effect of selected fungicides, dimethomorph and pyraclostrobin, at concentrations ranging from 0 to10 kg ha-1 on the activity of protease. The activities of protease were significantly more at pyraclostrobin and dimethomorph levels of 5.0 and 2.5 kg ha-1 , respectively. But at higher concentrations of 7.5 and 10 kg ha-1 respectively, dimethomorph and pyraclostrobin were toxic to protease activities. In soil samples receiving 2.5-5.0 kg ha-1 of the fun accumulation of reducing sugar was pronounced more at 20 days, and the activity of the protease was drastically decreased with increasing period of incubation up to 30 and 40 days. The results of the present study thus, clearly, indicate that a the Fungicides in cultivation of groundnut, at field application rates improved the activity of protease in soils.