Pesticide Persistence in Agriculture and its hazardous effects on Environmental Components

Abstract

Pesticides are applied to protect crops from insects, weeds, and bacterial or fungal diseases during the growth. There would be a 78 percent loss of fruit output, a 54 percent loss of vegetable production, and a 32 percent loss of cereal production if pesticides were not used. When pesticides are applied to a target plant, they have the potential to enter the environment where they can affect non target organisms. Concerns have also been raised about pesticide currently uses and its impact on the environment with the possibility for hazardous or carcinogenic residues. This review paper provides basic information about the general types of pesticide in use and the role of pesticides in agriculture with its impact in environmental components. Int. J. Appl. Sci. Biotechnol. Vol 10(2): 75-83.

Impact of Plant Extracts on the Pollination Activity of <i>Apis mellifera</i> Linnaeus, 1758 (Hymenoptera: Apidae) on Flowers of Cowpea Variety Feekem, in Dang (Adamaoua, Cameroon)

“…These products exterminate not only the target insect pests in treated fields, but also negatively affect the behavior of non-target organisms such as useful insects [14,25,26], destroy pollinating insects [27], directly contaminate the environment, plant production, farmers and livestock [24,28], and indirectly contaminate the consumer due to the presence of toxic pesticide residues in fruits and vegetables [29,30]. Due to the confirmed toxicity of synthetic pesticides which results in the high toxicity of synthetic chemicals, of the degradation products, and their strong persistence in the environment [31,32], it is nowadays imperative to consider the use of control methods that respect the environment, beneficial insects and consumers. A new alternative is the use of botanical pesticides from local plants extracts that are weakly persistent and naturally degraded [33].…”