Review of major agrochemical classes and uses

Abstract

Agrochemicals are represented by today's press as being noxious chemicals that do no good to the environment or to the people who eat treated food. The situation is becoming so bad that it is uncommon to see those involved in the business use the word pesticide, and many of the leading producers of pesticides are beginning to talk about crop protection and plant health rather than agrochemicals. However, it is not all bad news. As Steve Jones, Professor of Genetics at University College, London, pointed out on the Food Programme on BBC Radio 4, the population of the world is increasing at an alarming rate and has been doing so for some 20-30 years. Nevertheless, the amount of food for each individual on earth, not just the total amount of food, has increased over that same time period. So each person living today has more to eat than their parents had 30 or even 20 years ago. Clearly we are getting something right.The main problem is that it is bad news that people report. The fact that DDT saved millions of lives at the end of the World War II and into the 1950s and 1960s is not news, but the fact that it is persistent and accumulates in the food chain causing the death of birds is. I am sure that I am not alone when I say that I would rather have a small residue of DDT in my body than suffer from malaria. Today we have choices in the insecticides that we can use. In 1945 we did not.How many reports are there that, in the UK, yields of wheat per hectare have risen significantly over the last 20 years? It is not unusual for yields of around 10 tonnes of grain per hectare to be harvested from winter wheat crops. The direct effects of agrochemicals to the farmer range from between three and five times the value invested (LeBaron, 1990;Pimentel, 1991). WHO reports indicate that the use of pesticides has made a significant contribution to farming practice by reducing labour requirements, conserving fossil fuels, increasing crop yields, lowering food costs and improving food quality

Phytotoxicity: An Overview of the Physiological Responses of Plants Exposed to Fungicides

“…For example, the largest and most important group of systemic fungicides used to control plant fungal diseases is the dicarboximide. The mode of action of this fungicide seems to be related to the inhibition of triglyceride biosynthesis in the fungi [18]. The dicarboximide fungicides, iprodione, procymidone, vinclozolin, chlozolinate, and metomeclan are particularly valuable for the control of plant diseases caused by species of Botrytis, Sclerotinia, Monilinia, Alternaria, Sclerotium, and Phoma.…”