Biomaterial Database

Effect of pesticides on soil microbial community. 2010

Chi-Chu Lo

Taiwan Agricultural Chemicals and Toxic Substances Research Institute, Council ofAgriculture, 11, Kuang-Ming Road, Wufong, Taichung County, Taiwan, ROC. lcc@tactri.gov.tw

According to guidelines for the approval of pesticides, information about effects of pesticides on soil microorganisms and soil fertility are required, but the relationships of different structures of pesticides on the growth of various groups of soil microorganisms are not easily predicted. Some pesticides stimulate the growth of microorganisms, but other pesticides have depressive effects or no effects on microorganisms. For examples, carbofuran stimulated the population of Azospirillum and other anaerobic nitrogen fixers in flooded and non-flooded soil, but butachlor reduced the population of Azospirillum and aerobic nitrogen fixers in non-flooded soil. Diuron and chlorotoluron showed no difference between treated and nontreated soil, and linuron showed a strong difference. Phosphorus(P)-contains herbicides glyphosate and insecticide methamidophos stimulated soil microbial growth, but other P-containing insecticide fenamiphos was detrimental to nitrification bacteria. Therefore, the following review presents some data of research carried out during the last 20 years. The effects of twenty-one pesticides on the soil microorganisms associated with nutrient and cycling processes are presented in section 1, and the applications of denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) for studying microbial diversity are discussed in section 2.

UI	MeSH Term	Description	Entries
D007306	Insecticides	Pesticides designed to control insects that are harmful to man. The insects may be directly harmful, as those acting as disease vectors, or indirectly harmful, as destroyers of crops, food products, or textile fabrics.	Insecticide
D010575	Pesticides	Chemicals used to destroy pests of any sort. The concept includes fungicides (FUNGICIDES, INDUSTRIAL); INSECTICIDES; RODENTICIDES; etc.	Pesticide
D004784	Environmental Monitoring	The monitoring of the level of toxins, chemical pollutants, microbial contaminants, or other harmful substances in the environment (soil, air, and water), workplace, or in the bodies of people and animals present in that environment.	Monitoring, Environmental,Environmental Surveillance,Surveillance, Environmental
D005659	Fungicides, Industrial	Chemicals that kill or inhibit the growth of fungi in agricultural applications, on wood, plastics, or other materials, in swimming pools, etc.	Industrial Fungicides
D006540	Herbicides	Pesticides used to destroy unwanted vegetation, especially various types of weeds, grasses (POACEAE), and woody plants. Some plants develop HERBICIDE RESISTANCE.	Algaecide,Algicide,Herbicide,Algaecides,Algicides
D001419	Bacteria	One of the three domains of life (the others being Eukarya and ARCHAEA), also called Eubacteria. They are unicellular prokaryotic microorganisms which generally possess rigid cell walls, multiply by cell division, and exhibit three principal forms: round or coccal, rodlike or bacillary, and spiral or spirochetal. Bacteria can be classified by their response to OXYGEN: aerobic, anaerobic, or facultatively anaerobic; by the mode by which they obtain their energy: chemotrophy (via chemical reaction) or PHOTOTROPHY (via light reaction); for chemotrophs by their source of chemical energy: CHEMOLITHOTROPHY (from inorganic compounds) or chemoorganotrophy (from organic compounds); and by their source for CARBON; NITROGEN; etc.; HETEROTROPHY (from organic sources) or AUTOTROPHY (from CARBON DIOXIDE). They can also be classified by whether or not they stain (based on the structure of their CELL WALLS) with CRYSTAL VIOLET dye: gram-negative or gram-positive.	Eubacteria
D012987	Soil	The unconsolidated mineral or organic matter on the surface of the earth that serves as a natural medium for the growth of land plants.	Peat,Humus,Soils
D012988	Soil Microbiology	The presence of bacteria, viruses, and fungi in the soil. This term is not restricted to pathogenic organisms.	Microbiology, Soil
D044822	Biodiversity	The variety of all native living organisms and their various forms and interrelationships.	Biological Diversity,Diversity, Biological