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Widespread Occurrence of Pesticides in Organically Managed Agricultural Soils—the Ghost of a Conventional Agricultural Past?

Riedo, Judith; Wettstein, Felix; Rösch, Andrea; Herzog, Chantal; Banerjee, Samiran; Büchi, Lucie; Charles, Raphaël; Wächter, Daniel; Martin-Laurent, Fabrice; Bucheli, Thomas; Walder, Florian and Van Der Heijden, Marcel (2021) Widespread Occurrence of Pesticides in Organically Managed Agricultural Soils—the Ghost of a Conventional Agricultural Past? Environmental Science and Technology, 55 (5), pp. 2919-2928.

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Document available online at: https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.est.0c06405


Summary in the original language of the document

Pesticides are applied in large quantities to agroecosystems worldwide. To date, few studies assessed the occurrence of pesticides in organically managed agricultural soils, and it is unresolved whether these pesticide residues affect soil life. We screened 100 fields under organic and conventional management with an analytical method containing 46 pesticides (16 herbicides, 8 herbicide transformation products, 17 fungicides, seven insecticides). Pesticides were found in all sites, including 40 organic fields. The number of pesticide residues was two times and the concentration nine times higher in conventional compared to organic fields. Pesticide number and concentrations significantly decreased with the duration of organic management. Even after 20 years of organic agriculture, up to 16 different pesticide residues were present. Microbial biomass and specifically the abundance of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi, a widespread group of beneficial plant symbionts, were significantly negatively linked to the amount of pesticide residues in soil. This indicates that pesticide residues, in addition to abiotic factors such as pH, are a key factor determining microbial soil life in agroecosystems. This comprehensive study demonstrates that pesticides are a hidden reality in agricultural soils, and our results suggest that they have harmful effects on beneficial soil life.


EPrint Type:Journal paper
Keywords:multiresidue analysis, herbicides, fungicides, insecticides, organic farming, no tillage, environmental impact, soil ecology, Abacus, FiBL55257
Agrovoc keywords:
Language
Value
URI
English
organic farming -> organic agriculture
http://aims.fao.org/aos/agrovoc/c_15911
English
herbicides
http://aims.fao.org/aos/agrovoc/c_3566
English
fungicides
http://aims.fao.org/aos/agrovoc/c_3146
English
insecticides
http://aims.fao.org/aos/agrovoc/c_3887
English
tillage
http://aims.fao.org/aos/agrovoc/c_7771
English
soil
http://aims.fao.org/aos/agrovoc/c_7156
Subjects:"Organics" in general
Soil > Soil quality
Crop husbandry > Crop health, quality, protection
Research affiliation: Switzerland > FiBL - Research Institute of Organic Agriculture Switzerland > Soil > Tillage > Reduced Tillage
Switzerland > FiBL - Research Institute of Organic Agriculture Switzerland > Soil > Soil quality
France > INRAe - Institut national de recherche pour l’agriculture, l’alimentation et l’environnement
ISSN:ISSN: 0013-936X
DOI:10.1021/acs.est.0c06405
Project ID:HAL-INRAe
Deposited By: PENVERN, Servane
ID Code:40289
Deposited On:12 Aug 2021 10:37
Last Modified:11 Jan 2022 12:53
Document Language:English
Status:Published
Refereed:Peer-reviewed and accepted

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