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Ecotoxicity of pesticide formulations and their mixtures: the case of potato crops in Costa Rica

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Abstract

Despite their environmental implications, ecotoxicological information regarding pesticide mixtures is relatively scarce. This study aimed to determine the ecotoxicity of individual pesticide formulations and their mixtures (insecticides and fungicides), which are applied during the production cycle of potato, according to agricultural practices from a Latin American region in Costa Rica. Two benchmark organisms were employed: Daphnia magna and Lactuca sativa. First, the evaluation of individual formulations (chlorothalonil, propineb, deltamethrin+imidacloprid, ziram, thiocyclam and chlorpyrifos) revealed differences between available EC50 for active ingredients (a.i.) and their respective formulations toward D. magna; on the contrary, no information could be retrieved from scientific literature for comparison in the case of L. sativa. In general, acute toxicity was higher toward D. magna than L. sativa. Moreover, interactions could not be determined on L. sativa, as the chlorothalonil formulation was not toxic at high levels and the concentration-response to propineb could not be fitted to obtain an IC50 value. The commercial formulation composed of deltamethrin+imidacloprid followed the concentration addition model (when compared with parameters retrieved from individual a.i.) and the other three mixtures evaluated (I: chlorothalonil-propineb-deltamethrin+imidacloprid; II: chlorothalonil-propineb-ziram-thiocyclam; III: chlorothalonil-propineb-chlorpyrifos) produced an antagonistic effect on D. magna, thus suggesting less acute toxicity than their individual components. Subsequent chronic studies showed that one of the most toxic mixtures (II) negatively affected D. magna reproduction at sublethal concentrations indicating that this mixture poses a risk to this species if these pesticides co-exist in freshwater systems. These findings provide useful data to better estimate the impact of real agricultural practices related to the use of agrochemicals.

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Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge Marta Pérez Villanueva for the technical support at initial stages of the implementation of the chronic toxicity assay; Paula Aguilar Mora for the description of the pesticide application cycle for potato crops in Costa Rica; and Marianella Castro Esquivel and José David Umaña Monge for the collaboration in the performance and data analysis of the chronic test.

Funding

This work was supported by Vicerrectoría de Investigación at Universidad de Costa Rica (project 908-B8-122).

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  1. Centro de Investigación en Contaminación Ambiental (CICA), Universidad de Costa Rica, 2060, San José, Costa Rica

    Michael Méndez-Rivera, Didier Ramírez-Morales, José R. Montiel-Mora & Carlos E. Rodríguez-Rodríguez

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  1. Michael Méndez-Rivera
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  2. Didier Ramírez-Morales
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  3. José R. Montiel-Mora
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  4. Carlos E. Rodríguez-Rodríguez
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All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation, data collection and analysis were performed by MM-R, DR-M and JRM-M. The first draft of the paper was written by MM-M and CE. R-R and all authors commented on previous versions of the paper. All authors read and approved the final paper.

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Correspondence to Carlos E. Rodríguez-Rodríguez.

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Méndez-Rivera, M., Ramírez-Morales, D., Montiel-Mora, J.R. et al. Ecotoxicity of pesticide formulations and their mixtures: the case of potato crops in Costa Rica. Ecotoxicology 32, 383–393 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10646-023-02648-5

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