Herbicides Influence the Community Structure of the Soil Mezofauna

I. VELCHEVA, S. PETROVA, I. MOLLOV, G. GECHEVA and D. GEORGIEV
University of Plovdiv “Paisii Hilendarski”, Faculty of Biology, Department of Ecology and Environmental Conservation, BG - 4000 Plovdiv, Bulgaria

Abstract

VELCHEVA, I., S. PETROVA, I. MOLLOV, G. GECHEVA and D. GEORGIEV, 2012. Herbicides influence the community structure of the soil mezofauna. Bulg. J. Agric. Sci., 18: 742-748

A field bioassay was carried out to assess the impact of “NIRVANA” (active substances imazamox and pendimethalin) and “STOMP 330 EC” (active substance pendimethalin) herbicides residues to the soil mezofauna. The investigated herbicides caused changes in the community structure of the soil mezofauna. Highest negative impact (suppression of all studied ecological parameters) was observed until the 100th day after treatment, and on the experimental plots treated with high concentrations of pendimethalin. The dynamic of the soil community structure was found to be related with those of the pesticides content.

Key words: pendimethalin, soil mezofauna, ecological characteristics

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