Effect of Pesticides on Enzymatic Activity in Soil

Abstract

The focus of this article is to provide informations about soil enzymatic activity as a biological indicator for impacts of pesticides on soils. In this experiment, an ecological soil was treated with two types of fungicide (Ridomil Gold and Bravo 500) and two of insecticides (Mospilan 20SG and Vertimec 1.8% EC). The pesticides were assessed for their effect on different enzymatic activities. They were administrated over a 28 days period and the samples of soil were taken once every 7 days and analyzed in the laboratory. For each sample was determined the enzymatic activity, pH, humidity. The enzymatic activity was assessed using colorimetrical methods. Enzymes chosen for this study were cellulase, amylase, xylanase, urease, alkaline and acid phosphatase. Results shown that the enzymatic activity can increase or decrease when the soil was treated with the fungicides and insecticides chosen for this experiment.