Relationship Between Environmental Risk and Pesticide Application in Cereal Farming

In 2013, 8 active ingredients (a.i.) in cereal farming were applied for insect and fungus control in Sanliurfa, Turkey. These a.i. were alpha-cypermethrin(EC), chlorpyrifos(EC;WP), difenoconazole(EC), indoxacarb(WG), lambda-cyhalothrin(EC), lufenuron(EC), propiconazole(EC) and tebuconazole(DS). In the present study, environmental risk of these a.i. was calculated via The Pesticide Occupational and Environmental Risk (POCER) indicators. From the results of this study, it was determined that the highest environmental risk is chlorpyrifos(EC). For this pesticide a.i., Exceedence Factor (EF) was assessed at 3.446 for the environment. Regarding the total score, chorpyrifos(EC) had potential risk at 49.2 percent for the environment. The lowest risk was found for tebuconazole(DS) due to its 0.000 EF value for the environment. In this study, it was concluded that the pesticide exposure of environment could be minimized by using appropriate application techniques and equipment for reducing pesticide drift, considering buffer zones according to pesticide formulation and toxicity, training in special educational programs, and using the manufacturer’s recommended dosage during pesticide application.