Tag Archives: soil

Not only during application times: pesticide mixtures are present in soil and plants all year round

Aerial photo. Pesticide application in vineyards. Photo: Carsten A. Brühl

Landau, 21.01.2025 – In conventional agriculture, synthetic chemical pesticides are used in various crops such as arable farming, vegetable growing and viticulture. A study by the RPTU University Kaiserslautern-Landau, recently published in the journal “Scientific Reports”, is the first to examine pesticide contamination over the course of a year. It shows that substances can be detected not only during the spraying periods in the fields, but also throughout the year and in adjacent meadows. The impact of these chronically detected complex pesticide mixtures on the environment has not been sufficiently investigated and could be significant.

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Can plastic mulching mitigate fungicide effects on soil?

In this post, Maximilian Meyer reports on his recently published paper “Agricultural mulching and fungicides—impacts on fungal biomass, mycotoxin occurrence, and soil organic matter decomposition”. The research question was – “Does plastic mulching mitigate fungicide effects in soils?”

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