O impacto de herbicidas utilizados nas atividades agrícolas Rio Jaguaribe - Ceará

Abstract

Modern agriculture is highly dependent on chemical inputs such as fertilizers and pesticides. Without the use of these inputs, production and food quality would be compromised. However pesticides are hazardous to human health and environment. This study aimed to evaluate the impact of the use of herbicides in agricultural activities in the Jaguaribe river where an agricultural expansion is occurring, and three major irrigation projects in the Ceará state are located. Sediment samples were taken at fluvial and estuarine zones of Jaguaribe river, a total of nine sampling sites. This study determined ten pesticides which are used as herbicides: alachlor, atrazine, bromacil, etalfluralin, fluridone, metabromuron, norflurazon, simazine, tebuthiuron and trifluralin. Furthermore, parameters such grain size, organic matter, humic acid, fulvic acid, nitrogen, and phosphorus were determined to assist environmental dynamics study. Atrazine, metobromuron, simazine and trifluralin herbicides were not detected in any of the sampling site which is in agreement with other studies in literature. These herbicides have distribution constants favorable to aqueous fraction which explains their absence in detectable concentrations in the sediment. On the other hand, other pesticides showed concentration sum per sample point (Σherbicidas) ranging from 111,43 to 419,35 ng g-1 in the study area. The ethalfluralin herbicide (1687.47 ng g-1) had the highest levels, followed by bromacila (201.43 ng the g-1), alachlor (41.73 ng g-1), tebutiurom (24.41 ng g- 1), fluridone (1.33 ng g-1), and norflurazon (0.43 ng g-1). The evaluation of pesticides dependence on sediments was observed that compounds with high values of Koc values were more likely to be found in the fine sediment fractions, and compounds with low Koc values tended to be found both in the organic fraction and inorganic fraction. The compounds norflurazon and alachlor did not show any dependence on sediment fraction, indicating other factors governing the occurence of these compounds in the environment.