The Impact of Pesticides - Academy Publish

THE SAFETY OF THE SOYBEAN-IPM ASSOCIATED TO YIELDAND SUSTAINABILITYThe guarantee of positive results obtained with the adoption of Soybean-IPM, whichcombines high yield and lower environmental impact caused by pesticides, is a prerequisiteto a massive adoption of this technology. Therefore, in order to evaluatethe influence of different pest control practices on its population as well as on thesoybean yield, BUENO et al. (2011) carried out some experiments at differentlocations in important producing regions of Brazil. In these experiments, the authorsanalyzed the feasibility and safety of the Soybean-IPM more accurately using newercultivars with different characteristics. All experiments were conducted in arandomized block experimental design with four treatments (Table 6) and fourreplications, each with an area of 25 m x 25 m. The most important results obtained(Table 7) ratify what had been previously published in the literature showing thatthe soybean-IPM is crucial to combine high yield with a more friendly agriculture(lower use of chemicals). The yield, where the insecticides were overused mixedwith herbicides and fungicides [conventional management usually used by somesoybean producers (CM)], without considering the economic threshold level was nothigher than that obtained in the treatment where the IPM was adopted (Table 7). Inthis context, it should also be emphasized that the treatment CM had a greaternumber of pesticide applications, which besides not providing better control andhaving higher costs, can contaminate humans and the environment. In addition itcan also aggravate the problems of pest resurgence and secondary pest outbreaks,among other problems previously discussed in this chapter (MEISSLE et al., 2010,TANG et al., 2010).Table 6. Magament used including dosages per hectare of the products used andcrop developmental stage in which the treatment applications were performed onfive soybean experiments submitted to different pest management systems, installedat distinct municipalities of two soybean producing Brazilian states [Goiás (GO) andParaná (PR)], in the 2008/2009 and 2009/2010 crop seasons. Adapted from BUENOet al. (2011).1 IPM = Integrated Pest Management; CM = conventional management usuallyadopted by Brazilian soybean growers with overuse of insecticides; C = Controltreatment: without pest control.AcademyPublish.org - The Impact of Pesticides185