Agricultural fungicide attracts honey bees, study finds

When given the choice, honey bee foragers prefer to collect sugar syrup laced with the fungicide chlorothalonil over sugar syrup alone, researchers report in the journal Scientific Reports.

In bee decline, fungicides emerge as improbable villain

When a Cornell-led team of scientists analyzed two dozen environmental factors to understand bumblebee population declines and range contractions, they expected to find stressors like changes in land use, geography or insecticides.

Effective Imitation: New chitinase inhibitors

(PhysOrg.com) -- The chitin-degrading enzymes known as chitinases are not just important to insects with chitin shells and to their predators, they also seem to be involved in the establishment of parasites in the human body ...

New keys to control garlic rot

Researchers at the UPM have revealed decisive aspects to address the control of the fusariosis, a disease caused by garlic rot during storage.

Pesticides killing amphibians, says study

A plunge in the world's population of frogs and toads may be blamed, at least in part, on farm pesticides, researchers in Germany said on Thursday.

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Fungicide

Fungicides are chemical compounds or biological organisms used to kill or inhibit fungi or fungal spores. Fungi can cause serious damage in agriculture, resulting in critical losses of yield, quality and profit. Fungicides are used both in agriculture and to fight fungal infections in animals. Chemicals used to control oomycetes, which are not fungi, are also referred to as fungicides as oomycetes use the same mechanisms as fungi to infect plants.

Fungicides can either be contact, translaminar or systemic. Contact fungicides are not taken up into the plant tissue, & only protect the plant where the spray is deposited; translaminar fungicides redistribute the fungicide from the upper, sprayed leaf surface to the lower, unsprayed surface; systemic fungicides are taken up & redistributed through the xylem vessels to the upper parts of the plant. New leaf growth is protected for a short period. .

Most fungicides that can be bought retail are sold in a liquid form. A very common active ingredient is sulfur, present at 0.08% in weaker concentrates, and as high as 0.5% for more potent fungicides. Fungicides in powdered form are usually around 90% sulfur and are very toxic. Other active ingredients in fungicides include neem oil, rosemary oil, jojoba oil, and the bacterium Bacillus subtilis.

Fungicide residues have been found on food for human consumption, mostly from post-harvest treatments. Some fungicides are dangerous to human health, such as vinclozolin, which has now been removed from use.

This text uses material from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA