The scientists of GB Pant University of Agriculture and Technology (GBPUAT) have developed a technique which can be applied to considerably slow the rate of pesticide contamination in ground water.
University scientists said that three to four different chemicals including fungicides, herbicides and pesticides are used two to three times on a crop.These toxic chemicals remain present in the soil and slowly seep to the ground water. Entering the food chain these chemicals exert a harmful effect on the health of humans and animals.
Scientists of the chemistry division of the College of Basic Sciences and Humanities, GBPUAT conducted experiments on ways to mitigate the risk of pesticide residue reaching ground water. The experiments were conducted both in the laboratory and on the farm.
As part of the experiments, they mixed various items like farmyard anure, a mix of fresh cow dung, paddy husk and press mud compost in the soil and then applied pesticide. It was found that there was a considerable increase in the soil’s power of retention for chemicals like lindane, Chlorpyrifos, fipronil, carbendazim, cypermethrin, endosulfan, imidacloprid and sulfosulfuron. Of all the items used in the experiment, the maximum reduction – by more than 75 per cent- in intensity of pesticide seeping deeper in the ground was achieved by using farmyard manure or paddy husk.
The use of toxic chemicals in agriculture in Uttarakhand especially in the areas used for cultivation of vegetables is exerting a harmful effect on the environment which cannot be ignored. Data on the presence of more than the permissible level of pesticides in ground water have been published in various reports.
In order to mitigate the threat posed by pesticide residue in the soil, farmers should mix either farmyard manure or paddy husk in the proportion of five tones per hectare before sowing the crop. The use of this simple technique can mitigate the contamination of ground water by pesticide to a considerable extent, said the college scientists.