Search results for "PEST"
showing 10 items of 1124 documents
Impact of maize mucilage on atrazine mineralization andatzC abundance
2005
Soil was amended with maize mucilage, a major rhizodeposit, to study its role on the number of culturable soil micro-organisms, the structure of the bacterial community, atrazine mineralization and atzC abundance. The maximal percentage of atrazine mineralization was lower for mucilage-amended than for water-amended soil. Total culturable soil bacteria and 16S rDNA copy number, measured by RT-PCR, presented similar values and were not significantly (P < 0.05) different among treatments. Mucilage applied at a rate of 70 mu g C g(-1) dry soil day(-1) over two weeks did not modify the abundance of the total soil microflora. Global structure of soil bacterial communities revealed by RISA analys…
An AFLP clock for the absolute dating of shallow-time evolutionary history based on the intraspecific divergence of southwestern European alpine plan…
2009
The dating of recent events in the history of organisms needs divergence rates based on molecular fingerprint markers. Here, we used amplified fragment length polymorphisms (AFLPs) of three distantly related alpine plant species co-occurring in the Spanish Sierra Nevada, the Pyrenees and the southwestern Alps/Massif Central to establish divergence rates. Within each of these species (Gentiana alpina, Kernera saxatilis and Silene rupestris), we found that the degree of AFLP divergence (D(N72)) between mountain phylogroups was significantly correlated with their time of divergence (as inferred from palaeoclimatic/palynological data), indicating constant AFLP divergence rates. As these rates d…
A decision support system based on multisensor data fusion for sustainable greenhouse management
2018
The sustainable exploitation of natural resources is nowadays an important challenge for governments and institutions, considering the expected increase of the world population. In order to respond to this emergent criticality, the principles of green economy have been introduced in the European policy discussion to achieve a good compromise between the sustainability and the profitability of productions by increasing the efficiency of farming operations. Such approach poses some technical and financial challenges for small-sized enterprises because they generally do not possess adequate internal knowledge, nor they can acquire external expertise due to their budget restrictions. Decision S…
Ecology of Denitrifying Prokaryotes in Agricultural Soil
2007
Denitrification is a microbial respiratory process during which soluble nitrogen oxides are used as an alternative electron acceptor when oxygen is limiting. It results in considerable loss of nitrogen, which is the most limiting nutrient for crop production in agriculture. Denitrification is also of environmental concern, since it is the main biological process responsible for emissions of nitrous oxide, one of the six greenhouse gases considered by the Kyoto protocol. In addition to natural variations, agroecosystems are characterized by the use of numerous practices, such as fertilization and pesticide application, which can influence denitrification rates. This has been widely documente…
Site-heterologous haptens and competitive monoclonal antibody-based immunoassays for pyrimethanil residue analysis in foodstuffs
2015
Pyrimethanil is a widely used post-harvest fungicide whose residues are commonly found in fruits and vegetables. We herein report the synthesis of two new functionalized derivatives of pyrimethanil carrying an equivalent spacer arm at different positions of the molecule. The influence of the linker tethering site on the affinity of monoclonal antibodies was shown. Moreover, the development of competitive immunoassays in different formats and with high sensitivity to the target analyte - IC50 values below 0.3μg/L - is described. Optimized assays were characterized by the determination of the limit of quantification, trueness, and precision using water-diluted QuEChERS extracts of fruits and …
Capillary electrophoresis for the determination of pesticide residues
2003
Capillary electrophoresis (CE) is becoming an advantageous tool for determining pesticide residues in environmental matrices because of its simplicity and high separation efficiency. However, inadequate limits of detection (LODs) and a lack of selective detectors limit the technique. The present review gives an overview of current developments in off-column and on-column approaches to trace enrichment in analysing real samples, and summarises the determination of pesticides residues by conventional CE as well as by the emerging techniques, such as CE-mass spectrometry (MS). The usefulness of these approaches in environmental applications is documented.
Multiple-stage mass spectrometric analysis of six pesticides in oranges by liquid chromatography–atmospheric pressure chemical ionization–ion trap ma…
2004
Abstract Six pesticides were determined by liquid chromatography (LC) with positive ion (PI) atmospheric pressure chemical ionization quadrupole ion-trap tandem mass spectrometry (APCI–MS–MS). Ion fragmentation was studied by MS, MS 2 and MS 3 . Fragmentation of the pesticides produced ions formed by various losses from the side-chains and through heterocyclic ring opening, but without any common fragmentation pathway. Multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) of MS, MS 2 and MS 3 was used to identify and quantify the pesticides. The samples were extracted with ethyl acetate and dried over anhydrous sodium sulfate. Comparison of the three MS modes showed that MS 3 is slightly less sensitive but mu…
Determination of carbamate residues in fruits and vegetables by matrix solid-phase dispersion and liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry.
2000
Abstract Thirteen carbamates were analysed in orange, grape, onion and tomatoes by matrix solid-phase dispersion (MSPD) followed by liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry (LC–MS). Electrospray (ES) and atmospheric pressure chemical ionisation (APCI) were compared and both gave similar results in terms of sensitivity and structural information because at 20 V fragmentor voltages the fragmentation is minimal. The efficiency of different solid-phases (C18, C8, cyano, amine and phenyl) for the MSPD was compared. Mean recoveries using C8 varied from 64 to 106% with relative standard deviations of 5–15% in the concentration range of 0.01–10 mg kg−1. Matrix constituents did not interfere signific…
Analysis of organophosphorus pesticides in honeybee by liquid chromatography-atmospheric pressure chemical ionization-mass spectrometry.
2001
Pesticides applied in extended agricultural fields may be controlled by means of bioindicators, such as honeybees, in which are the pesticides bioaccumulate. Liquid chromatography-atmospheric pressure chemical ionization-mass spectrometry (LC-APCI-MS) experiments with positive (PI) and negative (NI) ion modes were optimized for the analysis of 22 organophosphorus pesticides in honeybee samples. The extraction required 3 g of sample, which was extracted with acetone. The extract was purified with coagulating solution and reextracted with Cl(2)CH(2). Pesticides studied could be detected by both ionization modes except for parathion, parathion-methyl, and bromophos, which did not give signals …
Miniaturized matrix solid phase dispersion procedure and solid phase microextraction for the analysis of organochlorinated pesticides and polybromina…
2009
Abstract This work has developed a miniaturized method based on matrix solid phase dispersion (MSPD) using C18 as dispersant and acetonitrile–water as eluting solvent for the analysis of legislated organochlorinated pesticides (OCPs) and polybrominated diphenylethers (PBDEs) in biota samples by GC with electron capture (GC-ECD). The method has compared Florisil®-acidic Silica and C18 as dispersant for samples as well as different solvents. Recovery studies showed that the combination of C18–Florisil® was better when using low amount of samples (0.1 g) and with low volumes of acetonitrile–water (2.6 mL). The use of SPME for extracting the analytes from the solvent mixture before the injectio…