Vinschgau Valley, located in South Tyrol, Italy, is primarily known for its mountains and nature. In this region of northern Italy, over 7,000 apple producers manufacture 10% of all European apples. Synthetic pesticides, primarily used for apple cultivation, are applied using fan sprayers – insecticides against pests such as the apple moth, and fungicides against fungal diseases causing spots on the fruit. This results in a high level of pesticide dispersion in the environment, especially during windy weather.
For a long time, experts assumed that synthetic pesticides remained mainly in the apple orchards where they were used and could only be found in the immediate vicinity. However, this belief is based on outdated and less sensitive measurement methods, as well as the fact that pesticides outside of production areas were simply not registered, as emphasized by environmental scientist Carsten Brühl from RPTU in Landau.
Thanks to modern analytical methods, up to 100 pesticides can now be measured simultaneously, even at low concentrations. In fact, research shows that pesticides spread far beyond agricultural areas and affect insects in nature reserves or can be found in atmospheric air far away from agriculture.
A few years ago, a decline in butterfly populations on whalebacks was observed in Vinschgau Valley. Experts suspected a connection with pesticide use in the valley, but there were hardly any studies on how far and how long current pesticides are transported and remain in the soil and plants.
This inspired Brühl and his colleague Johann Zaller from BOKU to investigate pesticide dispersion in the environment in Vinschgau Valley. Their research has been published in the journal “Communications Earth & Environment”.
Measurement of Pesticide Dispersion on a Landscape Scale for the First Time
The source of the article is from the blog j6simracing.com.br