Effect of sublethal heavy metal stress as plant biotic elicitor for triggering innate immunity in tomato plant was investigated. Copper in in vivo condition induced accumulation of defense enzymes like peroxidase (PO), polyphenol oxidase (PPO), phenylalanine ammonia-lyase (PAL), and β-1,3 glucanase along with higher accumulation of total phenol, antioxidative enzymes (catalase and ascorbate per...

The Root Zone Water Quality Model (RZWQM) is a comprehensive, integrated physical, biological and chemical process model that simulates plant growth and movement of water, nutrients and pesticides in a representative area of an agricultural system. We tested the ability of RZWQM to predict surface runoff losses of atrazine, alachlor, fenamiphos and two fenamiphos oxidative degradates against re...

When environmentalists talk about pesticide exposure, they are usually referring to possible residue in our food. In fact, food is only one of many potential sources of pesticide residue in our environment. Both farmers and consumers, especially parents with small children, will benefit from the "risk cup" assessment of pesticide levels in our daily lives from ALL sources — not just agriculture...

We designed, synthesized and screened a library of analogs of the organophosphate pesticide metabolite paraoxon against a recombinant variant of human serum paraoxonase-1. Alterations of both the aryloxy leaving group and the retained alkyl chains of paraoxon analogs resulted in substantial changes to binding and hydrolysis, as measured directly by spectrophotometric methods or in competition e...

A novel method of extraction has been developed to avoid the presence of heavy metals during the measurement of pesticides based on acetylcholinesterase (AchE) inhibition. Heavy metals have been in fact demonstrated in this article to interfere when the assay is performed by using the classic spectrophotometric Ellman’s method. We present the results obtained with an assay system using two diff...

An amperometric biosensor for chlorphenvinphos (organophosphorus pesticide) based on carbon nanotube paste and acetylcholinesterase enzyme (CNTs-AChE biosensor) is described herein. This CNTs-AChE biosensor was characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). The SEM result shows the presence of CNTs and small lumps, due to the enzyme AChE, w...

OBJECTIVES To evaluate a spectrophotometric field kit (Test-Mate-OP) for repeatability and validity in comparison with reference laboratory methods and to model its anticipated sensitivity and specificity based on these findings. METHODS 76 farm workers between the age of 20 and 55, of whom 30 were pesticide applicators exposed to a range of organophosphates in the preceding 10 days, had bloo...

Pesticides, such as parathion, are metabolized by cytochrome p-450 system to paraoxon, which is a potent cholinesterase inhibitor. Paraoxonase (PON) catalyzes the hydrolysis of these toxic metabolites and protects against pesticide toxicity. A glutamine/arginine (Gln/Arg) polymorphism at amino acid position 192 of PON has been described. The Arg/Arg genotype is associated with higher serum para...

Pesticides are one of the major inputs used for increasing agricultural productivity of crops. The pesticide residues, left to variable extent in the food materials after harvesting, are beyond the control of consumer and have deleterious effect on human health. The presence of pesticide residues is a major bottleneck in the international trade of food commodities. The localization of pesticide...

The photocatalytic degradation of technical grade pesticide ‘malathion’ has been studied in aqueous suspensions of TiO2. The main aim of using this process is to degrade the toxic complex structure of the pesticide to harmless products by treating the sample in the UV-reactor. The COD measurements are carried out in order to study the percentage mineralization and degradation is studied under d...