Environmental fate of mineral,vegetable and transesterified vegetable oils

Vegetable oils, synthetic esters (including transesterified oils) and mineral oils are the main classes of oil used in pesticide formulations. Biodegradation is a major route for the removal of oils from soil systems. Most of the oils used in pesticide formulations are degraded substantially in the laboratory tests that are used to assess aquatic biodegradability. The susceptibility of different oils to biodegradation can be explained in terms of the metabolic capacity of common microorganisms. Fewer soil biodegradability tests have been carried out with oils, but the available data suggest that the mode of degradation is not very different from that in aquatic systems. Supplements of inorganic nutrients (in particular nitrogen) are needed to stimulate microbial activity in soils containing the high concentrations of oil that can be encountered in the event of a spill. However, oils are applied at such low rates in pesticide form illations (maximum of 5g oil m^? soil) that nutrient availability is unlikely to affect the rate of biodegradation in the field.     

The effects of diflubenzuron on the growth of insect cuticle

Cuticle consists of chitin microfibrils embedded in a matrix composed largely of hydrated proteins. The effect of diflubenzuron, an inhibitor of chitin synthetase, on the deposition of both these components is reviewed. The polymerisation reaction is but one step in the pathway leading to chitin microfibrils. Possibly interactions to other steps in the pathway serve to enhance the consequences of the inhibition. Such enhancement could help to explain the abrupt changes in the rate of chitin synthesis that can be observed as diflubenzuron is cleared from epidermal cells. Cuticle proteins differ widely in their ability to form a stable layer when chitin is largely absent. In the most stable regions, diflubenzuron has no effect on the amount or nature of the proteins deposited. In contrast, there are many regions where the deposition of solid cuticle is stopped, presumably because the proteins involved cannot form a coherent layer. Intermediate degrees of stability are found. There is an association between the regions of stability and those of high sclerotisation; though sclerotisation often takes place long after deposition. Even when the protein layer is fairly stable it may not be deposited in a regular manner. This statement is illustrated by electron micrographs of cuticle from the hind tibiae of adult locusts. These micrographs also show that diflubenzuron can affect epidermal cells. In normal cells the plaques are in contact with the newly secreted cuticle; they are still present but this contact is not maintained after treatment with diflubenzuron.     

Residual fumigant effect of 1,2-dibromoethane (EDB) in fumigations against queensland fruit fly,Dacus tryoni (froggatt), infestations in mangoes

A residual fumigant effect is demonstrated for fruit held 1 to 3 days within its cardboard carton after fumigation with 1,2-dibromoethane (EDB). This residual fumigant effect reduces significantly the dosage required for a specified level of control when compared with that required for fruit removed from the carton immediately after airing when fumigation is completed. The effect is due to the slow release of gas sorbed during fumigation and to the slow dispersion of this gas from the carton.