Methods to evaluate pesticide damage to the biomass of the soil microflora

Respiratory methods to estimate the amount of C in the soil microbial biomass and the relative contributions of procaryotes and eucaryotes to the biomass were used to evaluate the influence of pesticides on the soil microflora. Experiments were conducted with 5 and 50 μg·g^?1 of three fungicides, captan, thiram and verdasan. At 5 μg·g^?1 they caused significant decreases (40%) in the biomass; the organomercury fungicide verdasan also caused a shift from fungal to bacterial dominance. Within 8 days, biomass in captan- and thiram-amended soils had recovered to that of the controls. Although the fungal to bacterial balance was restored in verdasan-amended soils, biomass recovery was not complete. At 50 μg·g^?1 the fungicides caused long-term decreases in the biomass and altered the relative proportions of the bacterial and fungal populations. Verdasan had the greatest effect on soil microbial biomass and composition.