Pesticide application
Management Activity
The term pesticide refers to chemical substances used to repel, kill or control plant or animal pest species. Pesticides include herbicides, insecticides, rodenticides, fungicides, and bactericides for use on weeds, insects, rodents, fungi and bacteria respectively.
The direct impacts of herbicide application may include:
- Death of susceptible species, leading to short term:
- Reduced ground cover except under zero till systems where the use of herbicides maintains a soil cover of dead vegetation until the next crop is established
- Reduced canopy cover
- Reduced invasion of production system weeds
The direct impacts of insecticide and rodenticide application may include:
- Reduced pest animals
- Increased plant productivity
- Reduced risk of disease transmission
The direct impacts of fungicide and bactericide application may include:
- Increased plant productivity
The unintended effects of pesticide drift may include:
- Unintended animal and plant deaths
- Increased water chemical contamination
- Reduced air quality
- Soil organism loss in some situations
The use of heavy machinery during pesticide application may result in:
Last updated 7 September 2010
