Dataset Information

Neonicotinoid seed treatments of soybean provide negligible benefits to US farmers.

ABSTRACT: Neonicotinoids are the most widely used insecticides worldwide and are typically deployed as seed treatments (hereafter NST) in many grain and oilseed crops, including soybeans. However, there is a surprising dearth of information regarding NST effectiveness in increasing soybean seed yield, and most published data suggest weak, or inconsistent yield benefit. The US is the key soybean-producing nation worldwide and this work includes soybean yield data from 194 randomized and replicated field studies conducted specifically to evaluate the effect of NSTs on soybean seed yield at sites within 14 states from 2006 through 2017. Here we show that across the principal soybean-growing region of the country, there are negligible and management-specific yield benefits attributed to NSTs. Across the entire region, the maximum observed yield benefits due to fungicide (FST = fungicide seed treatment) + neonicotinoid use (FST + NST) reached 0.13 Mg/ha. Across the entire region, combinations of management practices affected the effectiveness of FST + NST to increase yield but benefits were minimal ranging between 0.01 to 0.22 Mg/ha. Despite widespread use, this practice appears to have little benefit for most of soybean producers; across the entire region, a partial economic analysis further showed inconsistent evidence of a break-even cost of FST or FST + NST. These results demonstrate that the current widespread prophylactic use of NST in the key soybean-producing areas of the US should be re-evaluated by producers and regulators alike.

SUBMITTER: Mourtzinis S

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6733863 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Neonicotinoid seed treatments of soybean provide negligible benefits to US farmers.

Mourtzinis Spyridon S Krupke Christian H CH Esker Paul D PD Varenhorst Adam A Arneson Nicholas J NJ Bradley Carl A CA Byrne Adam M AM Chilvers Martin I MI Giesler Loren J LJ Herbert Ames A Kandel Yuba R YR Kazula Maciej J MJ Hunt Catherine C Lindsey Laura E LE Malone Sean S Mueller Daren S DS Naeve Seth S Nafziger Emerson E Reisig Dominic D DD Ross William J WJ Rossman Devon R DR Taylor Sally S Conley Shawn P SP

Scientific reports 20190909 1

Neonicotinoids are the most widely used insecticides worldwide and are typically deployed as seed treatments (hereafter NST) in many grain and oilseed crops, including soybeans. However, there is a surprising dearth of information regarding NST effectiveness in increasing soybean seed yield, and most published data suggest weak, or inconsistent yield benefit. The US is the key soybean-producing nation worldwide and this work includes soybean yield data from 194 randomized and replicated field st ...[more]

PMID: 31501463

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Project description:The phyllosphere and soil are dynamic habitats for microbial communities. Non-pathogenic microbiota, including leaf and soil beneficial bacteria, plays a crucial role in plant growth and health, as well as in soil fertility and organic matter production. In sustainable agriculture, it is important to understand the composition of these bacterial communities, their changes in response to disturbances, and their resilience to agricultural practices. Widespread pesticide application may have had non-target impacts on these beneficial microorganisms. Neonicotinoids are a family of systemic insecticides being vastly used to control soil and foliar pests in recent decades. A few studies have demonstrated the long-term and non-target effects of neonicotinoids on agroecosystem microbiota, but the generality of these findings remains unclear. In this study, we used 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing to characterize the effects of neonicotinoid seed treatment on soil and phyllosphere bacterial community diversity, composition and temporal dynamics in a 3-year soybean/corn rotation in Quebec, Canada. We found that habitat, host species and time are stronger drivers of variation in bacterial composition than neonicotinoid application. They, respectively, explained 37.3, 3.2, and 2.9% of the community variation. However, neonicotinoids did have an impact on bacterial community structure, especially on the taxonomic composition of soil communities (2.6%) and over time (2.4%). They also caused a decrease in soil alpha diversity in the middle of the growing season. While the neonicotinoid treatment favored some bacterial genera known as neonicotinoid biodegraders, there was a decline in the relative abundance of some potentially beneficial soil bacteria in response to the pesticide application. Some of these bacteria, such as the plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria and the bacteria involved in the nitrogen cycle, are vital for plant growth and improve soil fertility. Overall, our results indicate that neonicotinoids have non-target effects on phyllosphere and soil bacterial communities in a soybean-corn agroecosystem. Exploring the interactions among bacteria and other organisms, as well as the bacterial functional responses to the pesticide treatment, may enhance our understanding of these non-target effects and help us adapt agricultural practices to control these impacts.

Dataset Information

Neonicotinoid seed treatments of soybean provide negligible benefits to US farmers.

Publications

Neonicotinoid seed treatments of soybean provide negligible benefits to US farmers.

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