Environmental Pesticide Degradation: Mechanisms and Sustainability

Abstract

Pesticides are the chemical compounds that are used to control various pests and disease spreading vectors like mosquitoes, ticks, and household pests such as rats and cockroaches. Majority of the pesticides are used in agriculture to control various types of insect pests as well as non-insect pests like ticks and mites, weeds, and fungal infestations and other crop diseases. Pesticides assume a comparative job in saving the crops from notorious pests thereby boosting the economy of a country. However, with the rise in global population, the crops are being cultivated in large-scale resulting in unrestricted utilization of the pesticides. Pesticides have been linked to various environmental contaminations like soil, water, and air. In addition to removing the insects, weeds, vectors, and other household pests, there has been a great impact of pesticide use on the beneficial insects like pollinators, birds, fishes, non-target plants and on the human health as well. Removing pesticides from the environment, abiotic, and biotic transformations play an important role in cleansing the pesticide residues from the environment. Environmental degradation of pesticides involves biotic transformation processes facilitated by microorganisms or plants and by the abiotic processes such as chemical and photochemical reactions.