Analysis of the Environmental Risk Index of the Main Herbicides Used in Cotton, Corn, and Soybean Crops in Mato Grosso and Bioremediation Potential of Terbuthylazine and Trifluralin Herbicides by Ligninolytic MacrofungiEnvironmental Risk. Herbicides. Bioremediation. Macrofungi
Due to its high agricultural production, the state of Mato Grosso is one of the country's largest consumers of herbicides. Herbicides are an important part of weed management, ensuring efficient agricultural productivity. However, they present risks to the environment, and therefore, measures are necessary to assess the impact of these herbicides on non-target organisms and the state's ecosystems. A survey of commercialization data was carried out for the ten main active ingredients (a.i.) used in cotton, corn, and soybean crops. The herbicides glyphosate > atrazine > 2,4-D > glufosinate-ammonium > S-metolachlor > diquat > clethodim > trifluralin > terbuthylazine > clomazone > diuron > flumioxazin > haloxifop-p-methyl > mesotrione > MSMA are the most commonly used for these crops. The first chapter aims to evaluate the Environmental Risk Index (ERI), based on calculations of parameters such as persistence, leaching, volatility, toxicological profile, and applied dose, as well as information on the chemical/physical properties of the a.i. available in the literature. The a.i. atrazine and MSMA presented the highest ERI (27), followed by trifluralin (22), and terbuthylazine and diuron (16). These stand out as the herbicides posing the highest environmental risk to the state's ecosystems, and therefore, ways to mitigate their impacts must be sought. The second chapter aims to evaluate the potential of macrofungi to bioremediate the herbicides terbuthylazine and trifluralin. In vitro assays were conducted in the Microbial Biotechnology Laboratory, located at the State University of Mato Grosso – UNEMAT, to assess the mycelial growth rates and mycelial growth inhibition rates of the macrofungi Phanerochaete australis (SA18), Polyporus sp. (SA23), Lentinus crinitus (SA37), and Hypoxylon fendleri (SA41) at different herbicide concentrations. Of these, H. fendleri and L. crinitus stand out for showing high mycelial growth rates at the different concentrations evaluated and low mycelial growth inhibition rates, indicating that they can be used to bioremediate environments contaminated by these herbicides.