Summary
A toxicity test using protozoa as test organisms was devised for pesticides. Two different methods were used, the most probable number method and the absorbance method (based on measurement of protozoa growth through absorbance). The ciliates Colpoda cucullus and Blepharisma undulans and the flagellate Oikomonas termo were isolated from different biological starter cultures and tested with the herbicides Chlorex, MCPA, dichlorprop and Matrigon, the fungicide Benlate, and the insecticide Sumicidin. The protozoans showed quite different sensitivities to the pesticides, using 9-h lethal concentrations (LC50 and LC10) as criteria. The 9-h LC50 (concentration at which 50% of the protozeon population has died after 9 h of incubation) ranged from 0.7 ppm for Benlate to 40000 ppm for Chlorex. The usual soil application rates of Chlorex, MCPA, and Benlate were toxic to some of the organisms.
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Schreiber, B., Brink, N. Pesticide toxicity using protozoans as test organisms. Biol Fert Soils 7, 289–296 (1989). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00257822
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00257822