Oxidative stress and antioxidant defence systems in response to pesticide stress - Legumes Under Environmental Stress: Yield, Improvement and Adaptations - page 103

Chapter 7

Oxidative stress and antioxidant defence
systems in response to pesticide stress

Fozia Bashir 1 and Sumira Jan 2
1 Department of Botany, Krishna College of Science and Information Technology, Bijnor, Uttar Pradesh, India
2 Center for Research and Development (CORD), University of Kashmir, Srinagar, India

7.1 Introduction

Zeidler (1874), but its insecticidal properties remained
unknown until the 1930s and 40s, when Muller and
Swiss (1940) and West and Campbell (1950) revealed
the effectiveness of DDT for the control of insects and
commercialized it as gesarol. This became a miracle pes-
ticide during the World War II, when the Allied powers
realized its great effectiveness against deadly diseases
like malaria and typhoid (Roy & Ghosh, 1942). DDT
emerged as a marvel in the fight against human epi-
demics and for crop protection, for example scoring
highly in its efficiency in controlling the paddy stem
borer, Tryporyza oryzae Walker, which was particularly
destructive in western Japan. The enormous success of
DDT encouraged the introduction of new synthetic pes-
ticides tested for their possible effectiveness. However,
subsequent decades have seen a major shift in the con-
sumption pattern as well as the formulation of pesticides
(Ishikura, 1972). Prolonged use of various pesticides
like DDT resulted in bioaccumulation of residues over
long periods of time (Kenaga, 1972). Crop plants growing
in such contaminated soil can take up DDT, which may
get translocated to the aerial parts, affecting the produc-
tion and yield (Lichtenstein, 1959, 1960; Lichtenstein &
Schulz, 1960, 1965; Lichtenstein et al., 1965). Extensive
research has been done on the uptake, translocation
and effect of different pesticides, including DDT, in
crop plants (both from tropical and subtropical regions)
(Thakre & Saxena, 1972; Perfect et al., 1979; Talekar
et al., 1983). Subsequent to the release of DDT in 1947,
benzene hexachloride (BHC) and other chlorinated
insecticides were introduced and marketed extensively
(Ishikura, 1972; Roy, 2002). Organophosphates, such as

Excessive use of synthetic fertilizers and pesticides over
the past few decades has led to intensive farming and
extensive crop cultivation. The consumption of fertil-
izers and pesticides increased significantly after World
War II along with the restriction and expansion of
industrialization (Ishikura, 1972; Aditya et al., 1997).
The increased use of fertilizers and pesticides along with
denser spacing to cultivate more plants per unit area
induced vigorous growth for many crop plants making
them vulnerable to pest infestation.
There have been two generations of pesticides. The
first comprise naturally occurring chemicals including
sulphur, nicotine, mercury, arsenic and other heavy
metals employed to guard crops for thousands of years;
residues of these pesticides are responsible for coevo-
lutionary development of the natural defence systems
of plants. Pyrethrum is a botanical extract containing
pyrethrins used since 1850, and a first-generation non-
persistent insecticide. However, it could not be employed
for outdoor agricultural applications due to its thermal
and photo lability (Roy & Ghosh, 1942). The second
generation emerged from 1939 onwards with the
development of the first synthetic pesticide, DDT, which
was released to the market in 1947 (Ishikura, 1972).
There are four main types of synthetic pesticides:
chlorinated hydrocarbons, organophosphates, carba-
mates and pyrethroids. Chlorinated hydrocarbons, such
as DDT, aldrin, lindane and kepone, are broad-spectrum
agents that kill insects by targeting and deactivating
their nervous system. DDT was first synthesized by