Water Resources Research Act Program

Details for Project ID 2006IN189B

Environmental Risk Assessment of Soybean Rust Fungicides Use in Indiana

Institute: Indiana
Year Established: 2006 Start Date: 2006-03-01 End Date: 2007-02-28
Total Federal Funds: $20,000 Total Non-Federal Funds: $48,841

Principal Investigators: Hugo Ochoa-Acuna, Bernard Engel, Leighanne Hahn

Project Summary: Environmental Risk Assessment of Soybean Rust Fungicides Use in Indiana Abstract

We propose to conduct a state-wide environmental risk assessment for 11 fungicides to be used in fighting soybean rust. The EPA issued emergency exemption registrations for use of these fungicides to combat this newly introduced soybean disease. It is expected that combating this disease will require the use of large amounts of fungicides within Indiana, even though their safety to humans and aquatic organisms has not been adequately documented. Annual mean and 4-day peak surface water concentrations for 11 fungicides already predicted with a model using spatially overlaid data on fungicide and land use, soil characteristics, and weather will be combined with effects data from toxicity tests, published information, and computational toxicology results to evaluate and rank fungicides according to their safety and to develop best management practices guidelines for these chemicals.