RESUMEN
Ozone concentrations rise to phytotoxic levels from spring to autumn at western Mediterranean basin coastal sites, where artichoke is one of the most important crops. Simultaneously, from year to year and especially since the early 1980s, resprouting of the stumps has been decreasing in Valencian Community artichoke plantations. To see if ozone might be playing a role in this decrease, a number of plants were exposed to different levels of ozone. Results of the ozone treatments showed reduced biomass in the offshoots of plants exposed to the highest ozone treatment. The exposure to ambient ozone during the stump-establishment period, when compared to filtered-air conditions, resulted in a reduction in yield when plants were transplanted in the field under ambient ozone concentrations. And when plants were exposed to acute short picks, typical ozone visual injury appeared in the older leaves.
Asunto(s)
Contaminantes Atmosféricos/farmacología , Cynara scolymus/efectos de los fármacos , Cynara scolymus/crecimiento & desarrollo , Ozono/farmacología , Agricultura/métodos , Agricultura/estadística & datos numéricos , Productos Agrícolas/efectos de los fármacos , Productos Agrícolas/crecimiento & desarrollo , Ambiente Controlado , EspañaRESUMEN
The occupational history of the parents of 261 infants with congenital malformations and 261 matched controls was collected. During the relevant time period before the birth of their child, 183 parents were involved in agricultural activities, 49% of them having directly applied pesticides. Two experts assessed the probability and the level of exposure to each quoted pesticide (582 observations) by using 4-point scales. Interrater agreement was estimated. Kappa-weighted values for probability and level of exposure were, respectively, kappa = 0.36 and kappa = 0.39. In the analysis of some categories of exposure (non-applicators, herbicides) very low interrater agreement was observed. In epidemiological studies, detailed assessment of pesticide exposure (product-by-product) is needed to investigate the effects of pesticides on health. But the application of experts' judgment in this area needs more research in assessing the validity of this approach.