Difenoconazole has a widespread agricultural use to control fungal diseases in crops, including rice. In edge-of-field surface waters the residues of this lipophilic fungicide may be toxic to both pelagic and benthic organisms. To allow an effect assessment we mined the regulatory and open literature for aquatic toxicity data. Since published sediment toxicity data were scarce we conducted 28 d sediment-spiked toxicity test with 8 species of benthic macroinvertebrates. Ecotoxicological threshold levels for effects were assessed by applying the species sensitivity distribution approach. Based on short-term L(E)C50's for aquatic organisms from water-only tests an acute Hazardous Concentration to 5% of the species (HC5) of 100 µg difenoconazole/L was obtained, while the HC5 based on chronic NOEC values was a factor of 104 lower (0.96 µg difenoconazole/L). For benthic macroinvertebrates the chronic HC5, based on 28d-L(E)C10 values, was 0.82 mg difenoconazole/kg dry weight sediment. To allow a risk assessment for water- and sediment-dwelling organisms, exposure concentrations were predicted for the water and sediment compartment of an edge-of-field pond bordering rice paddies treated with difenoconazole using the Chinese Top-Rice modelling approach, the Chinese Nanchang exposure scenario and the Equilibrium Partitioning theory. It appeared that in the vast majority of the 20 climate years simulated, potential risks to aquatic and sediment organisms cannot be excluded. Although the HC5 values based on laboratory toxicity data provide one line of evidence only, our evaluation suggests population- and community-level effects on these organisms due to chronic risks in particular.
Keywords: Aquatic toxicity; Azole fungicide; Environmental risk assessment; Sediment toxicity; Species sensitivity distributions.
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