ABSTRACT
The amount and type of biopesticides found in the aquatic environment continues to increase as their production and use continues to grow. In the last few decades, production of biopesticides has increased considerably and is projected to continue increasing in the next half decade. Despite the reluctance of end users in exploiting biopesticides for pest management, around 1200 biopesticides are commercially available, and only 270 are registered in EU and the United States (Chandler et al., 2011). About 50%, 30%, and 12% of all biopesticides are used in horticulture, animal husbandry, and crop production, respectively (Glare et al., 2012). The global market of biopesticides is expected to increase from US$ 1.2 billion in 2008 to US$ 3.3 billion in 2014 (Glare et al., 2012). Due to the current limited usage, few biopesticides have been detected in environmental matrices, such as soil and water. For example, azoxystrobin, a fungicide commonly used in agriculture in European nations and United States has been detected in surface and groundwater. Battaglin et al. (2011) detected azoxystrobin in 45% of 103 samples collected from US streams. The mean of the detections was 0.163 µg/L and the maximum concentration was 1.13 µg/L.
