MODERN AGRICULTURE AND THE ENVIRONMENT Developments in Plant and Soil Sciences Volume 71 This volume is dedicated to the late David Rosen, Professor of Entomology at the Faculty of Agricultural, Food and Environmental Quality Sciences of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Prof. Rosen, who passed away on January 8, 1997 after a prolonged illness, was an internationally renowned authority on biological and integrated control of insect pests. David was born in Tel Aviv on April 20, 1936. Mter completing his academic training at the Faculty of Agriculture of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, he joined the faculty as a lecturer in 1967, rapidly rising through the academic ranks to be appointed full professor in 1978. His years on the faculty were marked by tireless activity for the promotion of a biological approach to insect pest management. His many and varied research projects encompassed both his own area of expertise, the systematics of parasitic hymenoptera, and numerous related fields in collaboration with experts throughout the world. As an outstanding teacher, David shared his vast knowledge and his personal views with countless students, and many of those who completed graduate studies under his guidance are today at the forefront of plant protection in Israel. He was also a prolific writer, authoring or co-authoring some 200 research papers and book chapters, and authoring or editing 9 books during his scientific career. David's cheerful optimism, his sense of humor, and his personal and professional integrity impressed all those who knew him. With his untimely death, his many colleagues, students and friends will miss his inspiration, his leadership, and his warm personality. David was deeply involved in the organization of the First International Conference on Modern Agriculture and the Environment. In spite of his illness, he invested a tremendous amount of time and energy to make this book a high quality contribution to our understanding and advancement of environmental quality. This volume is dedicated to his memory. Yona Chen, Elish Tel-Or and Yithak Hadar Modem Agriculture and the Environment Proceedings of an International Conference, held in Rehovot, Israel, 2-6 October 1994, under the auspices of the Faculty of Agriculture, the Hebrew University of Jerusalern Edited by DAVID ROSEN Professor of Entomology ELISHA TEL-OR Professor of Botany YITZHAK HADAR Professor of Microbiology YONACHEN Professor of Soll Science and Dean The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Faculty of Agriculture, Rehovot 76100, Israel " SPRINGER-SCIENCE+BUSINESS MEDIA, B.V. A C.I.P. Catalogue record for this book is available from the Library of Congress ISBN 978-94-010-6279-4 ISBN 978-94-011-5418-5 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-94-011-5418-5 Printed on acid-free paper All Rights Reserved © 1997 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht Originally published by Kluwer Academic Publishers in 1997 No part of the material protected by this copyright notice may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without prior permission from the copyright owner. Hartnolls Limited, Bodmin, Comwall Contents Preface Xl Organizing Committee; International Advisory Board; Sponsors xiii List of Contributors xv SECTION I: TOWARDS ENVIRONMENTALLY ACCEPTABLE PEST MANAGEMENT 1. Safer and more effective insecticides for the future 3 John E. Cas ida and Gary B. Quistad 2. From Homo economicus to Homo ecologicus: towards environmentally safe pest control 17 J. C. van Lenteren 3. Classical biological control: an environmental boon or bane? 33 David Rosen 4. Soil disinfestation: environmental problems and solutions 41 Jaacov Katan 5. Minimizing environmental damage originating from pesticide utilization: abiotic photochemical control and remediation 47 Nicola Senesi and Elisabetta Loffredo 6. Neem, eco-friendly, !PM-compatible plant-derived bioinsecticide: some new findings 75 K.R.S. Ascher 7. Utilization of scorpion insecticidal neurotoxins and baculoviruses for the design of novel selective biopesticides 81 Michael Gurevitz, Noam Zilberberg, Oren Fray, Daniel Urbach, Eliahu Zlotkin, Bruce D. Hammock, Rafael Herrmann, Haim Moskowitz and Nor Chejanovsky v vi Contents 8. Nitrogen fixing cyanobacteria as BTi toxin genes delivery system - a biotechnological approach to control malaria mosquitoes 97 Sammy Boussiba, Wu Xiaoqiang and Arieh Zaritsky 9. Structure-function analysis of PBANIMRCH: a basis for antagonist design 111 Miriam Altstein, Ezra Dunkelblum, Yoav Gazit, Orna Ben Aziz, Tal Gabay, Zvi Vogel and Jacob Barg 10. Estimation of metolachlor volatilization from agricultural fields using a micro meteorological approach 119 J.H. Prueger, J.L. Hatfield and T.J. Sauer 11. Titanium dioxide photocatalysis for the treatment of contaminated waters 127 Lea Muszkat SECTION II: FERTILISERS IN AGROECOSYSTEMS 12. Site-oriented ecosystem management: precondition to reducing the contamination of waters and the atmosphere 135 R.E. Hantschel and F. Beese 13. Minimising surface and ground-water pollution from fertiliser application 147 Paolo Sequi and Roberto Indiati 14. Considerations in fertiliser application to prevent ground-water contamination 159 U. Kajkafi 15. Application of controlled release fertilisers in the Florida citrus industry 173 J.J. Ferguson and F.S. Davies SECTION ill: ENVIRONMENTAL ASPECTS OF AQUACULTURE 16. Aquaculture and the environment: change and challenge 183 James F. Muir 17. Biological removal of inorganic nitrogen and organic matter in closed, intensive fish culture systems 197 Jaap van Rijn 18. Ultrastructure and cellular activity of fish skin in metal-polluted water 215 Y. Iger, M. Abraham, E. Kimmel and S.E. Wendelaar Bonga Contents vii SECTION IV: MODELLING OF AGRICULTURAL POLLUTION 19. Modelling pesticide transport in porous media 231 R.J. Wagenet, P.M. Tillotson and l.L. Hutson 20. Comparative ecosystem research as a basis for agro-ecological modelling 247 O. Franzle 21. Application of EPIC within an integrated modelling system to evaluate soil erosion in the Canadian Prairies 269 R.C. Izaurralde, P. W. Gassman, A. Bouzaher, l. Tajek, P. G. Laksminarayan, l. Dumanski and l.R. Kiniry 22. A model to predict the release rate of nitrogen from polymer-coated urea 287 Mingchu Zhang, M. Nyborg and R. C. Izaurralde SECTION V: WASTEWATER TREATMENT AND IRRIGATION 23. Sewage sludge: land utilisation and the environment: toxic organic considerations 299 G.A. O'Connor 24. New technologies for disinfection of domestic effluents for agricultural reuse 309 A. Acher, E. Fischer and Y. Manor 25. Effects of irrigation with secondary sewage effluent on the transport of soil-borne pesticides 317 Ellen R. Graber 26. Early detection of irrigation environmental risks using monitoring manholes: a case study of the Southern Ukraine 323 M. Zilberbrand 27. Use of wastewater from livestock farms for irrigation in Yugoslavia 329 l. Milivojevic, M. Ljesevic and M. Nedic SECTION VI: RECYCLING OF MUNICIPAL AND AGRICULTURAL WASTES 28. Composting and recycling of organic wastes 341 Yona Chen, Yossi Inbar, Benny CheJetz and Yitzhak Hadar viii Contents 29. Impacts of compost quality on plant disease severity 363 H.A.J. Hoitink, M.E. Grebus and A.G. Stone 30. Suppressiveness of municipal solid waste composts to plant diseases induced by soilborne pathogens 373 e. e. Serra-Wittling, Alabouvette, S. Houot and F. Rouxel 31. On the agronomic use of municipal solid waste compost: principles and applications 383 Yoram Avnimelech and Maika Kochva 32. Chemical and electron spin resonance properties of municipal solid waste composts 395 J. Drozd, A. Jezierski and Y. Chen 33. Variations with pedoclimatic conditions of an anaerobically digested liquid sewage sludge C mineralisation and its N-N03- availability 401 S. Houot, L Cadot and V. Gnanalingam 34. Solid waste management in Israel 413 Yossi lnbar, llan Nissim and Dekel Amir-Shapira SECTION VII: POLLUTION BY IlEAV Y METALS 35. Biofiltration of heavy metals by the aquatic fern Azolla 431 Elisha Tel-Or, Moti Sela and Shaul Ravid 36. Modelling the mobilising effect of olive mill wastewater on heavy metals adsorbed by a soil 443 L Madrid and E. Dfaz-Barrientos 37. Soil microbial biomass as marker of heavy metal contamination and bioavailability 449 e. L Leita, G. Muhlbachova, Mondini, L. Marchiol and M. DeNobili 38. Copper and lead species in soil and their uptake by plants when applied as carbonates 459 Anna Chlopecka 39. Levels of copper, zinc and manganese in the vineyard soils of Dao wine region - Portugal 469 R.S. Dias and J.e. Soveral-Dias Contents ix SECTION VIII: BIOREMEDIATION 40. Bioremediation in agriculture: dream or reality? 481 y. Henis 41. Microbial transformation of pesticides in agricultural soil 491 D. Levanon 42, Biological atrazine destruction mediated by bacteria 501 Raphi T. Mandelbaum, Nir Shafir and Larissa Kautzki 43. Removal of lead from aqueous solutions by a Brevibacterium strain 523 V. Andreoni, M. Colombo, D. Di Simine, C. Finoli, G. Origgi, A. Vecchio and R. Carzaniga 44. Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon degradation by white rot fungi 535 M. Wolter, F. Zadrazil, R. Martens and M. Bahadir 45. Potential utilisation of phenoloxidases immobilised in organic gels for decontamination of polluted sites 545 C. Crecchio, P. Ruggiero, M.D.R. Pizzigallo and M. Curci SECTION IX: ECONOMIC AND POLICY ASPECTS OF NATURAL RESOURCES 46. Economics and sustainable development 555 David Zilberman 47. Homogeneity and heterogeneity of bio-resources in economic models 567 Eithan Hochman and Eyal Brill 48. Problems and prospects in the political economy of trans-boundary water issues 583 Richard E. Just, John K. Horowitz and Sinaia Netanyahu 49. Australian decentralised water allocation 613 Norman J. Dudley 50. The practical impact of ecological chemical principles 625 F. Korte 51. Reuse of effluent: Israel as a model 633 R. Laster Preface This volume comprises the proceedings of the First International Rehovot Conference on Modem Agriculture and the Environment, held at the Rehovot Campus of the Faculty of Agriculture, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel, 2-6 October 1994. The conference, first in a series intended to be convened in Rehovot at 4-5 year intervals to address various aspects of the interaction of agriculture and the environment, was initiated, organised and carried out under the auspices of the Faculty of Agriculture, the leading academic institution in agricultural and environmental studies in Israel. It featured four keynote addresses, 39 invited lectures, 40 submitted papers, and 62 posters. Of these, 51 articles, written by 122 contributing authors from 14 countries, were selected by the editors to be presented in this book. All through the twentieth century, and especially ever since the advent of the Green Revolution, modem agriCUlture has been striving to feed and clothe the ever increasing multitudes of the human species through improved technology, relying heavily on tremendous inputs of fertilisers, pesticides, and various other agrochemicals. Undoubtedly, this has been a great blessing to mankind, and enormous strides have indeed been made in the never-ending struggle against starvation, but these have been achieved at a very steep price of increased environmental deterioration. In fact, modem agriculture has become one of the major factors contributing to the degradation of the world's fragile biosphere. This has been manifested in mounting rates of soil, water and air pollution, increased emission of greenhouse gases, depletion of the ozone layer in the stratosphere, accumulation of manure and other solid wastes, excessive exploitation of forests and open lands, elimination of the natural habitats of many plants and animals, an almost unprecedented mass extinction of living species, and an alarming destruction of biodiversity. Obviously, this should not be allowed to go on. Urgent steps have to be taken, on a national and regional as well as on a global level, to stop, avoid and mitigate these detrimental processes. This is what this book is all about. It is divided into nine sections, addressing various problems of, and suggested solutions to, the complex interaction between modem agriculture and the environment. Section I is devoted to chemical pesticides, means to reduce their utilisation, and some of the main alternatives to their overuse n and misuse in pest management; Section deals with chemical fertilisers and how to minimise pollution caused by them; Section ill addresses some of the environmental aspects of aquaculture; Section IV presents approaches to the modelling of agricultural pollution; Section V covers the treatment of wastewater and its utilisation in irrigation; Section VI deals with the recycling of municipal and xi