Multi-level analysis of exposure to triazole fungicides through treated seed ingestion in the red-legged partridge

Autor: Elena Fernández-Vizcaíno, Manuel E. Ortiz-Santaliestra, Isabel G. Fernández de Mera, Rafael Mateo, François Mougeot
Přispěvatelé: Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (España), Junta de Comunidades de Castilla-La Mancha, Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades (España), Agencia Estatal de Investigación (España)
Rok vydání: 2020
Předmět:
Zdroj: Digital.CSIC. Repositorio Institucional del CSIC
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ISSN: 1096-0953
Popis: Triazole fungicides are the most widely used products to treat cereal seeds. Granivorous birds, such as red-legged partridges (Alectoris rufa), which consume seeds left on the surface of fields after sowing, have a high risk of exposure. As triazole fungicides can affect sterol synthesis, we tested the hypothesis that treated seed consumption could alter the synthesis of sex hormones and reduce the reproductive capacity of partridges. We exposed adult partridges to seeds treated with four different formulations containing triazoles as active ingredients (flutriafol, prothioconazole, tebuconazole, and a mixture of the latter two) simulating a field exposure during the late autumn sowing season. All treatments produced biochemical changes and an overexpression of genes encoding for enzymes involved in the biosynthesis of sterols and steroid hormones, such as PMVK, ABCA1, MVD, PSCK9, DHCR7 and HSD17B7. Plasma levels of oestradiol were reduced in partridges exposed to tebuconazole. We also monitored reproduction 3 months after exposure (laying date, egg fertilization and hatching rates). We observed a 14-day delay in the laying onset of partridges that had been exposed to flutriafol as compared to controls. These results show that the consumption of seeds treated with triazole fungicides has the potential to affect granivorous bird reproduction. We recommend the evaluation of lagged reproductive effects as part of the protocols of environmental risk assessment of pesticides in wild birds in light of the effects resulting from the exposure to triazole-treated seeds.
The study was financed but the Spanish Research Agency of the Ministry of Science (project CGL2016-75278-R) and the Junta de Comunidades de Castilla-La Mancha (project SBPLY/17/180501/000245). MEOS was supported by a contract of the Ramón y Cajal program of the Spanish Ministry of Science.
Databáze: OpenAIRE
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