Herbicides widely used in the world: an investigation of toxic effects on Caenorhabditis elegans

Dicamba, paraquat, picloram, clopyralid and linuron are herbicides widely used in agriculture. The aim of the present study is to evaluate the toxicity effects of the herbicides used on survival, fertility and length of Caenorhabditis elegans. Kaplan–Meier Survival Analysis method was used to identify the toxicity effect of herbicides on survival, and ANOVA and Post Hoc tests were used to determine the toxicity effects on fertility and length. In the study, C. elegans was exposed to 5 different concentrations (62.5, 125, 250, 500, 1000 µM) of each herbicide. When the results were evaluated, it was observed that survival (life span) and length (physical growth) were more affected, respectively, by paraquat, dicamba, linuron, picloram and clopyralid herbicides, fertility (egg productivity) were more affected, respectively, by paraquat, linuron, dicamba, picloram and clopyralid herbicides. As a result, it was determined that increasing the dose amounts of herbicides caused many toxic reactions on C. elegans, affecting survival, egg productivity and length.