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Acute toxicity of the synthetic

pyrethroid pesticide fenvalerate to

some air breathing fishesMadhuban Datta (Bhattacharya) a& Anilava Kaviraj a

aDepartment of Zoology, University of Kalyani, Kalyani-741235,

West Bengal, India

Available online: 30 Sep 2011

To cite this article:Madhuban Datta (Bhattacharya) & Anilava Kaviraj (2011): Acute toxicity

of the synthetic pyrethroid pesticide fenvalerate to some air breathing fishes, Toxicological &

Environmental Chemistry, 93:10, 2034-2039

To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02772248.2011.626416

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Toxicological & Environmental Chemistry

Vol. 93, No. 10, December 2011, 20342039

Acute toxicity of the synthetic pyrethroid pesticide fenvalerate to some air

breathing fishes

Madhuban Datta (Bhattacharya)*y and Anilava Kaviraj

Department of Zoology, University of Kalyani, Kalyani-741235, West Bengal, India

(Received 6 February 2011; final version received 16 September 2011)

Lethal concentrations (LC50) of a synthetic pyrethroid pesticide, fenvalerate, forthree species of air breathing fish Clarias batrachus, Channa punctatus andHeteropneustes fossilis were determined under water and acetone solublecondition in the laboratory using the static bioassay procedure of the AmericanPublic Health Association (APHA,1995). Acetone soluble fenvalerate was foundmore toxic than the water-soluble fenvalerate irrespective of species and exposureperiods. The LC50 value upon 96 days exposure to acetone soluble fenvaleratefor C. batrachus, Channa C. punctatus and Heteropneustes H. fossilis were 1.35,1.0 and 0.65mg L1, respectively. It is concluded from the present study thatfenvalerate is highly toxic even to the hardy air breathing fishes and the pesticide,when dissolved in water, remains photostable and active to render toxicity forlong duration.

Keywords: pyrethroid; fenvalerate; LC50; air breathing fish; solvent

Introduction

Toxicity of synthetic pyrethroid pesticide depends upon their structure, stereochemistry

and formulations (Polat et al. 2002; Datta and Kaviraj 2003; Saha and Kaviraj 2008).

Fenvalerate is a cyanophenoxybenzyl non-cyclopropanoid pyrethroid. The Environmental

Protection Agency of the United States classifies fenvalerate products as toxicity class II

(Imost toxic, IV least toxic). In India, fenvalerate is registered for use on a wide array

of crops including cotton, tobacco plants, soybeans, corn, vegetables, apples, peaches,

pears and nuts, as termiticide and insect repellent (Madan et al. 2000). Fenvalerate enters

freshwater aquatic environments as runoff from agricultural plots, as drift from forest-

spray activities, and from direct spraying of water bodies. The pesticide has been found to

be highly toxic to fish and aquatic invertebrates (Tilak et al. 2001; Tandon et al. 2005).

The objective of this study was to evaluate the acute toxicity of fenvalerate to three air

breathing fish species, namely Clarias batrachus, Channa punctatus and Heteropneustes

fossilis. These fish possess air breathing organs; they inhabit areas like ditches, swamps,

marshes and small ponds that in turn act as the accumulation sites of pesticides applied in

agricultural fields. Therefore, these fish are considered to be hardy and resistant to adverse

ecological conditions. Since fenvalerate is used as both acetone and aqueous solution,

*Corresponding author. Email: [email protected]; [email protected] address: Nabadwip Vidyasagar College, Nabadwip, Nadia, W.B., India.

ISSN 02772248 print/ISSN 10290486 online

2011 Taylor & Francis

http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02772248.2011.626416

http://www.tandfonline.com


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bioassays were made with both water soluble from of fenvalerate and acetone soluble form

of fenvalerate.

Materials and methodsAdult specimens of C. batrachus (mean weight 7.1 g 1.2; mean length 8.1 0.5),

C. punctatus(mean weight 5.3 g 0.8; mean length 8.2 0.4) andH. fossilis (mean weight

5.7g 0.9; mean length 5.6 0.9) were procured from local hatcheries and were stocked in

30 L glass aquaria. The fish were acclimatized to this condition in laboratory for 96192 h

before use. The fish were fed a diet prepared from rice bran, wheat flour, mustard oil cake,

fishmeal and vitamin-mineral mixture (92% dry matter and 8% moisture with the

principal nutrients such as crude protein and crude lipid being 30.5% and 5.1% of dry

matter, respectively) ad libitum during acclimatization. Emulsified concentrate of

fenvalerate ((RS)-alpha-cyano-3-phenoxybenzyl (RS)-2 -(4-chlorophenyl)-3-methyl-buty-

rate) with 20% active ingredient was procured from Rallis India Ltd, Mumbai (TATAfen20 E). Two different stock solutions of fenvalerate were prepared for the bioassay, one by

dissolving the product in water and another in acetone. Different concentrations used for

both solutions of fenvalerate are given in Table 1. Two sets of control were used in the

bioassays, one with dilution water as the medium and another with 0.5 mL acetone/L

water as the medium, to match water and acetone soluble fenvalerate, respectively.

Static bioassays, following the method of APHA (1995), were conducted in 15 L glass

aquaria each containing 3 L of nonchlorinated tap water (pH: 8.00 0.04, free CO2:

6.0 0.3mgL1, dissolved oxygen: 6.2 0.2mgL1, alkalinity: 75.2 3.8mgL1 as

CaCO3, hardness: 260 11mgL1 as CaCO3) and three fish. The aquaria were arranged

Table 1. Concentrations of fenvalerate used under different solventconditions.

Concentration of fenvalerate (mg L1)

Solvents C. batrachus C. punctatus H. fossilis

Water 0.0 (WC) 0.0 (WC) 0.0 (WC)2.0 2.0 0.72.5 2.5 1.03.0 3.0 2.04.0 4.0 3.05.0 5.0 4.05.5 6.0 5.06.0 6.5 6.0

Acetone 0.0 (SC) 0.0 (SC) 0.0 (SC)0.6 0.5 0.50.8 0.8 0.61.2 1.0 0.71.5 1.5 0.92.0 2.0 1.02.5 3.0 1.2

3.0 3.5 1.44.0 4.0

Note: WCWater control; SCSolvent control (0.5 mL acetone/L).

Toxicological & Environmental Chemistry 2035


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in randomized block design so that there were three replicates for each of the

concentration and control tested. A temperature of 29.5 0.4C was maintained in the

test medium during the experiments. Mortality and the behavioural changes of the test

animals were recorded every 24 h, and dead animals, if any were removed. No food was

provided during the bioassay to avoid interference of excretory products of fish with the

test chemical. The median lethal concentration (LC50) with 95% confidence limit forfenvalerate was estimated for 24, 48, 72 and 96 h by probit analysis (Finney 1971).

Duncans multiple range test was employed for comparing mean mortality values, after

estimating the residual variance by repeated measures of ANOVA (Winner 1971) for arc

sine transformed mortality data (dead individuals/initial number of individuals). Time of

exposure was the repeated measure factor while treatment (concentrations and controls)

was the second factor. In addition, LC50 values were compared by the method of APHA

(1995).

Results and discussion

LC50 values of water-soluble and acetone-soluble fenvalerate for the test fishes have been

summarized in Tables 2 and 3, respectively. H. fossiliswas found to be the most susceptible

species followed by C. punctatus and C. batrachus under both solubility conditions. The

results indicated that acetone soluble fenvalerate, irrespective of species and exposure

period, was more toxic than the water soluble one. The LC50 value of water-soluble

fenvalerate did not show any significant difference between hours of exposure. But, the

LC50 values of acetone soluble fenvalerate varied significantly between the exposure

periods. For C. batrachus and C. punctatus the 24 h LC50 value of acetone-soluble

fenvalerate did not vary significantly from 48 h; however, it varied significantly from that

of 72 h and 96 h. Between other exposure periods the LC50 value of acetone solublefenvalerate did not show any significant variation. For H. fossilis there was no significant

difference of the LC50 value of acetone-soluble fenvalerate between any exposure period

except between 24 and 96 h. Duncans multiple range test carried to compare mean

mortality between concentrations of fenvalerate showed that minimum effective concen-

tration that produced significant mortality from control was 2.5 and 1.2 mg L1

(C. batrachus); 1.0 and 0.7 mg L1 (H. fossilis); 2.5 and 0.87mg L1 (C. punctatus) for

water-soluble and acetone-soluble fenvalerate respectively. The behavioural changes of the

fish exposed to lethal concentrations of fenvalerate (both water and acetone soluble) were

more or less similar irrespective of the species. These included rapid and erratic swimming,

Table 2. LC50values (mg L1) with 95% confidence limits (in parentheses)

of fenvalerate dissolved in water.

Exposure time (h) C. batrachus C. punctatus H. fossilis

24 3.88 3.50 2.86(3.34.4) (3.144.21) (2.143.84)

48 3.42 3.33 2.23(2.93.9) (2.83.9) (1.692.94)

72 3.30 3.12 1.78

(2.83.8) (2.723.57) (1.222.59)96 3.19 2.93 1.78

(2.73.6) (2.453.49) (1.222.59)

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tremors, partial or complete loss of equilibrium, gulping respiration and increased

surfacing initially. Responses became more acute with increasing concentrations offenvalerate. The fishes became lethargic before death.

LC50 values of fenvalerate determined in the present study (1.78 to 3.88 mg L1 for the

aqueous solution and 0.65 to 2.39 for the acetone solution) indicate that the pesticide is

highly toxic even to the air breathing fishes. Fenvalerate has already been marked as

supertoxic to fish (Scott et al. 1987) because of its low LC50 value (510mg L1) for most

of the species tested so far.

The 2496 h LC50 values of C. batrachus and C. punctatus found in the present

investigation are comparable to the 48 and 96 h LC50values of fathead minnow (Bradbury

et al. 1987; Bradbury and Coats 1989); 96 h LC50value of African catfish, Mystus vittatus

(Verma et al. 1981) and 96 h LC50 value of Gulf toad fish (Mayer 1987), while the LC50values for H. fossilis found in the present investigation are comparable to the 48 h LC50value of Lepomis macrochirus (Dyer et al. 1989) and 96 h LC50 value of Mugil cephalus

(Mayer 1987). 96 h LC50 value of fenvalerate for the carp Catla catla (6 mg L1) observed

by Tandon et al. (2005) is higher than any of the LC50 values determined for the air

breathing fishes in the present investigation.

The present results further indicate that fenvalerate may become more toxic to fish in

the exposed field if it is used as acetone solution in the sources. The general mode of action

of fenvalerate is presumed to bring out changes in sodium ion permeability and

depolarization of the nerve membrane (Eisler 1992). Toxicity is probably due to effects on

both peripheral and central nervous system caused by interference with sodium ion

permeability in stimulated nerve membranes and depolarization of nerve membranes.

It probably accounts for the erratic movements and convulsions shown by the fish exposed

to lethal concentrations of fenvalerate. Fenvalerate also acts as a potent inhibitor of

ATPases (Clark 1982). But exact mechanism of toxicity for the species under study is not

yet known. Although synthetic pyrethroids have been structurally modified to make their

active principle photostable, ambient environmental conditions still profoundly influence

toxicity of these pesticides to fish and other aquatic organisms. Cypermethrin have been

found to become practically non-toxic to air breathing fish H. fossilis after 7 h of light

exposure (Saha and Kaviraj 2009). The LC50value of the same pyrethroids did not change

beyond 48 h exposure to common carp, tadpole larva and the crustacean zooplankton

(Saha and Kaviraj 2008). Most of them become inactive after 24 h of exposure to lightrendering LC50values unchanged beyond 24 h of exposure. The results of the this revealed

that the LC50 value of fenvalerate also did not change significantly beyond 24 h of

Table 3. LC50(mg L1) values with 95% confidence limits (in parentheses)

of fenvalerate dissolved in acetone.

Exposure time (h) C. batrachus C. punctatus H. fossilis

24 2.39 1.81 0.89(2.052.79) (1.472.2) (0.791.01)

48 1.76 1.33 0.81(1.452.12) (1.061.68) (0.720.92)

72 1.53 1.23 0.76(1.261.85) (0.961.59) (0.660.86)

96 1.35 1.02 0.65(1.091.67) (0.731.41) (0.550.77)



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exposure when dissolved in water. But the LC50value changed up to 72 h forC. batrachus

andC. punctatusand up to 96 h forH. fossiliswhen dissolved in acetone indicating that the

acetone solution of fenvalerate remain active, photostable and toxic for long duration.

From this study it is concluded that the dosing solutions with only 20% active ingredient

fenvalerate is quite toxic to the air breathing fish studied, and further careful studies with

the technical grade fenvalerate are required to assess its full toxic potentiality.

Acknowledgements

We thank the Head, Department of Zoology, University of Kalyani for providing necessary facilitiesfor this research.

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TEC-Acute Toxicity Published 2011