Morpho-Histopathological Response of Phorate- An Organo-Phosphorous Pesticide on the Integumentary Musculature of an Epigeic Earthworm, Eisenia fetida

Synthetic pesticides are fairly well recognized as a cost-effective method of controlling pests, but these chemicals are toxic to other non-targeted and beneficial species. Pesticides are either directly applied to soil to control soil borne pests or deposited on soil as runoff from their foliar applications and these concentrations are highly enough to effect soil micro-organisms (Bezchlebova et al., 2007). Earthworms represent a major component of the soil biomass. The use of earthworms for testing toxicity is highly recommended by European communities (EC, 2004) and these are considered as testing animals for assessing the environmental health status of chemical pollution. Use of agricultural pesticides significantly affects the body wall of earthworms. In the present studies, an extensive work has been carried out to evaluate the morphological and histopathological changes on the body integument of an epigeic earthworm, Eisenia fetida due to use of phorate a common organophosphate.