Acute Toxicity of Herbicides on the Survival of Adult Shrimp, Artemia Franciscana

Background: Herbicides are widely used in agriculture to kill a large variety of unwanted weeds. However, the application in water ecosystems may pose harmful impacts on the health of aquatic organisms. We studied the acute toxicity of four major types of herbicides on the survival of adult shrimp, Artemia franciscana (AF). Methods: The brine shrimp, AF, was hatched from the commercially encysted dry eggs. The acute toxicity (LC50; 48 hr) of four herbicides, paraquat; 2,4-dichlorophenoxy acetic acid (2,4-DCPA); trifluralin; and glyphosate, was examined by a standard method. We exposed the shrimps to sequentially rising concentrations of each herbicide in triplicate. The mortalities were recorded at 12, 24, 36, and 48 hours after exposure and the LC50 was calculated, using a Probit software. Results: This study demonstrated that the acute toxicity of these herbicides was significantly different in adult shrimp AF. The lethal concentrations (LC50) of Paraquat, 2,4-DCPA, trifluralin and glyphosate against the shrimp were 2.701, 14.475, 0.446 and 17.431 mg/l, respectively. Trifluralin and paraquat caused the highest lethality at lower LC50 concentration compared to the other two herbicides. Conclusion: The results demonstrated that increasing herbicides concentration or duration of exposure raised the mortality rate of AF’s.