The aim of our study was to determine changes in soil quality, evaluated throughout the analysis of selected soil enzyme activities (dehydrogenases, urease, alkaline phosphatase, acid phosphatase, and catalase) after the application of the insecticides chlorpyrifos and teflubenzuron. Chlorpyrifos is a phosphoorganic insecticide and a cholinesterase inhibitor. Teflubenzuron is a benzoyl urea derivative that inhibits chitin synthesis.
The pot experiment involved the two types of insecticides at different doses and sampling of two types of soil. The results of the experiment indicate that both insecticides modified the biochemical parameters of soil. Dehydrogenases proved to be most sensitive to the presence of xenobiotics in soil. Their activity decreased at increasing levels of soil contamination for each of the insecticides. In comparison with teflubenzuron, chlorpyrifos reduced the activity of dehydrogenases, urease, and alkaline phosphatase to a greater extent.