pesticidal

Pesticidal is an adjective used to describe substances, compounds, or actions that kill or control pests. In agricultural, public health, and environmental contexts, pesticidal activity refers to the ability to suppress populations of organisms considered pests, such as insects, weeds, fungi, rodents, or nematodes. The term is commonly applied to products that are registered for pest control, including chemical pesticides as well as biologically derived agents.

Pesticidal products fall into several broad classes according to the target organism: insecticides target insects; herbicides target plants (weeds); fungicides target fungi; rodenticides target rodents; nematicides target nematodes; molluscicides target slugs and snails. Pesticidal activity can be achieved by synthetic chemicals or natural substances, and includes modern biopesticides such as Bacillus thuringiensis toxins, pheromones for disruption of mating, and plant-derived essential oils. The efficacy and safety of pesticidal substances depend on dose, timing, formulation, and environmental factors, and they are subject to regulation to protect human health and ecosystems.

Discussions of pesticidal properties appear across chemistry, toxicology, and agronomy. The term also appears in references to pesticidal proteins produced by microorganisms or plants that confer pest resistance, as well as in studies of resistance development in pest populations and integrated pest management approaches to minimize reliance on any single pesticidal mode of action.