| Abstract: | Fifty Vegetable samples (Beans, Brinjal, Cabbage and Carrot) grown in Kolar district of Karnataka, India were analysed for 20 pesticide residues by gas liquid chromatography equipped with ECD and FTD. Recovery studies were performed at 0.1, 0.5 and 1.0 mg kg −1 fortification levels of each compound and the recoveries obtained ranged from 73.0 % to 96.6 % with relative standard deviations lower than 7.5 %. The method showed good linearity over the range assessed 0.01–1.0 mg Kg−1 with correlation coefficient >0.998 and the detection and quantification limits for the pesticides studied varied from 0.0001 to 0.002 mg Kg−1and 0.0001–0.001 mg Kg−1, respectively. All the samples were found to be contaminated, the organo chlorines (97 %) dominated followed by organophosphates (83 %) and pyrethroids (60 %). However, 58 % of the samples were found to contain the residues of these insecticides above their respective maximum residue limits (MRL). It is therefore proposed to perform extensive monitoring studies covering all the vegetable crops from different agro-climatic regions of the Karnataka to know the exact status of pesticide contamination. |
