Assessment of contamination by organochlorine pesticides in Solanum lycopersicum L. and Capsicum annuum L.: A market survey in Nigeria
No Thumbnail Available
Date
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Academic Journals
Abstract
Description
This study investigated the presence and levels of organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) (hexachlorobenzene (HCB), α‑, β‑, δ‑, and γ‑hexachlorohexane (HCH), dieldrin, dichloro-diphenyltrichloroethane (p,p’-DDT), dichloro-diphenyl-dichloroethylene (p,p’-DDE), dichloro diphenyldichloroethane (p,p’-DDD) and trans-nonachlor) in Solanum lycopersicum and Capsicum annuum samples commercially sold in Nigeria. OCPs were detected in all the samples analysed using Hewlett- Packard (HP 6890) gas chromatograph equipped with electron capture detector (GC-ECD). In S. lycopersicum, the total residue concentrations of ΣHCH (0.140 mg/kg), ΣHCB (0.144 mg/kg), ΣDDT (0.572 mg/kg), Σdieldrin (0.073 mg/kg), and Σtrans-nonachlor (0.117 mg/kg) were found. In C. annuum, the total residue levels of HCH, HCB, DDT, dieldrin and trans-nonachlor measured were 7.220, 0.096, 0.275, 0.037
and 0.117 mg/kg respectively. The α‑HCH isomer was not detected in S. lycopersicum and p,p’-DDD found only in C. annuum samples. The OCPs levels were generally below the FAOs maximum residue limits except for HCH and trans-nonachlor. A pair-wise linear correlations among concentrations of OCPs in S. lycopersicum samples indicated statistically significant (P = 0.05) relations between δ‑HCH and dieldrin (r = -0.997, P = 0.047), dieldrin and HCB (r = 0.99, P = 0.043), p,p’-DDD and p,p’-DDT (r = 1.00, P = 0.006).
Keywords
Q Science (General), QD Chemistry