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DETERMINATION OF RESIDUAL CONTENTS OF PESTICIDES IN RICE (ORYZA SATIVA L.) CROP FROM DIFFERENT REGIONS OF PAKISTAN

S. AHMAD¹*, M. ZIA-UL-HAQ², M. IMRAN3, S. IQBAL⁴, J. IQBAL³ AND M. AHMAD²

Abstract: The study was conducted to investigate the pesticide residues in unhusked and husked rice (Oryza sativa L.) on Basmati-385 and Irri-6 varieties in major rice growing areas of Punjab, Pakistan. The concentration of four pesticides was determined by gas chromatography with flame ionization detection (GC-FID). In all the 400 samples, four pesticides, i.e., Karate, Malathion, Novacran and Padan were found in concentrations ranging from 19 to 148 ppm. The mean levels of pesticides in all the samples were below or just crossed the threshold limiting values (TLV). So presently there is no serious health problem due to pesticide poisoning. The results present important information on the current contamination status of an important agricultural crop in Pakistan and highlight the need for immediate action to manage the use of some excessively applied and potentially persistent pesticides.

¹Department of Agronomy, Bahauddin Zakariya University, Multan-60800, Pakistan

²Research Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Department of Pharmacognosy, University of Karachi, Karachi-75270, Pakistan

³Institute of Chemistry, Undergraduate Block, University of Punjab Lahore- 54590, Pakistan

⁴Department of Chemistry, University of Sargodha, Sargodha–40100, Pakistan

Correspondence author: shakeel.agronomy@gmail.com Phone: +92-300-7318911, Fax # +92-61-9210098