DISSIPATION OF DELTAMETHRIN ON SUPERVISED VEGETABLES AND REMOVAL OF ITS RESIDUE BY HOUSEHOLD PROCESSING

The effect of washing, peeling and cooking on residue levels of deltamethrin in some winter (spinach, cauliflower. potato) and summer vegetables (brinjal, tomato, okra) was determined. the samples were collected from trials conducted under controlled conditions (supervised field trials). the highest deltamethrin residue (mg kg-1) was found at raw stage in spinach (0.421) followed by cauliflower (0.306) and okra (0.285). the residue of deltamethrin recorded to be the lowest in potato 0.023 mg kg-1. after washing the highest deltamethrin residue (mg kg-1) was detected in spinach (0.378) followed by okra (0.242) and cauliflower (0.208). the washing reduced deltamethrin residue from 10 to 35 %. peeling reduced 76 to 80 % and cooking further lowered it from 19 to 40 % in all the tested vegetables. deltamethrin residue in all of the analyzed vegetable samples was below maximum residue limits (mrls).