Pesticide Residues in Fruit Samples Collected from Different Markets of Jorhat District of Assam, India

Fruit samples of apple (Malus domestica), orange (Citrus reticulata), grapes (Vitis vinifera), guava (Psidium guajava), ber (Zizyphus mauritiana) and banana (Musa spp.) analyzed for multi-pesticide residues showed contamination with organochlorines (OC) and synthetic pyrethroids (SP). The contamination by OCs namely α-HCH, β-HCH, alachlor, aldrin, butachlor, endosulfan-II and p,p′-DDT ranged from 0.001 to 0.002 μg g⁻¹, and δ-HCH, endosulfan-I, p,p′-DDE and p,p′-DDD from 0.001 to 0.003 μg g⁻¹. The contamination by SPs namely fenpropathrin, permethrin-I, α-cypermethrin and fenvalerate-I ranged from 0.001 to 0.002 μg g⁻¹, and fenvalerate-II and deltamethrin from 0.001 to 0.003 μg g⁻¹. The degree of contamination of individual sample during the three months was almost the same.