The present study was conducted to evaluate the concentration levels of different organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) in medicinally important vegetable Momordica charantia in periurban region of Delhi, India. There is a major significance of the study concerning OCP levels in M. charantia vegetable because it is one of the most grown Cucurbitaceae vegetables in India owning mainly to its anti-diabetic potential and is reported to accumulate greater amount of organic pollutants. Vegetable sampling programme was conducted at two agricultural sites in summer, 2011.  A total of twenty different OCPs were quantified using gas chromatography (GC) assembled with electron capture detector (ECD). The ?OCPs concentrations ranged between 25.5 to 84.3 ng/g in the analyzed samples. The concentration of ?HCH (4.6- 55.9 ng/g) was found to be much higher than ?DDT (2.0- 15.1 ng/g) indicating thereby continued use of HCH in the studied area even after its ban for agricultural purposes. Percentage distribution of HCH-isomers showing the pattern: a-HCH>�-HCH >d-HCH>?-HCH in all samples. However, p,p'-DDT contributed highest among three isomers (p,p'-DDT, p,p'-DDD & p,p'-DDE) at both the sites. Ratio of a/?-HCH showed value greater than 1.0 for all samples suggesting the application of technical-HCH in the studied area. ?HCH and heptachlor residues recorded in these vegetable samples exceeded the maximum residue levels (MRLs) set forth by European Commission (2009). However, non-cancerous health risk calculated via ingestion exposure demonstrated that hazard quotient (HQ) value was below 1.0 (2.59E-05 to 3.02E-02) for OCPs.

Assessment of the concentration, distribution, and health risk of organochlorine pesticides in <i>Momordica charantia</i> grown in Periurban region of Delhi, India

248th National Meeting (2014)

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.

Assessment of the concentration, distribution, and health risk of organochlorine pesticides in Momordica charantia grown in Periurban region of Delhi, India