PESTICIDE RESIDUES AND NUTRITIONAL QUALITY OF SELECTED VEGETABLES GROWN IN NORTH COASTAL ZONE OF ANDHRA PRADESH
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Date
2012
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ACHARYA N. G. RANGA AGRICULTURAL UNIVERSITY
Abstract
Vegetables are the fresh and edible portions of herbaceous plants. They are important
food and highly beneficial for the maintenance of health and prevention of diseases. They
contain valuable food ingredients which can be successfully utilized to build up and repair
the body. Pesticide is any substance or mixture of substances intended for preventing,
destroying, repelling or mitigating any pest. A pest has characteristics that are regarded by
humans as injurious or unwanted. The term pesticide covers a wide range of compounds
including insecticides, fungicides, herbicides, rodenticides, molluscicides, nematocides,
plant growth regulators and others. Ideally a pesticide must be lethal to the targeted pests,
but not to non-target species, including man. Pesticide usage is age old and over the
decades, there have been various alterations in the pattern of usage owing to surged
awareness.
The current investigation was undertaken to estimate pesticide residues and nutritional
quality in selected vegetables grown in the North Coastal Zone of Andhra Pradesh. A
questionnaire was developed to elicit information on package of practices in relation to
pesticide usage on selected vegetables. The information in the questionnaire was collected
from a total of 30 farmers i.e, 10 farmers from each district of Visakhapatnam,
Vizayanagaram and Srikakulam. The fresh vegetable samples of brinjal, bitter gourd and
tomato were collected randomly from three farmers in each of the three districts. The study
was conducted at Post Graduate & Research Centre and Quality Control Lab, ANGRAU,
Rajendranagar, Hyderabad.
The different physico-chemical parameters estimated were moisture, vitamin C,
reducing sugars, β-carotene. Moisture was determined by the method of AOAC, 1990.
Vitamin C and β -carotene were determined by the method of Ranganna, 1986. Reducing
sugars were determined by the method of Lane and Eynon (AOAC, 1965). Pesticide
residue determined by the method of Sharma, 2007.
The moisture content of bitter gourd was 90.08 g per 100 g, brinjal was 88.30 g per
100 g and tomato was 90.15 g per 100 g. The vitamin C content of the bitter gourd was
50.53 mg %, brinjal was 1.26 mg % and tomato was 28.11 mg %. The β-carotene content of
bitter gourd was 1070.11 μg %, brinjal was 2000.09 μg % and tomato was 1600.34 μg %.
The reducing sugar content of bitter gourd was 0.98 %, brinjal was 3.51% and tomato was
3.8 %. Pesticide residue in all the selected whole and processed vegetables are not detected
(BDL).
Therefore, it can be concluded from the present study that it is safe to consume
vegetables where pesticides can applied in recommended dosage and harvested after the
required holding period. However farmers should be educated on the dosage and
application of pesticides.
Description
Keywords
pesticides, vegetables, pesticide residues, biological phenomena, fruits, vitamins, sampling, crops, selection, irrigation, PESTICIDE RESIDUES, NUTRITIONAL QUALITY, VEGETABLES, NORTH COASTAL ZONE, ANDHRA PRADESH