Analysis of Pesticide Residues in Pollen and Nectar Samples from Various Agricultural Areas of Pakistan through High Performance Liquid Chromatography
Analysis of Pesticide Residues in Pollen and Nectar Samples from Various Agricultural Areas of Pakistan through High Performance Liquid Chromatography
Mahnoor Pervez and Farkhanda Manzoor*
ABSTRACT
The present study was devised with an aim to assess pesticide risk toward honeybees (Apis mellifera L.) by detecting pesticide residues in pollen and nectar samples collected from various agricultural areas of Pakistan through high performance liquid chromatography analysis. Pollen and nectar were collected from 2016 to 2017 from different agricultural areas of Pakistan during a field survey. Pollen was collected by installing traps and nectar was collected through capillary method allied with centrifugation. The HPLC technique was used for fast and simple detection of pesticide residues of commonly used pesticides (imidacloprid, deltamethrin, chlorpyrifos, fipronil, thiamethoxam, carbaryl, profenophos and bifenthrin). Among a total of 100 pollen samples, 47% were found to be positive. The most frequently found residues were imidacloprid (11%), thiamethoxam (7%) and carbaryl (6%). Among all 100 nectar samples, 36% samples were positive and most abundant pesticides in nectar were imidacloprid (8%), thiamethoxam (6%) and fipronil (5%). In pollen samples, the residual level of imidacloprid and thiamethoxam was detected at a level of 0.032 - 0.76 ng/g and 0.055 - 0.78 ng/g, respectively while in nectar samples imidacloprid and thiamethoxam were detected at a level of 0.009 - 0.53 ng/g and 0.045 -0.76 ng/g, respectively. The results obtained suggest careful monitoring of pesticide used in order to save honeybee population.
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