DDT and HCH Isomer Levels in Soils, Carrot Root and Carrot Leaf Samples

Abstract

Agricultural cultivation assists organochlorine pesticide migration from contaminated soils to growing plants. This phenomenon is caused by retention processes that modify volatile pesticide exchange between soil, air and plants. The aim of the study was to monitor organochlorine pesticide (HCB, alpha- and gamma-HCH, pp'DDE, op'DDT, pp'DDT) levels and compare these concentrations in soil, carrot roots and carrot leaves. Fifty soil samples, 50 carrot root and 50 carrot leaf samples were taken from the same fields and analyzed by GLC-ECD. The results reveal organochlorine pesticide diffusion from agricultural soils to growing carrot plants and their vapors adsorption by leaves. Within the carrot plant, organochlorine pesticides accumulate especially in carrot root peel, 3-7 times more than in root flesh.

Assessment of the levels of DDT and DDE in soil and blood samples from Tabasco, Mexico

“…Although, all sites are endemic malaria communities and have agriculture as principal activity, the levels in soil and blood samples are different between communities, we do not have an explanation for those results. However, the variability of DDT levels in environmental matrices and blood samples have been reported in several studies (Yañez et al 2002;Martinez-Salinas et al 2011;Perez-Maldonado et al 2010;Waliszewski et al 2008;Zhang et al 2011). In this respect, we must point out the limitations of our assessment, as we did not study pathways such as food items (fish, meat, among others); and other environmental media (dust, sediment, air, among others) and the low number of samples in each site.…”

Organochlorine (chlordecone) uptake by root vegetables

“…They were higher than total or individual organochlorine pesticide contents measured in agricultural soils in Argentina, Mexico, England and the USA in other works (Miglioranza et al, 1999;White et al, 2005;Zohair et al, 2006;Waliszewski et al, 2008) but in the same range as chlordane levels found in experiments conducted by Mattina et al (2000) in a field previously used for herbicide trials.…”

“…In their study on the uptake of organic pollutants from soil, Schroll et al (1994) found clear relationships between soil and plant contamination only in root crops. Carrots were also shown to accumulate lipophilic organochlorine pesticides as a function of soil content (Zohair et al, 2006;Waliszewski et al, 2008). However, Zohair et al (2006) found no positive correlation in potato.…”

“…Depending on the type of soil, mean uptake ratios (DW:DS) ranged from 0.06 to 0.60 for dasheen, 0.03-0.08 for sweet potato and from 0.02 to 0.16 for yam. By way of comparison, in studies on organochlorines, uptake ratios (including DDT and HCH) in carrots ranged from 0.15 to 0.3 (Zohair et al, 2006); while in another study, uptake ratios for DDT and HCH in carrots were close to 1 (Waliszewski et al, 2008). In radish, organochlorine uptake ranged from 0.03 to 0.74 depending on the compound and on the growth conditions (Mikes et al, 2009).…”

A spatial, statistical approach to map the risk of milk contamination by β-hexachlorocyclohexane in dairy farms

“…As many other persistent organic pollutants (POPs), β-HCH is resistant to natural degradation, persists for several years in soils and sediments (Calvelo Pereira et al, 2006;Waliszewski et al, 2008;Abhilash and Singh, 2009) and accumulates in vegetables and animal tissues. Mammal intake of β-HCH occurs mainly through the diet and the contaminant is excreted with milk (Hanaoka et al, 2002;Lee et al, 2007;McGraw and Waller, 2009).…”