Pesticide Residues Monitoring in some Agricultural Soil Samples of Taybad, Eastern Iran

The main objective of this study was focused on determining the likely presence of pesticide residues in agricultural soil samples in Taybad district, Khorasan Razavi Province, Iran. Ten agricultural soil samples were taken from different farms were analysed using gas chromatography (GC) method consisting of electron capture detector (ECD) for organochlorine pesticides (OCPs). Seven soil samples were eventually found to be positively polluted by pesticide residues (70 % of the samples) including dieldrin, α-HCH, β-HCH, endosulfan-1, p, p'-DDT, and o,p-DDT. Although endosulfan-1 occurred with the most frequency among the pesticide residues in the soil samples (3 times) and o,p-DDT showed the highest concentration compared to other residues (0.0014 ppm), all the detected pesticide residues were quietly in low concentrations.