Contents

1. ABSTRACT
2. INTRODUCTION
3. EFFECTS ON ENVIRONMENT
4. HISTORY
5. CLASSIFICATION
[Link]
ii. Fungicides
iii. Rodenticides
iv. Insecticides
6. ALTERNATIVE IN PEST CONTROL
7. REQUIREMENTS
[Link]
9. OBSERVATION
10. CONCLUSION
11. BIBLIOGRAPHY
ABSTRACT
The intensive development of agriculture means
that more and more toxic organic and inorganic
compounds are entering the environment.
Because of their widespread use stability selective
toxicity and bio accumulation pesticides are
among the most toxic substances contaminating
the environment. They are particularly dangerous
in fruit and vegetables by which people are
exposed to them. It is therefore crucial to monitor
pesticide residues in fruit and vegetables using all
available analytical methods .We present results
from the literature in the context of Maximum
Residue levels (MRLs) of target pesticides in fruit
and vegetables samples. We also discuss about
the presence of pesticide and insecticide in fruit
and vegetables.
INTRODUCTION
In the past decade there has been a tremendous
increase in the yields of various crops to meet the
demand of overgrowing population, achieved by
using pesticides and insecticides. These are
chemicals that are sprayed over crop to protect it
from pests. For example: DDT, BHC, zinc
phosphide, Mercuric chloride, dinitrophenol, etc.
All pesticides are poisonous chemicals and are
used in small quantities with care. Pesticides are
proven to be effective against variety of insects,
weeds and fungi and are respectively called
insecticides, herbicides and fungicides. Most of
the pesticides are non-biodegradable and remain
penetrated as such into plants, fruits and
vegetables. From plants they transfer to animals,
birds and human beings who eat these polluted
fruits and vegetables. Inside the body they get
accumulated and cause serious health problems.
These days preference is given to biodegradable
insecticides like Malathion. The presence of
insecticides residues in even raw samples of
wheat, fish, meat, butter etc. have aroused the
concern of agricultural administrators, scientists
and health officials all over the world to put a
check over the use of insecticides and to search
for non insecticidal means of pest control.
EFFECT ON ENVIRONMENT
The environmental effects of pesticides describe
the broad series of consequences of using
pesticides. The unintended consequences of
pesticides are one of the main drivers of the
negative impact of modern industrial agriculture
on the environment. Pesticides, because they are
toxic chemicals meant to kill pest species, can
effect non target species, such as plants, animals
and humans. Over 98% of sprayed insecticides
and 95% of herbicides reach a destination other
than their target species, because they are
sprayed or spread across entire agricultural .Other
agrochemicals, such as fertilizers, can also have
negative effects on the environment. The
negative effects of pesticides are not just in the
area of application. Runoff and pesticide drift can
carry pesticides into distant aquatic environments
or other fields, grazing areas, human settlements
and undeveloped areas. Other problems emerge
from poor production, transport, storage and
disposal practices. 2 Over time, repeat application
of pesticides increases pest resistance, while its
effects on other species can facilitate the pest’s
resurgence. Alternatives to heavy use of
pesticides, such as integrated pest management,
and sustainable agriculture techniques such as
polyculture mitigate these consequences, without
the harmful toxic chemical application. The
advent of synthetic insecticides in the mid-20th
century made the control of insects and other
arthropod pests much more effective, and such
chemicals remain essential in modern agriculture
despite their environmental drawbacks. By
preventing crop losses, raising the quality of
produce, and lowering the cost of farming,
modern insecticides increased crop yields by as
much as 50 percent in some regions of the world
in the period 1945-65. They have also been
important in improving the health of both humans
and domestic animals; malaria, yellow fever, and
typhus, among other infectious diseases, have
been greatly reduced in many areas of the world
through their use. But the use of insecticides has
also resulted in several serious problems, chief
among them environmental contamination and
the development of resistance in pest species.
Because insecticides are poisonous compounds,
they may adversely affect other organisms
besides harmful insects. The accumulation of
some insecticides in the environment can in fact
pose a serious threat to both wildlife and humans.
Many insecticides are short-lived or are
metabolized by the animals that ingest them, but
some are persistent, and when applied in large
amounts they pervade the environment. When an
insecticide is applied, much of it reaches the soil,
and groundwater can reaches the soil, and
groundwater can become contaminated from
direct application or runoff from treated areas.
The main soil contaminants are the chlorinated
hydrocarbons such as DDT, Aldrin, diel Drin,
heptachlor, and BHC. Owing to repeated
sprayings, these chemicals can accumulate in soils
in surprisingly large amounts (10-112 kilograms
per hectare [10-100 pounds per acre]), and their
 effect on wildlife is greatly increased as they
become associated with food chains. The stability
of DDT and its relatives leads to their
accumulation in the bodily tissues of insects that
constitute the diet of other animals higher up the
food chain, with toxic effects on the latter. Birds
of prey such as eagles, hawks, and falcons are
usually most severely affected, and serious
declines in their populations have been traced to
the effects of DDT and its relatives. Consequently,
the use of such chemicals began to be restricted
in the 1960s and banned outright in the 1970s in
many countries.

HISTORY
Since before 208C, humans have utilised pesticides to
protect their crops; The first known pesticides was
elemental sulphur dusting used in ancient summer
about 4500 years ago in ancient Mesopotamia.
By the 15th century, toxic chemicals such as arsenic,
mercury and led being applied sulphate was extracted
from tobacco leaves for use an insecticide. The 19th
century saw the introduction of two more natural
pesticides, pyrethrum, which is derived from
chrysanthemums, rotenone which is derived from the
root of tropical vegetables.
In 1940s, manufacture began to produce large
amounts of synthetic pesticides and their use become
widespread.
Some sources consider the 1940s &1950s to have
been the start of the "pesticides era". Pesticide use
has increased 50 field since 1950 and 2.3 million
tonnes of pesticides are now used each year.
In 1960s, it was discovered that DDT was preventing
many fish eating birds from reproducing which was a
serious threat to bio-diversity. The agricultural use of
DDT is now leaned under the Stockholm convention,
but it is still used in some developing nations.
 CLASSIFICATION
Pesticides classified according to the pests they
control. The four main types of pesticides are

FUNGICIDE

RODENTICIDE
HERBICID PESTICIDES
E

INSECTICIDES

HERBICIDES: Herbicides eliminates plant

threats grow where they are not wanted. Farmers
use them to reduce weeds in such public areas as
parks and ponds, People use herbicides in their
yards to get rid of Crab grass, Dandelions and
other weeds.

FUNGICIDES: Certain fungi cause disease and

may infect both plants and animals including
human beings. Fungicides control plant diseases
that infect food crops-wood used for building
houses in often berated with fungicides to
prevent dry not.

RODENTICIDES : Colloquially "rat poison" are

typically non-specific pest control chemicals made
and sold for the purpose of killing rodents. Some
rodenticides are lethal after one exposure while
others require more than one. Rodents are
disinclined to gorge on an unknown food (perhaps
reflecting an adaptation to their inability to
vomit), Preferring to sample, wait and observe
whether it makes them or other rats sick. This
phenomenon of bait shyness or poison shyness is
the rationale for poisons that kill only after
multiple doses. Besides being directly toxic to the
mammals that ingest them, including dogs, cats,
and humans, many rodenticides present a
secondary poisoning risk to animals that hunt or
scavenge the dead corpses of rats.
INSECTICIDES : Farmers use insecticides to protect
their crops from insect damage. In urban areas public
health officials use them to fight mosquitoes and that
insects carry germs. People use insecticides indoor to
control pests and ants cockroaches.
 ALTERNATIVES IN PEST
CONTROL
Continuing problems arising from the wide spread
use of board spectrum insecticide creates a
dilemma how best to control pest and at the
sometime how to remove environmental hazards.
Restrictions on use of pesticides and the
substitution of pests on controlling use of
pesticides is by far the best method. Restrictions
can mean simply more limited use or total
banning OF chemicals. Many countries have
limited or banned the use of DDT and other
chlorinated hydrocarbons insecticide but this
group of chemicals is widely used mainly in the
third world countries. The US department of
agriculture has campaigned for the safe use of
pesticides but from environment point of view no
broad spectrum biocide can be used. Traditional
insecticides such as pyrethrum or non-persistent
chemicals such as carbonate seven are now very
widely used and totally new types of pest control
are useful in particular cases. For example the
autodial (sub destroying) techniques make use of
sterilized males population. Large-scale rearing,
radiation sterilizing and release programme are
now major effects of the US Department of
agriculture and are highly effective in restricted
situations. Control of insects by synthetic growth
hormones is also effective in limited situations but
is better described as on active area of biological
research than a general alternative to pesticide
use. The technique use extracts of juvenile
hormone or their synthesized mimics.
REQUIREMENTS
1. Mortar
2. Pestle
3. Beakers
4. Funnel
5. Glass rod
6. Filter paper
7. China dish
8. Water bath
9. Tripod stand
10. Fusion-tubes
11. Knife
12. Test-tube
13. Samples of fruits & vegetables
14. Alcohol
15. Sodium metal
16. Ferric chloride solution
17. Ferrous sulphate crystals
18. Distilled water
19. Dilute sulphuric acid.
PROCEDURE :
1. Heat a small piece of dry sodium in a fusion
tubes, till it melts. Then add Take different kinds
of fruit and vegetables and cut them into small
piece separately.
2. Transfer the cut piece of various fruits and
vegetables in mortar separately and crush them.
3. Take different beaker of each kind of fruits and
vegetables and place the crushed fruit and
vegetable in these beakers, and add 10ml of
alcohol to each of these. Stirwell and filter collect
the filtrate in separate china dishes.
4. Evaporate the alcohol by heating china dishes
one by one over water bath and let the residue
dry in an oven.
5. One of the above residue from china dish to the
fusion tube and heat till red hot. Drop the hot
fusion tube in china dish containing about 110ml
of distilled water. Break the tube and boil the
contents of the china dish for about 5 minute to
cool and filter solution. Collect the filtrate.
6. To the filtrate add 1ml freshly prepared ferrous
sulphate solution and warm the contents. Then,
add 2-3drops of ferric chloride solution and
acidity with the dil. Hydrochloric acid if a blue or
green precipitate or colouration is obtained, it
indicated the presence of nitrogen containing
insecticide.
7. Repeat the test of nitrogen for residue obtained
from other fruits and vegetable and record
observation.
OBSERVATION
SERIAL NAME OF TEST FOR PRESENCE
NO. FRUIT / PRESENCE OF
VEGETABLE OF INSECTICIDE/
NITROGEN PESTICIDES
1 Tomato +ve Yes
2 Grapes +ve Yes

3 Carrot -ve No
4 Potato +ve Yes

Conclusion:
Thus from the above experiment we conclude
that the fruits and vegetables that we consume
especially grapes, tomato and potato contain
nitrogen containing insecticides and pesticides
Bibliography :
● [Link]
● Google
● 12th Class NCERT Chemistry Project