Determination of paraquat (herbicide) residue level in sandy clay loam soil using high performance liquid chromatography

Pesticides is considered as the most widely used form of agricultural chemical. Pesticide residue is the remained on or in soil after pesticide are applied to soil agriculture. Soil is one component that crucial to life. The research purposely concerned on major sources could be contributed by planting medium and unlimited applied of pesticide. The main objective is to determine the pesticide residue concentration and its effects through the pesticide that applied on agriculture which is paraquat. Farmers can rectify the right methods and practices that can minimize the pesticide accumulation in soil and then conserve the soil. The soil sample were systematically collected from 5 plots and then need to determine the paraquat residue concentration in dissimilar depth soil layers. The herbicide that had been used is Paraquat that contain paraquat dicholoride. The methodology that used for soil sampling and analysis of HPLC which related to determine the peak area volume. of paraquat were detected in soil samples at level ranging from 0.3-5.9mg/I. The concentration of paraquat in sandy clay loam soil showed that herbicide leached downward to the depth of 15cm.The maximum concentrations at the (0-15) cm soil depth were 2.783 mg/I residues of paraquat. In highly organic soils, adsorption is weaker and paraquat remains herbicidally active for longer, up to 29 days in one trial on soil with 98% organic matter(IPCS,1984).Kemi, 2006 noted that Oral doses, LD50 for human is equal to 40-60 mg/kg while Wesseling, 2001 noted that the lowest fatal dose recorded for human is 17 mg/kg, but even lower doses may be fatal for children.