Abstract
Cucumber, bitter gourd and zucchini sprayed once with a mixture of acephate, metalaxyl, imidacloprid and thiacloprid were harvested at 1–14 days after application. Samples from each harvest were analyzed for pesticide residues by GC and HPLC. No differences in the initial residues or the rate of disappearance were observed between cucumber, bitter gourd and zucchini. Individual pesticide residues were low enough compared with the MRLs of cucumber (acephate 5<ppm, methamidophos 1 ppm, metalaxyl 2 ppm, imidacloprid 1 ppm, thiacloprid 1 ppm). A cucumber would be a suitable representative crop in the cucurbit vegetables group for evaluating pesticide residue levels.
