Abstract
Okra (Hibiscus esculentus] was grown in a field and at the time of maturity, the vegetable was sprayed with 0.1% dichlorvos (DDVP) solution at the rate of 100 gallons acre". Samples of okra were taken from that plot daily and were analysed for DDVP residues, quantitatively. The amount of DDVP was maximum on first day following the spray (94 1Jg 100g-I) and thereafter it decreased to 1.5 1Jg 100 g-t on the 9th day. The samples of okra were also collected randomly from fields and markets in and around Faisalabad for quantitative estimation of DDVP. 20% of samples were found to contain DDVP ranging from 16.5 to 46.0 I-£g100 g-I of the vegetable. The calculated daily consumption of DDVP by human population, thus falls between 0.76 and 2.12 I-£gkg-I body weight which is below the admissible daily intake (ADI) of 4.0 g kg -las recommended by FAO. The maximum amount of total, reducing and non-reducing sugars were 5.22, 0.040 and 5.18 1Jg 100 g-t of total, reducing and non-reducing sugar contents was observed up to 10th day
