Fenvalerate residue level and dissipation in tea and in its infusion

Fenvalerate is a non-systemic insecticide/acaricide used in controlling a wide range of pests, including those resistant to organochlorine, organophosphorus and carbamate insecticides. The study investigated the dissipation behaviour (residue level) of fenvalerate in tea and its transfer during infusion. Fenvalerate was applied on tea crop at two dosages, 100 and 200 g a.i. ha(-1) (recommended and double the recommended) in the dry and wet seasons under field conditions. Samples (green tea shoots, made tea, its infusion and spent leaves) were analysed for fenvalerate by high-performance liquid chromatography using diode array detection. The residue dissipated faster in the wet season than in the dry season. Seven days after the treatment (normal round of plucking) the residues observed in the green shoots at the two dosages were 0.5 +/- 0.01, 1.1 +/- 0.01 and 0.4 +/- 0.02, 0.9 +/- 0.01 mg kg(-1) in the dry and wet seasons, respectively. During processing of green tea shoots to made tea a 30-40% loss of residue was observed. The transfer of residue from made tea to infusion was in the range 10-30% for both seasons, whereas 50-70% of the residues remained in the spent leaves. However, the degradation rate in both seasons followed first-order kinetics. The half-lives were in the range of 2-3 days for green shoots and made tea in both seasons.