Persistence behaviour of thiacloprid residues in/on green tea leaves, processed tea and tea infusion

Thiacloprid residues were estimated in green tea leaves, processed tea and tea infusion by HPLC-Diode Array detection. The average initial deposits of thiacloprid (Alanto 240 SC) on the green tea leaves were found to be 3.72 and 6.77 μg g(-1) at single and double doses, respectively. The results showed that thiacloprid dissipated faster in green tea leaves following a first order reaction kinetics at both application rates. The amount of dissipation in 14 days was 93.37% and 91.62% for single and double doses respectively. Half life (T(1/2)) for degradation of thiacloprid in green tea leaves were observed to be 3.34 and 3.58 days at single and double doses respectively. Thiacloprid residues in processed tea ranged from 0.16 to 0.63 μg g(-1) on seventh day and no residues could be detected on 14th day at single dose. Infusion study indicated that thiacloprid did not infuse into tea liquor from processed tea. The limit of determination was found to be 0.05 μg g(-1).