Study of Imidacloprid Degradation on Field-treated Tomatoes using Ozonation

Field study was conducted with tomatoes (Solanum lycopersicum) to evaluate the effects of ozone treatment on imidacloprid. The effects of ozone treatment on the color and ascorbic acid content were evaluated. The ozonation treatments consisting of 20 mL of a 10 ppm solution were imposed for a period of 10 and 30 minutes. It resulted in 21 and 43 per cent reduction in the imidacloprid residue, when aaplied for 10 and 30 minutes respectively. The amount of degradation was directly related to the pesticide amount and the ozone treatment time. Increased imidacloprid degradation by ozonation yielded reduced toxicity. Significant increase in the degradation was observed due to increase in treatment timimg of ozonation for 15 and 60 minutes from 7% to 12.2%, respectively. The washing of field imidacloprid-treated with ozonated water reduced the pesticide residue significantly compared with washing with water. However, ozonation caused a significant reduction in the ascorbic acid content and had no effect on color in tomato samples