A Bioassay for the Measurement of Insecticide Concentration
- 11 October 2001
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Springer Nature in Archives of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology
- Vol. 41 (3) , 319-324
- https://doi.org/10.1007/s002440010254
Abstract
A bioassay was developed to measure insecticide residues using fruit flies (Drosophila melongaster). After adding a known volume of sampling solution, the time at which 50% of the flies were dead (LT50) was recorded and cross-referenced to the appropriate calibration curve. Using known standards, comparable results were obtained using the bioassay and GC-MS. The bioassay allows concentrations of synthetic pyrethroids as low as 1 pg L−1 to be measured with a variance of < 5%. The bioassay can be used reliably over a wide range of temperatures and it is tolerant to a range of pH and surface tensions of the test solution. The whole bioassay is compact, physically robust, and simple to use; hence, it could be of use in the field as a quick preliminary assessment of water contamination.Keywords
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