Turkiye Entomoloji Dergisi, vol.49, no.2, pp.117-128, 2025 (SCI-Expanded)
Pesticides are the important contaminants for the environment. In this study, insecticide residues of the soils, taken from agricultural lands and around water resources in the Çanakkale-Central district were investigated. The Quick-Easy-Cheap-Efficient-Rugged-Safe (QuEChERS) method was employed to determine residues. Method verification was performed by spiking blank samples at 1 and 8 times the limit of quantification. 54 soil samples were taken from study area in 2020 and subjected to residue analyses. Of these samples, 44 had insecticides at various concentrations. Twenty insecticides were detected at various frequencies. Insecticide residue levels were between 1.01 and 760.01 µg/kg. Maximum etoxazole was detected as 760.01 µg/kg in one sample. This sample was sampled from the nearby fields where wastes were seen. In addition, 17 insecticides were found at various concentrations in the same sample. Risk assessments revealed low hazard for children and adults. In terms of hazard quotient (HQ) levels, maximum values were encountered for pyridaben (445.00*10-7 for children and 59.33*10-7 for adults). The sum of HQs for all insecticides was 1310.00*10-7 for children and 174.67*10-7 for adults. It was concluded that farmers should be encouraged to use insecticides with low HQ values to mitigate soil contamination in places where insecticides are detected.