Residues of Deltamethrin in Pine Needles and Pine Nuts of Catalonia (Spain)

In recent years, recurrent droughts have weakened stone pine (Pinus pinea) forests and facilitated the emergence of harmful pests and diseases, including the Leptoglossus occidentalis. The production of stone pine nuts has declined over the past five years. To control this hemipteran pest, a synthetic pyrethroid insecticide called deltamethrin is being tested. However, it is necessary to estimate the residue left by these treatments in forest stands. Therefore, a fast and robust analytical procedure was developed based on QuEChERS clean-up extraction, followed by gas chromatography coupled with an electron capture detector. This optimized method can detect residual concentrations of deltamethrin in pine nuts and pine needles up to 0.1 and 6 μg kg⁻¹, respectively, with a limit of quantification of 0.4 and 20 μg kg⁻¹. Great recoveries (between 84 and 102%) were obtained for both matrices, and no matrix effect was observed. The results showed that two weeks after spraying, the deltamethrin content in the needles of stone pines decreased by up to 75%, and after nine months, its presence was like that of nontreated trees.