A pesticide is any biological, physical or chemical substance used to control, destroy or repel a pest. A fungicide is a chemical pesticide compound that kills or inhabits the growth of fungi. As fungicides can be toxic to humans and present chronic problems when contaminated food is consumed by people, it is important to monitor the use of fungicides in agriculture. In the oil palm plantations, the fungicide hexaconazole is used to control Ganoderma infection that threatens to destroy or compromise the oil palm tree. The method of hexaconazole application is usually through soil drenching, trunk injection or a combination of the two methods. It is therefore important to have a method to determine the residual amount of hexaconazole in field samples such as water, soil and leaf in order to monitor the use and fate of the fungicide in oil palm plantations.

Main Research: Dr Halimah Muhamad