The aim of the present study was to investigate whether bird feathers can be used as a nondestructive biomonitoring tool for organic pollutants or not. For this, we analyzed the body feathers of feral pigeons from grain storage godowns of Jalandhar, Ludhiana and Hoshiarpur for persistent Organochlorine residues (Lindane), Organophosphates (Quinalphos), Carbamate (Carbofuran), Synthetic Pyrethroids (Cypermethrin) and Neonicotinoids (Acetamiprid). The result of the study showed that the Acetamiprid, Carbofuran, Lindane, and Quinalphos were undetectable but cypermethrin was detected in feathers of pigeon at all the locations of Punjab and its concentration was 4.7 x 10-5 ppm. This might be due the low usage of Acetamiprid, Lindane, Carbofuran and Quinalphos on the crops or could be due to fewer amounts of the samples taken. Although our results suggest that exact concentrations of pesticides in the body cannot be predicted by using feathers, but the bird feathers can give a good estimate of contamination levels of pesticides in a population. So, feathers can be used as a potential non-destructive biomonitoring tool to know the contamination level of pesticides without causing severe damage to the birds.
