Twenty eight polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) congeners including twelve dioxin-like PCBs were measured in agricultural soils. ΣPCBs ranged between <0.01 – 99.40 ng g-1 (dry wt.) with the mean of 13.44±0.06 ng g-1 (dry wt.). The concentration of DL-PCBs ranged between 0.37- 19.09 ng g-1 (dry wt.) with an average of 6.26±0.03 ng g-1 (dry wt.). PCB-105 (25%), PCB-114 (18%) and PCB-118 (18%), were the dominant congeners. Ortho PCBs accounted for 61% and, non ortho PCBs contributed only 18% to the total DL- PCBs. The toxicity equivalent calculated using WHO 2005-TEFs range from 0.01 to 105.40 pg WHO 2005-TEQ g-1 (dry wt.) with the mean of 13.78±0.11 pg WHO 2005-TEQ g-1 (dry wt.). PCBs contamination in soils from Delhi region was lower than Canadian guideline values. The contamination source of PCBs in soils possibly comes from open waste burning, electronic waste recycling and depositions from industrial emissions.
