Decontamination studies of some pesticide residues in okra and chilli
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Date
2020-10
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G.B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar - 263145 (Uttarakhand)
Abstract
Now a days understanding the impact of the pesticide exposure is an important concern for the consumers. Okra and chilli are the commonly used vegetables which are highly exposed to pesticide usage. The current study is aimed at investigating the effectiveness of different processes for reduction of four commonly applied pesticides on okra and chilli crops. The okra and chilli samples were subjected to seven decontamination treatments namely washing with running tap water, soaking in lukewarm water (50-60°C), soaking in 1% NaCl, soaking in 5% NaCl, soaking in 5% CH3COOH, soaking in 5% NaHCO3 and soaking in 0.01% KMnO4. The extraction of all the pesticides in both the crops (quinalphos, profenophos ethion and lambda-cyhalothrin was done through QuEChER’S method and analysis by GC-ECD. In okra, results indicated that soaking in 5% Acetic Acid solution for 10 minutes followed by washing using tap water was more effective in reducing all pesticides tested in comparison to other treatment solutions, whereas in chilli, the treatment of soaking in 5% NaCl solution for 10 min., resulted in the maximum removal of all the pesticides in comparison to the rest of the decontamination treatments. Lambda-cyhalothrin was reduced in higher amounts by all the decontamination processes but the highest removal (97.96%) was by soaking in 5% Acetic acid. In okra the magnitude of reduction of quinalphos, profenophos, ethion and lambda-cyhalothrin was observed in the range of 48.0-95.3, 34.3-87.6, 64.2-97.8, and 40.1-97.1 percent respectively, likewise, in chilli, the magnitude of reduction of quinalphos, profenophos, ethion and lambda-cyhalothrin was observed in the range of 13.11-86.55, 7.00-92.98, 10.73-96.34 and 59.99-97.96 percent respectively. The study confirms the use of simple cost-effective household solutions, to eliminate harmful pesticides from okra and chilli crops.