Analysis of Pesticide Residues in Plantain (<i>Musa paradisiacal</i>) and Banana (<i>Musa</i> <i>acuminata</i>) Obtained from Ogbadibo Local Government Area of Benue State

Abstract

The abuse of agrochemucals in agricultural practise in order to boost food production has generated environmental concern in terms of their residues. This study was carried out to determine pesticide residues of plantain and banana from Benue State, Nigeria due to unregulated applications of pesticides, leading to MRL non-compliances. QuEChERS and buffered ethyl acetate extraction methods were employed for diverse range of pesticides in plantain and banana, followed by selective identification and quantification of the residues using GC-MS technique. The method was evaluated evaluated for 23 organochlorine pesticides. The results of analysis showed that Plantain contains a wide range of pesticide residues with the highest BHC 2.4×10^-5 ppb and Endosulfan 1 0.2×10^-5 ppb, being the lowest in residues. Banana shows slight range with BHC 1.6×10^-5 ppb, the highest and Methoxychlor 0.6×10^-5 ppb, the lowest residues. This result showed that their limits of quantification were 0.1-10µg/g, with recoveries of 70-120%. The method provided superior performance in terms of precision, and recovery of the spiked and incurred residues with similiar productivity. Generally, the findings revealed samples of plantain and banana showed some degree of contamination and it is adviseable banned pesticides should not be sold in Benue State any more.