Assessing and Reporting Household Chemicals as a Novel Tool to Mitigate Pesticide Residues in Spinach (Spinacia oleracea)

Rai Muhammad Amir,Rukhsana Kausar,Moazzam Rafiq Khan,Muhammad Atif Randhawa,Muhammad Nadeem,Asif Ahmad,Muhammad Asif Khan,Anwaar Ahmed

doi:10.1038/s41598-018-37936-2

Abstract

Non-selective use of pesticide to increase productivity leaves residues on crops. These pesticides after consumption have a detrimental effect on human health and their intake can lead to various diseases such as kidney damage, neurological disorders, cardiovascular diseases, circulatory and reproductive problems. The recent study was designed to assess the effects of household processing treatments such as acidic solutions (acidic acid and citric acid), alkaline solutions (sodium chloride and sodium carbonate) and biological solutions (radish, ginger, garlic, and lemon extracts) were evaluated for their efficiency for removal of pesticides in spinach by gas chromatography with electron capture detector (GC-ECD). The results showed that pesticide residues were sharply reduced when spinach was exposed to washing treatments. The results showed that the greatest reduction of deltamethrin, cypermethrin, chlorpyrifos and endosulfan with 10% acetic acid was (79.68 ± 0.81%), (89.99 ± 0.12%), (94.21 ± 0.02%) and (70.32 ± 0.25%), respectively of tested washing solutions. The acidic solutions were more effective than alkaline and biological extracts in the removal of pesticide residues. The average reduction in various washing solutions ranged from 10.21 to 79.68%, 22.60 to 89.48%, 22.95 to 94-21% and 11.24–70.32% for the removal of deltamethrin, cypermethrin, chlorpyrifos, and endosulfan, respectively.

Highlights

The tap water washing proves a vital technique for the mitigation of pesticide residues in various vegetables such as tomato, okra, brinjal, cauliflower and potatoes
The recent study has been designed to find out the pesticide residues in spinach that will be procured from self-grown field and residues will be compared with their corresponding maximum residues limits (MRLs) and elucidate the effectiveness of different washing techniques like alkaline, chemical, and biological solutions to minimize the pesticide residues
These results show that the combination of different treatments and concentration predominantly alleviate the pesticide residues

Summary

Introduction

The tap water washing proves a vital technique for the mitigation of pesticide residues in various vegetables such as tomato, okra, brinjal, cauliflower and potatoes. A 5% Sodium bicarbonate solutions significantly removes the residues of chlorpyrifos and fenitrothion in different vegetables whereas ultrasonic cleaning decreases pesticide residues ranging from 49.8 to 84.4% at 40 C for 48 hr[11]. Potato dipping in 5% acetic acid solution decreases 69%, 10% solution reduces 95%, Tap water 15%, sodium chloride solution 5% reduces 35% and 10% mitigates 50.6% organochlorine residues[12]. The recent study has been designed to find out the pesticide residues in spinach that will be procured from self-grown field and residues will be compared with their corresponding maximum residues limits (MRLs) and elucidate the effectiveness of different washing techniques like alkaline, chemical, and biological solutions to minimize the pesticide residues. The present project has been planned to have a deep insight into the problem and to find out suitable solutions to combat the issue

Methods

Discussion

Conclusion