Reduction Of Pesticide Residues Research Articles

Bacillus cereus GW-01 inoculation reduces pyrethroid residues and improves quality of Sichuan Paocai by changing the metabolic profile of fermentation

Pyrethroid residues in vegetables pose a challenge for household food processing. This study introduced Bacillus cereus GW-01, a pyrethroid-degrading bacterium, into Sichuan Paocai (SCP) fermentation. The study investigated the reduction of β-cypermethrin (β-CY), fenpropathrin (FNP), and λ-cyhalothrin (LCT) residues, alterations in metabolic profiles, and shifts in bacterial communities. Over fermentation, concentrations of β-CY, FNP, and LCT decreased. Notably, compared to the control, GW-01 proliferated in SCP, and the sample with GW-01 exhibited an enhanced degradation of β-CY, FNP, and LCT by 26.14%, 36.32%, and 33.70%, respectively. GW-01 presence lead to significant increases in volatile flavor components (VFC), organic acids (OA) including tartaric acid and succinic acid, and free amino acids (FAA) including Asn, Glu, Lys, and Pro after 7 days. The relative abundance of Bacillus in the group inoculated with GW-01 was higher than control, and the probiotics including Leuconostoc, Latilactobacillus, Brochothrix, Weissella, Lactobacillus, and Lactococcus, experienced a remarkable upsurge, reaching their zenith on the 7th day. Compared to CK, intriguing pathways such as bacterial chemotaxis, benzoic acid family, and mineral adsorption were additionally enriched in groups exposed to GW-01 and pyrethroids. The study's aim is to provide insights for reducing pesticide residues and enhancing fermented food quality.

Consumer Awareness and Perceptions of Pesticide Residues in Vegetables in Bangladesh

Vegetables are heavily sprayed and prone to retaining residues. The Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE), Bangladesh has set up some projects to disseminate technologies among the farmers to reduce pesticide residues. Farmers are motivated to produce pesticide-free vegetables using vermin compost and other organic fertilizers. The study investigates consumers’ awareness and perceptions of pesticide residues in vegetables. A survey was conducted at the local market in Mymensingh, Gazipur, and Dhaka city. In total. 200 sample respondents were collected. Data were analyzed using descriptive methods. There was a substantial heterogeneity in preferences across consumers. The consumers were aware of the health risks associated with vegetables produced using pesticides and chemical fertilizers. More than 60 percent of respondents thought that vegetables are usually contaminated at the farm or production level using excessive pesticides. Most of the consumers knew the effects of pesticide-borne health risks and suggested to ban some pesticides and monitoring the use of others. Consumers considered pesticide residue-free vegetables as being safer, healthy, no harmful effects, better taste, more nutritive value, and good for the environment, and would like to pay a premium for those products. Media particularly television and newspapers can play an important role in creating awareness about food safety among the producers and consumers. Government programmes on food safety should be channeled through television and newspapers where the majority of the people get their information. Policy measures should include creating awareness concerning the relevance of production, and consumption through effective marketing strategies and educational awareness. Res. Agric. Livest. Fish. Vol. 11, No. 1, April 2024: 25-33

Quality Control of Tomato Products and it's Influenced by Some Technological Treatments on Reducing Pesticide Residues.

Quality Control of Tomato Products and it's Influenced by Some Technological Treatments on Reducing Pesticide Residues.

Intelligent vineyard blade density measurement method incorporating a lightweight vision transformer

Under the new demand model of Agriculture 4.0, automated spraying is a very complex task in precision agriculture, which needs to be combined with a computerized vision perception system to distinguish the plant leaf density and execute the spraying operation in real-time accordingly. Aiming at the accurate determination of grape leaf density, an image leaf density determination method based on the lightweight Vision Transformer (ViT) architecture is proposed, which designs a fusion data augmentation method containing a dual augmentation spatial extension and weather data augmentation method, where the former adopts the pixel augmentation and spatial augmentation for the original image processing, and the latter realizes the data augmentation from the empirical point of view adapted to the agricultural operation environment, and fuses the two in order to expand the sample capacity of the grape leaf density image, which then enhances the model's generalization ability and robustness. The lightweight ViT model has self-attention that can automatically and efficiently extract high-frequency local feature representations and use the two-branch structure to mix high-frequency and low-frequency information to form grapevine-leaf density features in the region of interest. The semantic analysis of the feature extraction layer is parsed using t-SNE and histogram methods, which improves the transparency of the model from the multidimensional with frequency domain distribution space. The experimental results show that the fusion data augmentation method can effectively improve the model recognition accuracy, and the accuracy of comparing the included data augmentation methods is improved by 0.55 % and 3.46 %, respectively. The accuracy of recognizing all four types of grape leaf densities exceeded 94 %, and the MCC reached 90.39 %. In addition, the proposed lightweight ViT improves the accuracy by at least 0.34 % with FLOPs of only 0.6 G compared to the popular MobileViT. The proposed method of this work has high recognition speed and accuracy, which can provide practical technical support for plant protection spraying robots and improve the profitability of growers based on the reduction of pesticide residues.

Effect of vine leaves processing on Azoxystrobin, Fenazaquin and Indoxacarb residues dissipation: processing factors and consumer safety assessment

The effect of vine leaves processing techniques on Azoxystrobin, Fenazaquin, and Indoxacarb residues was investigated. Residue extraction following field application of pesticides and leaf processing was carried out using the QuEChERS method, with analysis conducted by LC-MS/MS. In dry conservation, Azoxystrobin's half-life was estimated to exceed a year, Fenazaquin's was 18 days, and Indoxacarb's was 142 days. Azoxystrobin had a half-life of 261 days, Fenazaquin had a half-life of 9 days, and Indoxacarb's half-life exceeded a year in brine conservation. It is recommended to use dry conservation because it results in an average 60 % reduction in residue levels for the three pesticides. Boiling water significantly reduced pesticide residues (Azoxystrobin −40.3 %, Indoxacarb –22.4 %, and Fenazaquin −28.8 %). It is recommended to use boiling water for washing, as it shows an average removal rate of approximately 30 %. The health risk assessment indicated that consuming vine leaves posed no health risk for consumers, but overall exposure to residues must be considered.

A Smart Pesticide-Controlled Release Platform with Dual Stimuli-Responsive Functions for Enhanced Treatment of Plant Black Shank.

Realizing controllable input of botanical pesticides is conducive to improving pesticide utilization, reducing pesticide residues, and avoiding environmental pollution but is extremely challenging. Herein, we constructed a smart pesticide-controlled release platform (namely, SCRP) for enhanced treatment of tobacco black shank based on encapsulating honokiol (HON) with mesoporous hollow structured silica nanospheres covered with pectin and chitosan oligosaccharide (COS). The SCRP has a loading capacity of 12.64% for HON and could effectively protect HON from photolysis. Owing to the pH- and pectinase-sensitive property of the pectin, the SCRP could smartly release HON in response to a low pH or a rich pectinase environment in the black shank-affected area. Consequently, the SCRP effectively inhibits the infection of P. nicotianae on tobacco with a controlled rate for tobacco black shank of up to 87.50%, which is mainly due to the SCRP's capability in accumulating ROS, changing cell membrane permeability, and affecting energy metabolism. In addition, SCRP is biocompatible, and the COS layer enables SCRP to show a significant growth-promoting effect on tobacco. These results indicate that the development of a stimuli-responsive controlled pesticide release system for plant disease control is of great potential and value for practical agriculture production.

Evaluating the Impact of Plant Growth on Different Varieties of Wheat and Barley Treated With Biofertilizers

Purpose: Biofertilizers have gained recognition as a crucial element in integrated plant nutrient management, contributing to sustainable agriculture. Biofertilizers are natural products that contain living microorganisms capable of enhancing plant growth and improving soil fertility. This study aims to assess the impact of different biofertilizers on the growth of various varieties of wheat and barley. The primary objective of this research is to evaluate the efficacy of biofertilizers as an alternative to chemical fertilizers for promoting the growth of wheat and barley crops.
 Methodology: The experiment involves treating multiple cultivars of wheat and barley with biofertilizers, while a control group is administered traditional chemical fertilizers for comparison. The growth parameters, including plant height, leaf area, root development, and yield, are carefully monitored and recorded throughout the experiment. The study is conducted under controlled environmental conditions to ensure consistency across all plant samples. Collected data is subjected to statistical analysis to determine any significant disparities in growth between the biofertilizer-treated group and the control group.
 Findings: The utilization of biofertilizers resulted in remarkable growth improvements in the plants as opposed to conventional fertilizers. The plants treated with biofertilizers exhibited noticeable enhancements in various parameters, including increased plant height, expanded leaf area, elongated root length, and greater biomass accumulation. Among the different crop varieties, certain ones showcased a more pronounced response to biofertilizer treatments. Specifically, varieties W1 and W2 of wheat displayed the highest levels of growth enhancement when treated with biofertilizers, while barley varieties B1 and B2 showed significant improvements as well. Furthermore, the application of biofertilizers led to higher grain weight and increased yield per unit area in the crops compared to traditional fertilizers. Notably, the biofertilizer-treated crops also exhibited notable enhancements in quality attributes, such as improved nutritional content and reduced pesticide residues.
 Unique contributor to theory, policy and practice: The utilization of biofertilizers demonstrated significant advantages over traditional fertilizers, resulting in improved plant growth, increased yield, and enhanced quality attributes in various crop varieties.

Coumarin‐Based Light‐Responsive Composite Nanochannel Membranes for Precise Controlled Release of Pesticides

AbstractThe precise, controllable, and safe application of pesticides can effectively reduce pesticide consumption and minimize chemical pollution at the source. Here, a light‐responsive controlled‐release system with flexible control, precise release, easy recovery, and suitability for future pesticide application in aquatic environments is proposed. The system precisely controls the release of pesticides through a light‐responsive composite nanochannel membrane (CTC@SNM/PET) with reactive coumarin derivatives (CTC) as gating molecules. The prepared nanochannel membrane has an ultrathin thickness of 67.5 nm and well‐ordered vertical nanochannels with a uniform size of 1.9 nm, providing a prerequisite for precise molecular gating and high permeability for mass transport. CTC monomers can realize cycloaddition/cyclocracking and nanochannel closing/opening to control the release of pesticides by controlling 365/254 nm ultraviolet light irradiation. As a proof of concept, the light‐responsive controlled‐release system based on CTC@MSF/PET against Saprolegnia parasitica achieves an inhibition rate of more than 95% and reduces pesticide residues by 56.5% compared to the control group. The proposed membrane system has great application potential to easily enable remote, quantitative, timed, and positioned pesticide application, thereby reducing pesticide residues and providing a prospective approach to reducing environmental and human risks.

Assessing Washing Methods for Reduction of Pesticide Residues in Green Leafy Vegetables

The use and import of pesticides have been increasing each year to increase agricultural production. The most highly consumed pesticide in Nepal is fungicide followed by insecticide, herbicide and others. Exposure to these pesticides may result in serious health effects. The main route of exposure is the consumption of contaminated fruits and vegetables. Many studies have shown to reduce the pesticide residues level through various culinary and processing treatments. This experiment was carried out to compare the effectiveness of four washing methods to reduce pesticide residues in vegetables. These comprised of running water method, washing by using NaHCO3, NaCl, and vinegar solution. The leafy vegetable samples, Bok choy (N=61) were purchased from local markets and analyzed for the contents of the two pesticides, 2,4-D and atrazine. Samples were extracted using Quick, Easy, Cheap, Effective, Rugged, and Safe (QuEChERS) method and analyzed by liquid chromatography coupled with tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) with stable isotopically-labelled internal standards. The quality of the method was examined in terms of accuracy, precision, linearity, limit of detection (LOD) and limit of quantification (LOQ). Washing vegetables under running tap water significantly decreased (p<0.05) 2,4-D residues by 50%. However, atrazine residues were not reduced significantly from washing under running water but washing with vinegar had a significant effect. This study suggests that washing vegetables before consumption is important to reduce intake of pesticides and associated health risks.
 
 

Consumer risk perception towards pesticide-stained tomatoes in Uganda

Background Tomatoes are consumed daily. Unfortunately, abuse of pesticide application by vegetable growers in Uganda increases risks of pesticide residue exposure among consumers, as they may be above Maximum Residue Limits (European Union Maximum Residue Limits used as a standard in Uganda). This study aimed to determine consumer attitudes and risk perceptions towards pesticide-stained tomatoes in Uganda to support interventions that could be used to reduce pesticide residue exposures in food. Methods A mixed methods cross-sectional study sampled 468 household consumers in four regions of Uganda, selecting one district (interventional project area) per region. In each district, about 60 household members were randomly selected from a total of three Sub Counties and interviewed. In addition, 9 tomato handlers (three tomato farmers, three tomato retailers, and three tomato wholesalers) participated in Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) per district. Collected data were entered into MS-Excel 13 and exported into Stata version 14.0 for cleaning and analysis at a 5% level of significance and 95% Confidence Intervals (CI). The proportion of risk perceptions and attitudes were computed and presented as percentages, while factors associated with risk perception were determined using Fisher exact test. Qualitative data collected under a traditional theory were analyzed using thematic content analysis. Results More than half, 54.2% (253/468), of the respondents were females, mean age was 37 years (SD = 13.13, ranging from 18 to 88 years). Half of the respondents, 50.9% (238/467), were farmers by occupation, and 40.3% (188/468) had completed upper primary education. Only 5.0% (20/396) of consumers reported a high-risk perception towards tomatoes stained with pesticide residues, the rest, 95.0% (376/396), were buying pesticide-stained tomatoes despite their awareness of the possible health effects. The main reason for buying the pesticide-stained tomatoes was that a majority, 59.0% (230/390), lacked an alternative to stained tomatoes like organically grown tomatoes. However, consumers generally had a negative attitude towards pesticide-stained tomatoes, with 67.0% (313/468) of the consumers disagreeing with the statement that tomatoes sold on the market are safe. Consumer risk perception was significantly associated with their awareness about residues in the tomatoes; where the proportion of consumers who were aware of the risk of pesticide-stained tomatoes was 42.8 times more likely not to buy stained tomatoes compared to the proportion of those who were not aware. OR, 42.8 (95% CI: 10.76–170.28). However, after Fisher-Exact tests analysis, level of education P(0.975), gender P(0.581), and age group P(0.680) were not associated with consumer risk perception (95% CI and 5% level of significance). Conclusion Although the consumers had a negative attitude towards the pesticide-stained tomatoes, their risk perception towards them ranked low, with most consumers buying tomatoes stained with pesticide residues due to a lack of an alternative. Ministry of Agriculture extension service efforts should promote and emphasize community to start household-based organic kitchen gardens as the efforts for the establishment of a national pesticide residue monitoring center awaits.

Evaluation of pesticide residues in selected vegetables from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia using modified QuEChERS and assessment of washing methods

Growing population in Malaysia has resulted in increased production of local vegetables as well as pesticide usage. This constitutes a health risk to human health. In the present work, the level of ten pesticide residues namely chlorpyrifos, profenofos, aldrin, endrin, cypermethrin, lambda-cyhalothrin, carbendazim, propamocarb, imidacloprid, and thiamethoxam in ten types of vegetables collected from six local markets were measured using modified QuEChERS (quick, easy, cheap, effective, rugged, and safe) coupled with gas chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (GC-MS/MS) and ultra-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS/MS). Results showed that 13.3% samples contained pesticide residues above the maximum residue limit (MRL) prescribed by the Malaysian Food Regulations 1985, 55.0% of samples contained pesticide residues below the MRL, and no pesticide residues were detected in 31.7% of samples. Carbendazim and chlorpyrifos were among the highest pesticides detected in the samples. For the type of vegetables, kale and spinach contained high concentrations of pesticide residues above the MRL. In order to produce safe vegetables, the efficiency of different washing methods (tap water, 10% sodium bicarbonate solution, and 10% acetic acid solution) in reducing carbendazim and chlorpyrifos residues in a kale model system was evaluated. Results showed that the levels of carbendazim and chlorpyrifos reduction for all three methods were significantly different (p < 0.05) with 10% acetic acid solution being the most effective followed by 10% sodium bicarbonate solution, and tap water. Washing kale with 10% acetic acid reduced 76.0 and 41.2% of carbendazim and chlorpyrifos, respectively. Therefore, it is recommended for consumers to practice 10% sodium bicarbonate washing method by soaking vegetables with an acidic solution followed by rinsing with tap water to reduce pesticide residues, and minimise the exposure to hazardous pesticides.

Unlocking the Potential of Fertilizer and Pesticide Integration: Investigating the Promoting Effect of Organic Water-Soluble Fertilizers on Pesticide Degradation for Sustainable Agriculture

Abstract: 
 In the present study, the dynamic degradation profile of the pesticide acaricide was investigated in the presence of varying concentrations of organic water-soluble fertilizers. Field experiments were carried out to assess the influence of organic water-soluble fertilizers on pesticide degradation rates. It was found that, under specific conditions, organic water-soluble fertilizers can promote the degradation of pesticides. To elucidate the factors responsible for this observation, both biological and abiotic aspects were examined. With regard to the biological factors, plant peroxidase activity was analyzed at different concentration levels of organic water-soluble fertilizers during the course of the field experiments. It was determined that organic water-soluble fertilizers can enhance peroxidase activity. Concerning the abiotic factors, high-pressure mercury lamps were utilized in ultraviolet (UV) degradation experiments on the acaricide, incorporating various concentrations of organic water-soluble fertilizers. Furthermore, washing experiments simulating rainwater effects were conducted on representative vegetable species from the Brassicaceae, Asteraceae, Amaranthaceae and Amaranthus tricolor families. The results of the UV degradation experiment showed no significant difference in the acaricide degradation rate, regardless of the presence or absence of organic water-soluble fertilizers. Additionally, the washing experiment demonstrated the effectiveness of organic water-soluble fertilizers in reducing pesticide residues in common vegetable varieties. The findings of this study have important implications for pesticide management and agricultural practices, emphasizing the potential of organic water-soluble fertilizers in facilitating the degradation of pesticides and minimizing their environmental impact.

A timing self-cleaning nanoherbicide: Design of triple-structure nanovectors for weed control and pesticide residues treatment

Pesticide residues treatment is a crucial issue for both agricultural production and environmental protection. In recent years, designing self-cleaning nanoformulations has emerged as a promising strategy for reducing pesticide residues in a convenient and cost-effective manner. However, traditional physical blending methods of photodegradation reagents with nanocarriers have limitations in terms of pesticide residue degradation efficiency and active ingredient efficacy. Here, a new type of timing self-cleaning nanoherbicide dicamba@mSiO2/ATA/TiO2 with a triple structure was fabricated. Dicamba, a widely used herbicide that was attracting increasing concern over its high efficiency and broad spectrum, was selected as the model herbicide and loaded on the mSiO2 shell. In the stage of pesticide release, the TiO2 and dicamba were separated by the timing-barrier. Therefore, the efficacy of dicamba was not affected by the photocatalyst. During the release process, the ATA layer continuously absorbed the reactive oxygen species (ROS) produced by TiO2 and was gradually degraded. Finally, the barrier was destroyed, and the residual dicamba in the carrier was degraded by TiO2. Compared with the traditional physical blending method, this triple structure avoided the degradation of active ingredients by photocatalysts during the pesticide release period. The experimental results suggested that this nanoformulation improved the efficacy of the herbicide, and reduced the pesticide residues, providing a new approach for self-cleaning nanopesticides research.

Intelligent Insect Trap Lamp

China is a large agricultural country, with the climate changeable, pests are also more and more on the country's agriculture has a certain impact. At present, most farmers in agriculture use pesticides to exterminate insects, but when pesticides are used in excess, pests will be in a period of time - within the mutation of drug resistance, farmers will increase the amount of pesticide use, which forms a vicious circle, the social and ecological environment brought about by the hazards and even the human health of the major safety hazards. With a new method of extermination instead of pesticides, quickly change the original way of extermination has become a top priority. The "Smart Pest Light" takes into account the use of energy-saving, safe and reliable energy and harmless pest control methods. Widely used in agricultural cultivation can help reduce pesticide residues in fruits and vegetables, reduce the increase of pest resistance, and contribute to the green development of agricultural production.

Design and Experimental Testing of an Overhead Rail Automatic Variable-Distance Targeted Spray System for Solar Greenhouses

Crop cultivation in solar greenhouses is affected by issues such as low levels of automation in spraying machinery, inefficient spraying, and a lack of suitable spraying equipment for vertically cultivated crops, all of which are in urgent need of resolution. To address these problems, this paper proposes a suspended-rail automatic variable-distance targeted spray system. The rated working speed of the spray system is 0.3 m/s, and the rated working pressure is 0.3 MPa. This system achieves precise spraying of crops at varying heights by dynamically adjusting the position of the spray nozzle. To ensure accuracy in spraying, the system employs a laser ranging sensor for real-time measurement of crop positions and spraying distances. Combined with a parameter processing scheme, the system generates control signals to adjust the operation of the electric push rod and electromagnetic valve, thereby dynamically adjusting the spraying distance and timing. Using vertically cultivated potted peppers as experimental subjects, this study compares the performance of fixed- and variable-distance spraying modes. The results indicate that, compared to the fixed-distance mode, the automatic variable-distance mode increases pesticide adherence by 16.65% and reduces pesticide usage by 29.58%. The proposed suspended-rail automatic variable-distance targeted spray system offers an effective technical solution for the precise spraying of vertically cultivated crops in solar greenhouses and thus contributes to improved pesticide utilization efficiency, reduced pesticide residue, and lower environmental pollution.

Assessment of consumer’s knowledge and practices on pesticide residues reduction in tomatoes in Mvomero, Morogoro region, Tanzania

Pesticides are important components of agricultural production but the consumption of crops treated with pesticides, even in small quantities, can accumulate in the human body and cause health problems. Therefore, consumers’ knowledge and practices on reduction of these residues is essential however, there is scant of information on consumers’ knowledge and practices on pesticide residues reduction in tomatoes in Tanzania. A cross-sectional study was conducted at Mvomero District in Morogoro region among 280 randomly selected consumers. Questionnaires were administered through face-to-face interviews to assess knowledge and practices on the reduction of pesticide residues in tomatoes before consumption. Data were analyzed using SPSSTM version 20 to obtain descriptive and inferential statistics. Results showed that 64.6% of respondents know that pesticides can cause health effects of which, 41% are not sure of the specific health problem with few mentioning cancers. About 80% of respondents know that tomatoes sold in the market have pesticide residues. Majority of respondents (78.9%) believe that the pesticide residues in tomatoes disappear after cooking. Seventy-five percent of respondents reported that they know methods for reducing pesticide residues of which 66.8% reported to be reducing pesticide residues by washing with water. Generally, consumer’s knowledge on health effects and practices on reduction of pesticide residues before consumption was relatively poor. Hence, there is a need for improving knowledge on reducing pesticide residues in tomatoes using cost-effective methods that are applicable at the household level. Knowledge on the health effects of pesticide residues was significantly associated with having a mobile phone, reading newspapers, and attending training on pesticides and associated health effects. Therefore, phones, radio, and newspapers may be used as effective methods for communicating health information to the public.

Dissipation, Processing Factors and Dietary Exposure Assessment of Myclobutanil in Tomato.

Myclobutanil residue poses a potential threat to consumers' health. This work aims to investigate the degradation behavior, residue levels, processing factors (PFs) and dietary risk of myclobutanil in tomato. Myclobutanil was analyzed using a modified quick, easy, cheap, effective, rugged, safe (QuEChERS) method combined with ultra-performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS/MS), and average recoveries ranged from 82% to 102% with relative standard deviations RSDs ≤ 9.1%. After spraying myclobutanil miscible oil under field conditions, the initial concentration of myclobutanil was 0.055 mg/kg, and its dissipation followed the first-order kinetics equation with a half-life of 2.88 days. Myclobutanil was mainly present in the tomato skin, and its concentration was about four times that in the whole tomato. The initial concentration of myclobutanil in raw tomato was 0.100 mg/kg. After washing, peeling, homogenization, simmering and canning, the residual level of myclobutanil decreased to 0.067 mg/kg, 0.023 mg/kg, 0.013 mg/kg, 0.044 mg/kg and 0.041 mg/kg, respectively. Although the procedure of simmering led to an increase in myclobutanil concentration, the PFs were all less than 1 in the whole process, showing that the processing procedure significantly decreased the residual level of myclobutanil canned tomato paste in comparison with the raw agricultural commodity. Washing, peeling, and homogenization played critical roles in reducing pesticide residues. The residues of myclobutanil during the processing of tomato pose low dietary exposure risks to consumers in China, which were acceptable. However, the acute and chronic risk quotient for children revealed that it was necessary to monitor the dietary exposure of pesticide residues for children closely.

Effect of rice milling, washing, and cooking on reducing pesticide residues

The effects of milling, washing, and cooking on etofenprox, flubendiamide, and tebufenozide levels in brown and polished rice were investigated by HPLC using a UV detector. The reduction rates of etofenprox, flubendiamide, and tebufenozide after milling were 68.74–93.16%, 64.49–90.25%, and 69.74–92.58%, respectively, 11.64–41.44%, 31.36–65.37%, and 31.61–73.79%, respectively, after washing brown rice, and 30.85–82.08%, 52.13–83.05%, and 43.04–83.89%, respectively, after washing polished rice. The residue levels of the three pesticides in brown rice decreased after electric and pressure cooking by 56.49 and 54.41%, 75.80 and 73.42%, and 70.01 and 71.27%, respectively, and the corresponding levels in polished rice decreased after electric and pressure cooking by 85.58 and 85.82%, 86.70 and 87.06%, and 89.89 and 89.68%, respectively. In conclusion, various processing methods decrease the residual levels of etofenprox, flubendiamide, and tebufenozide in rice.

Health Risk Assessment of Pesticide Residues in Drinking Water of Upper Jhelum Region in Kashmir Valley-India by GC-MS/MS.

Globally growing demand for agricultural and farm foods has more or less become dependent on chemical pesticides to maintain the supply chain, which undoubtedly boosts agricultural production. However, pesticides not only impact the target pests but cause hazard to human health. Pesticides are ubiquitous and can be found in almost every component of the environment. They can therefore impair human and biota health when present over the threshold level. The present study assessed the concentration of commonly used pesticides for agricultural purposes but get mixed in different sources of water, as such fifteen sampling sites along the upper Jhelum basin of Kashmir valley were chosen. For the analysis, 60 water samples were obtained from different water sources. Gas chromatography coupled with tandem mass spectrometry (GC-MS/MS) was used to determine pesticide residues in water samples. Pesticide residues from 10 of the 26 commonly used pesticides were detected in water samples. Difenoconazole had the highest concentration among the pesticides detected, with a mean concentration of 0.412 ± 0.424 μg/L ranging from 0.0 μg/L to 0.8196 μg/L. The target hazards quotient (THQ) was used to quantify the possible noncarcinogenic health risks associated with drinking pesticide-contaminated water. Only chlorpyrifos and quinalphos were detected >1 in RWS3 (1.6571), RWS4 (1.0285), RWS14 (1.2571), and RWS15 (1.2000) sample sites, implying that the drinking water poses a health risk to humans. Hence, pesticide hazards should be mitigated and rigorous monitoring is needed to reduce pesticide residues in drinking water.

High-intensity ultrasonication impact on the chlorothalonil fungicide and its reduction pathway in spinach juice

Among different novel technologies, sonochemistry is a sustainable emerging technology for food processing, preservation, and pesticide removal. The study aimed to probe the impact of high-intensity ultrasonication on chlorothalonil fungicide degradation, reduction pathway, and bioactive availability of spinach juice. The chlorothalonil fungicide-immersed spinach juice was treated with sonication at 360 W, 480 W, and 600 W, 40 kHz, for 30 and 40 min at 30 ± 1 °C. The highest reduction of chlorothalonil fungicide residues was observed at 40 min sonication at 600 W. HPLC-MS (high-performance liquid chromatography-mass spectroscopy) analysis revealed the degradation pathway of chlorothalonil and the formation of m-phthalonitrile, 3-cyno-2,4,5,6-tetrachlorobenamide, 4-dichloroisophthalonitrile, trichloroisophtalonitrile, 4-hydoxychlorothalonil, and 2,3,4,6-tetrachlorochlorobenzonitrile as degradation products. High-intensity sonication treatments also significantly increased the bioavailability of phenolic, chlorophyll, and anthocyanins and the antioxidant activity of spinach juice. Our results proposed that sonication technology has excellent potential in degrading pesticides through free radical reactions formation and pyrolysis. Considering future perspectives, ultrasonication could be employed industrially to reduce pesticide residues from agricultural products and enhance the quality of spinach juice.