Evaluation of various soaking agents as a novel tool for pesticide residues mitigation from cauliflower Brassica oleracea var. botrytis

The increasing use of pesticides for boosting the yield of agricultural crops also impart toxic residues which ultimately extend to numerous physiological disorders upon consumption. The present study was designed as an effort to assess the reduction potential of various chemical solutions and to minimize the pesticide residues in cauliflower (Brassica oleracea var. botrytis). The samples were soaked in various solutions along with tap water to mitigate pesticide residues. Afterwards, the extracted supernatant was passed through column containing anhydrous sodium sulfate trailed by activated carbon for clean-up. Eluents were first evaporated and then completely dried under gentle stream of Nitrogen. Finally, the residues were determined using gas chromatography equipped with electron capture detector (GC-ECD). Results revealed the highest reduction of endosulfan, bifenthrin and cypermethrin residues with acetic acid (10 %) was 1.133 +/- 0.007 (41 %), 0.870 +/- 0.022 (60 %) and 0.403 +/- 0.003 (75 %), respectively among the tested solutions. However, simple tap water treatment also resulted in 0.990 +/- 0.02 (12 %), 1.323 +/- 0.015 (14 %) and 1.274 +/- 0.002 (21 %) elimination of endosulfan, bifenthrin and cypermethrin residues, respectively. Moreover, among various solutions, acetic acid depicted maximum reduction potential followed by citric acid, hydrogen peroxide, sodium chloride and sodium carbonate solutions. The percent reduction by various solutions ranged from 12 to 41, 14 to 60 and 21 to 75 % for the elimination of endosulfan, bifenthrin and cypermethrin residues, respectively.