Effect of simple processing on selected pesticide residues in cottonseed (Gossypium spp.) Thirukkumar Subramani* Department of Food Science and Nutrition, Community Science College and Research Institute, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Madurai - 625104 (Tamil Nadu), India Hemalatha Ganapathyswamy Department of Food Science and Nutrition, Community Science College and Research Institute, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Madurai - 625104 (Tamil Nadu), India Vellaikumar Sampathrajan Center of Innovation, Department of Biotechnology, Agricultural College and Research Institute, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Madurai - 625104 (Tamil Nadu), India Amutha Sundararajan Department of Food Science and Nutrition, Community Science College and Research Institute, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Madurai - 625104 (Tamil Nadu), India Murugan Marimuthu Department of Agricultural Entomology, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore- 641003 (Tamil Nadu), India *Corresponding author. Email: psthirukumar@gmail.com Article Info https://doi.org/10.31018/ jans.v14iSI.3606 Received: March 10, 2022 Revised: May 9, 2022 Accepted: June 8, 2022 This work is licensed under Attribution-Non Commercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0). © : Author (s). Publishing rights @ ANSF. ISSN : 0974-9411 (Print), 2231-5209 (Online) journals.ansfoundation.org Research Article INTRODUCTION Cotton is one of the major economic cash crops, and the leading cottonseed cultivated countries worldwide are India (6.42 MMT) followed by China (5.93 MMT), USA (4.33 MMT), Brazil (2.91MMT) Pakistan (1.35 MMT) in 2019-2020 and accounts for 77% of global output in the form of fiber and animal feed (Statista, 2021; Thirukkumar et al., 2021). Cotton cultivation practices are largely dependent on the application of pesticides to minimize pest attacks with a focus on yield and storage quality. Cotton production losses ac- count for 82% worldwide due to the absence of pest management in cotton. Overall, owing to agricultural Abstract Food processing techniques reduce pesticide residue accumulation in food components. The present study investigated the effectiveness of simple processing techniques such as roasting, soaking, autoclaving and storage conditions on twenty -seven selected pesticides belonging to the classes of organophosphates (OPs), organochlorines (OCPs) and pyrethroids (PPs) in pesticide-fortified cottonseed (Gossypium spp.). The residue concentration was analysed by GC–MS/MS from the extract of different treated samples as untreated and pesticide free (T 1 ), pesticide treated (T 2 ) and pesticide treated cum processed (R 1 - Roasting 5 min; R 2 -Roasting 10 min; S 1 -Soaking 6 hours; S 2 -Soaking 12 hours; AC 1 -Autoclaving 5 min; AC 2 -Autoclaving 10 min; ST-Storage) cottonseed. The recovery values of the residues ranged from 78.20 to 114% with the application of 1, 5 and 10 μg/g pesticide in pesticide-free cottonseed. The concentration of pesticide residues is presented for nondetected levels in pesticide-free samples. Otherwise, pesticide-treated samples contained all pesticide residues ranging from 856 to 1138 ng/g OP, 782 to 1058 ng/g OCPs and 857 to 1140 ng/g PP, which are higher than the maximum residue limits (MRLs) set by The Japan Food Chemical Research Foundation (FFCR). Among the different processing methods, autoclave samples had fewer residues detected (3 compounds), followed by stored (5 compounds), soaked (7 compounds) and roasted (8 compounds) sam- ples. The stored cottonseeds contained residues for phorate, total lindane excluding δ-lindane and deltamethrin at the end of storage. Nevertheless, the residue from phorate, δ-lindane and deltamethrin exceeded the concentration of MRLs. This finding indicated that the most effective method for reducing pesticide residues was autoclaved treatment from the respective pesticide- fortified cottonseed sample. Keywords: Cottonseed, Organochlorines, Organophosphates, Pesticide Residue, Processing, Pyrethroids How to Cite Subramani, T. et al. (2022). Effect of simple processing on selected pesticide residues in cottonseed (Gossypium spp.). Journal of Applied and Natural Science, 14 (SI), 176 - 185. https://doi.org/10.31018/jans.v14iSI.3606