PERTANIKA JOURNAL OF TROPICAL AGRICULTURAL SCIENCE

Dried chili is normally contaminated with pesticide residue as a result from the excessive uses of pesticide in the field. The objective of this study was to determine the degradation kinetics of diazinon and triazophos pesticides in dried chili due to the oxidative potential of gaseous ozone fumigation. Both pesticides were spray-coated on dried chili and later fumigated with gaseous ozone at concentration rate of 5.5 g/hr for 30 min. Results showed that the degradation kinetic of diazinon and triazophos pesticides were presented on the first-order kinetic reaction. After 30 min of ozone fumigation, diazinon and triazophos residues were decreased by 69% and 47% with the half-life (t_1/2) of 17.9 and 32.1 min, respectively. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images indicated that ozonated chili exhibited more rough surface morphology than unozoned chili. Ozone fumigation can be further developed as pesticide scrubber on agri-foods due to it high efficiency in term of shortening of half-life period and rapid pesticide decay rate.