14C-carbaryl residues in hazelnut

A hazelnut ocak (shrub growing form) in the field in Black Sea region of Turkey was treated with commercial carbaryl insecticide spiked with 14C-carbaryl. Three months later, the harvested hazelnuts were separated into husk, shell, and kernel components, then homogenized and analyzed. The total and unextractable (bound) 14C-residues were determined by combustion and the extractable 14C-residues were obtained by extracting the samples with methanol. Concentrated extracts were first analyzed by thin layer chromatography (TLC). The extracts were also subjected to a series of liquid-liquid extraction procedures for clean-up and the final extracts were analyzed by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Crude hazelnut oil was also extracted with hexane and analyzed for total 14C-residue. A total of 1.3% of applied radioactivity was recovered from the total nut harvested, with 0.04%, 0.06%, and 1.2% present in shell, kernel, and husk, respectively. The results show that the inedible husk and shell contained 95.7% 14C, whereas the edible kernel contained 4.3% of the total 14C recovered. The terminal 14C-residue in hazelnut kernel and oil did not contain carbaryl and/or its metabolite naphthol.