FLAVOR AND BENZENE HEXACHLORIDE CONTENT OF PEANUTS 25 



grown during 1950 and 1951 in four of the principal cotton producing 

 areas and collected from commercial growers' fields that had been 

 previously planted to cotton which was treated with standard 3-5-40 

 BHC dust, and of soil samples from some of the same fields. Re- 

 ported applications of BHC dust to cotton that preceded the peanuts 

 provided an average of approximately 14 pounds of total BHC 

 isomers (1.8 pounds of gamma isomer) per acre but ranged from 2 to 

 48 pounds per acre (0.3 to 6.3 pounds of gamma isomer). The second 

 group of samples consisted of peanuts produced in 1951 and 1952 

 under more rigidly controlled conditions on experimental plots that 

 had been used the immediately preceding years for growing cotton 

 treated with BHC dusts. Of the latter, the 1951 samples followed 

 cotton that was treated with heavy applications of 3-5-40 cotton 

 dust, prepared with technical BHC containing 13 percent of the 

 gamma isomer at dosage rates providing 29 and 39 pounds of total 

 BHC isomers (3.8 and 5.1 pounds of gamma isomer) per acre. The 

 1952 samples from experimental plots in another location followed 

 cotton treated with equally heavy dosages of gamma BHC (1.3 to 

 5.0 pounds per acre) but prepared with a 36 percent gamma grade of 

 BHC. The heaviest dosage among the latter treatments deposited 

 only 14 pounds of total BHC isomers per acre. 



Among the samples of peanuts collected from commercial fields 

 there were few observations of significant flavor defects and, when 

 observed, off-flavors were not correlated with reported rates of appli- 

 cation of BHC to preceding cotton crops. The chemically deter- 

 mined BHC contents of both peanuts and soils analyzed were gener- 

 ally too low to be considered of significance and, as with observed 

 flavor defects, were not correlated with the quantities of insecticide 

 applied to cotton that preceded the peanuts. 



Peanuts that followed cotton that had been treated on experimental 

 plots with unusually heavy dosages (3.8 or 5.1 pounds of gamma per 

 acre) from technical BHC of 13 percent gamma content were char- 

 acterized by definite off-flavors, and chemical analyses showed sig- 

 nificant quantities of BHC both in the peanuts and in the soils in which 

 they grew. The intensity of off-flavor and the BHC content of 

 peanuts and soils were correlated with the dosage of insecticide 

 applied to preceding cotton crops. 



No significant association of off-flavors with insecticide treatment 

 was observed in peanuts that followed cotton treated on experimental 

 plots with 1.3 to 5.0 pounds of gamma per acre derived from a 36- 

 percent gamma grade of BHC. Chemical analyses disclosed no sig- 

 nificant quantities of BHC either in these peanuts or in the soils in 

 which they were grown. 



LITERATURE CITED 



(1) American Medical Association, Committee on Pesticides. 



1951. toxic effects of technical benzene hexachloride and its 



principal isomers. Report to the Council on Pharmacy and 

 Chemistry. Amer. Med. Assoc. Jour. 147: 571-574. 



(2) Boswell, V. R. 



1952. residues, soils, and plants. In Insects. U. S. Dept. Agr. 



Yearbook, pp. 284-297. 



(3) Chulski, K. 



1948. THE effect of benzene-hexachloride on some crops grown 

 on various soil TYPES. Mich. Agr. Expt. Sta. Quart. Bui. 31: 

 170-177. 



