Dissipation kinetics, dietary and ecological risk assessment of chlorantraniliprole residue in/on tomato and soil using GC–MS

In this study, 50 pesticides were analyzed in the Ebro River basin in 2010 and 2011 to assess their impact in water, sediment and biota. A special emphasis was placed on the potential effects of both, individual pesticides and their mixtures, in three trophic levels (algae, daphnia and fish) using Risk Quotients (RQs) and Toxic Units (TUs) for water and sediments. Chlorpyrifos, diazinon and carbendazim were the most frequent in water (95, 95 and 70% of the samples, respectively). Imazalil (409.73 ng/L) and diuron (150 ng/L) were at the highest concentrations. Sediment and biota were less contaminated. Chlorpyrifos, diazinon and diclofenthion were the most frequent in sediments (82, 45 and 21% of the samples, respectively). The only pesticide detected in biota was chlorpyrifos (up to 840.2 ng g(-1)). Ecotoxicological risk assessment through RQs showed that organophosphorus and azol presented high risk for algae; organophosphorus, benzimidazoles, carbamates, juvenile hormone mimic and other pesticides for daphnia, and organophosphorus, azol and juvenile hormone mimics for fish. The sum TUsite for water and sediments showed values < 1 for the three bioassays. In both matrices, daphnia and fish were more sensitive to the mixture of pesticide residues present. Show more

The Horwitz ratio (HorRat) is a normalized performance parameter indicating the acceptability of methods of analysis with respect to among-laboratory precision (reproducibility). It is the ratio of the observed relative standard deviation among laboratories calculated from the actual performance data, RSDR (%), to the corresponding predicted relative standard deviation calculated from the Horwitz equation PRSDR (%) = 2C0.15, where C is the concentration found or added, expressed as a mass fraction. It is more or less independent of analyte, matrix, method, and time of publication (as a surrogate for the state of the art of analytical chemistry). It is now one of the acceptability criteria for many of the recently adopted chemical methods of analysis of AOAC INTERNATIONAL, the European Union, and other European organizations dealing with food analysis (e.g., European Committee for Standardization and Nordic Analytical Committee). The origin and applications of the formula are described. Consistent deviations from the ratio on the low side (values <0.5) may indicate unreported averaging or excellent training and experience; consistent deviations on the high side (values >2) may indicate inhomogeneity of the test samples, need for further method optimization or training, operating below the limit of determination, or an unsatisfactory method. Show more