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Determination of quizalofop-p-ethyl in onion: residual dissipation pattern, weed control efficiency, and food safety assessment under field conditions

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Abstract

Monitoring pesticide residue levels becomes crucial to maintain quality and guarantee food safety as the consumption of onion green leaves and immature and mature bulbs (either raw or processed) rises. A field experiment was conducted for two consecutive seasons with quizalofop-p-ethyl (5% EC) at 50 and 100 g a.i. ha−1 to evaluate weed control efficiency and to determine terminal residues. Post-emergence application of fop herbicide at 100 g a.i. ha−1 kept the weed density and dry weight reasonably at a lower level and enhanced the productivity of onion with higher economic returns. A rapid, sensitive, and analytical method was developed using high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) with excellent linearity (r2 > 0.99). The limit of quantification for quizalofop-p-ethyl was established at 0.04 mg kg−1 with signal to noise (S/N) ratio ≥ 10. The method was successfully applied and initial quantified residues were in the range of 2.5–4.4 mg kg−1 irrespective of seasons and doses. Finally, the presence of targeted herbicide residues in harvested samples was confirmed by liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) under optimized operating conditions. Dietary risk assessment assured harvested onions were safe for consumption at the recommended dose. It also can be concluded that quizalofop ethyl did not adversely influence soil micro-organisms at standard rates of application.

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Data sharing is not applicable to this article as no datasets were generated or analyzed during the current study.

Abbreviations

a.i.:

Active ingredient

ADI:

Acceptable daily intake

CE:

Collision energy

CEP:

Cell entrance potential

CXP:

Cell exit potential

DP:

Declustering potential

EP:

Entrance potential

ESI:

Electrospray ionization

GC-MS:

Gas chromatography–mass spectrometry

HPLC:

High-performance liquid chromatography

LC-MS:

Liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry

LOD:

Limit of detection

LOQ:

Limit of quantification

MPI:

Maximum permissible intake

MRL:

Maximum residue limit

PSA:

Primary secondary amine

RT:

Retention time

UPLC:

Ultra-performance liquid chromatography

UV:

Ultraviolet

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Agricultural Chemicals, Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya, Kalyani, Nadia, West Bengal, 741235, India

    Dipak Kumar Hazra, Rajib Karmakar, Sankhajit Roy & Hemanta Banerjee

  2. All India Network Project on Pesticide Residues, Department of Agricultural Chemicals, Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya, Kalyani, Nadia, West Bengal, 741235, India

    Dipak Kumar Hazra, Swagata Mandal, Sudip Bhattacharyya & Rajib Karmakar

  3. Regional Research Station (Terai Zone), Uttar Banga Krishi Viswavidyalaya, Pundibari, Cooch Behar, West Bengal, 736165, India

    Prithusayak Mondal

  4. Department of Soil Science and Agricultural Chemistry, Palli-Siksha Bhavana (Institute of Agriculture), Visva - Bharati, Sriniketan, Bolpur, Birbhum, West Bengal, 731236, India

    Aloke Purkait

  5. Division of Agricultural Chemicals, ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute, LBS Building, Pusa Campus, New Delhi, 110012, India

    Tirthankar Banerjee

Authors
  1. Dipak Kumar Hazra
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  2. Prithusayak Mondal
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Contributions

This work was carried out in collaboration among all the authors. DKH: conceptualization, methodology, investigation, validation, data curation, and writing—original draft. PM: conceptualization, methodology, investigation, validation, data curation, writing—review and editing. AP: methodology and investigation. SM: formal analysis. SB: formal analysis. RK: investigation, validation, and data curation. SR: investigation, validation, and data curation. TB: methodology, validation, and data curation. HB: methodology, investigation, and validation.

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Correspondence to Prithusayak Mondal.

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Highlights

• Monitoring herbicide residue levels is becoming increasingly important as the consumption of green and red onions (raw or processed) grows.

• Quizalofop-p-ethyl is a very effective post-emergence new-generation herbicide.

• A new, rapid, sensitive, and selective analytical method has been established for the estimation of residual dissipation of the targeted herbicide in onion and onion-cropped soil by LC-MS/MS.

• The herbicide’s weed management potential was evaluated using a variety of parameters.

• A dietary risk assessment (acute and chronic) was also performed to check consumer safety.

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Hazra, D.K., Mondal, P., Purkait, A. et al. Determination of quizalofop-p-ethyl in onion: residual dissipation pattern, weed control efficiency, and food safety assessment under field conditions. Environ Monit Assess 195, 1067 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-023-11691-y

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