DETERMINATION OF MULTIPLE RESIDUES OF ACTIVE INGREDIENTS OF PLANT PROTECTION IN POTATOES AND APPLES

Abstract

Introduction. Determining the residual amounts of active substances of plant protection products in agricultural raw materials provides the necessary information for further assessment of the impact of pesticides on humans, which is an urgent task of preventive medicine. The assessment of combined exposure to several active substances of plant protection products for their simultaneous entry into the human body with food products requires the determination of multi-residue amounts of pesticides in them.

The aim of the study is determination of multiple residues of plant protection agents during hygienic monitoring of apples and potatoes grown in the agro-industrial sector of Ukraine.

Research Methods. Chromatographic analysis was performed on a tandem gas chromatograph/mass spectrometer Shimadzu GCMS-TQ8050 according to “GC/MS Residual Pesticides Database Ver. 2” using a chromatographic capillary column SH-Rxi-5 ms 30 m, 0.25 mm ID, 0.25 um with a stationary phase – polymer based (5 % diphenylsiloxane + 95 % dimethylsiloxane), and on a liquid chromatograph with a Shimadzu triquadrupole mass spectrometric detector LCMS-8050 according to “LC/MS/MS Method Package Residual Pesticides Version 2” using a chromatographic steel column RaptorTM Biphenyl 2.7 um 100×2.1 mm. Apple and potato samples were prepared in accordance with the standard EN 15662-2018 method.

Results and Discussion. The application of the QuEChERS sample preparation methodology with modern analytical methods (capillary gas chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry and high-performance liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry) made it possible to detect the presence of two, three and four active substances of plant protection products in potato and apple harvest samples. It was established that 50 % of the analyzed potato samples and 56 % of the analyzed apple samples contained multiple pesticide residues. At the same time, 25 % of potato samples and 44 % of apple samples contained residues of two active substances; 25 % of potato samples contained residues of three and 11 % of apple samples contained residues of four active substances.

Conclusions. Among the active substances detected in the yield samples of potatoes and apples were insecticides from the chemical classes of pyrethroids, neonicotinoids, anthranilamides, fungicides – representatives of carbamates and benzamides, and herbicides from the class of triazinones. In the studied samples of apples and potatoes, selected during harvest, the content of active substances of pesticides did not exceed the approved medical and sanitary standards.