Dissipation rates of procymidone and azoxystrobin in greenhouse grown lettuce and under cold storage conditions

Abstract

The dissipation of two fungicides (procymidone and azoxystrobin) was evaluated in greenhouse grown lettuce and under cold storage conditions. Lettuce samples were collected from an experimental greenhouse during a five week period, in which two consecutive applications of these pesticides were performed. Gas chromatography (GC) with electron-capture detection (ECD) was used to study the disappearance of these compounds in lettuce. Confirmation analysis of pesticides was carried out by capillary gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry in the selected ion monitoring (SIM) mode. The disappearance rates of these compounds on lettuces in field after two applications were described as pseudo-first-order kinetics with strong correlation between residue concentration and time (r was in all cases higher than 0.983). The half-lives for first and second applications were of 5.31 and 4.65 days for procymidone and 6.23 and 4.87 days for azoxystrobin, respectively. When procymidone and azoxystrobin were applied two times during cultivation, at maximum recommended dose, the residues of both pesticides were below maximum residue limits (MRLs) after the established preharvest intervals. After 21 days under cold and darkness storage conditions, dissipation of procymidone and azoxystrobin was not observed.