Residue analysis and dietary risk assessment of tebuconazole in loquat and sugarcane after open-field application in China

Abstract

Tebuconazole is an effective but potentially carcinogenic fungicide. Tebuconazole residues in loquat and sugarcane were investigated, together with an analysis of their dietary risk. Solid-phase extraction and high-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry showed fortified recoveries of 87% to 98%, with standard deviations ≤ 6.4%. The tebuconazole residues were below 6.34 mg kg⁻¹ for whole loquat and 0.80 mg kg⁻¹ for sugarcane. Based on the final residue test, the chronic hazard index was 90.74% in whole loquat and sugarcane, while the acute hazard index ranged from 66.32% to 109.49% for loquat and 33.37% to 76.93% for sugarcane. The assessment of potential dietary risk showed that while loquats may represent an acute risk to human health, whereas sugarcane consumption was safe. A 21-day pre-harvest interval is proposed to comply with maximum residue limit regulations and the observed risks when using 430 g/L tebuconazole for treating sugarcane. These findings offer guidance for tebuconazole formulation and use.

Keywords:

• Tebuconazole
• loquat
• sugarcane
• dietary risk assessment

Compliance with ethical standards

This is an original research article that has neither been published previously nor considered presently for publication elsewhere.

Conflicts of interest

The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest regarding the publication of this article.

Data availability statement

Raw data were generated at Hunan Plant Protection Institute, Hunan Academy of Agricultural Science. The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author [Ying Zhang] on request.

Informed consent

All authors named in the manuscript are entitled to the authorship and have approved the final version of the submitted manuscript. This article does not contain any studies with human or animal subjects.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by a project of the National Key Research and Development Program of China (2016YFD0200200).