Residue characteristics of seven fungicides in cherry tomatoes and vegetable tomatoes

A modified QuEChERS method using a GC-ECD to determine the multiple residues of pyraclostrobin, difenoconazole, dimethomorph and azoxystrobin and to indirectly determine the total residues of maneb, mancozeb and propineb by a GC-FPD (with an S filter) was established and validated. Meanwhile, field trials were conducted in accordance with good agricultural practice (GAP) to study their characteristics of residue degradation under the agricultural climate and cropping system of Guangxi Province. The separation effect of each target peak was good with a linearity range of 0.01–5 mg L−1, a limit of detection (LOD) of 0.003–0.015 mg kg−1 and a limit of quantification (LOQ) of 0.01–0.05 mg kg−1. The average recovery ranges of vegetable tomatoes and cherry tomatoes were 70.5–120.0% and 70.8–119.8%, respectively, with relative standard deviations (RSDs) of less than 7.1%. Field trials of seven fungicides in vegetable and cherry tomatoes showed that the half-lives (t 1/2 ) of the dithiocarbamate fungicides (metiram, mancozeb, and propineb, defined as total residues determined as CS2), pyraclostrobin, difenoconazole, dimethomorph, and azoxystrobin were in the ranges of 5.2, 12.7–17.8, 7.6–7.9, 6.6–6.9, and 6.3–6.6 d in vegetable tomatoes, respectively. The cherry tomatoes presented ranges of 4.3–4.5, 10.8–11.8, 6.7–7.0, 5.4–5.5, and 5.9–6.2 d, respectively. Combined with the final residue and market monitoring results, the results show that cherry tomatoes have significantly higher terminal residues, initial deposits, and maximum residues of seven fungicides than vegetable tomatoes, and these seven pesticides can be detected in cherry tomatoes purchased from three markets. Therefore, cherry tomatoes may be regarded as representative varieties of tomatoes in realizing residual extrapolation for the establishment of the maximum residue limit (MRL) value of fungicides in tomatoes and for conducting market monitoring.