Residues, dissipation, and risk assessment of spinosad in cowpea under open field conditions.

The dissipation and residues of an eco-friendly bio-pesticide, spinosad, in cowpea under field conditions were studied using ultra-performance liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC-MSMS) after Quick, Easy, Cheap, Effective, Rugged, and Safe (QuEChERS) extraction. The method exhibited good linearity with respect to spinosyn A and spinosyn D in solvent or blank cowpea matrix with correlation coefficients>0.99. Additionally, matrix effects were not significant in the range 0.987-1.014, and the average recoveries at three concentration levels were 75.1-91.1 and 79.4-90.5% for spinosyn A and spinosyn D, respectively. The intra- and inter-day relative standard deviations were 2.5-9.3 and 7.8-9.8% for spinosyn A, respectively, and 4.1-7.9 and 6.6-8.3% for spinosyn D, respectively. The limits of detection (LODs) and limits of quantification (LOQs) were 0.005 and 0.01 mg kg(-1), respectively, for spinosyn A, and 0.002 and 0.005 mg kg(-1), respectively, for spinosyn D. The dissipation of spinosad (sum of spinosyn A and spinosyn D) fitted well to first-order kinetics with half-lives of 0.9-1.5 days. The highest residue (HR) at pre-harvest interval (PHI) of 12 h was 0.321 mg kg(-1). Compared with the maximum residue limit (MRL) set by Codex, a PHI of at least 24 h was recommended. The estimated daily chronic intake of spinosad from cowpea was less than 0.14% of the acceptable daily intake (ADI). Therefore, the risk of consuming cowpea sprayed with spinosad under recommended field conditions was considered acceptable for the Chinese population.