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. 2021 Nov 29;9(12):323.
doi: 10.3390/toxics9120323.

Τemporal Variation in Pesticide Residues in Citrus Fruits from Chios, Greece, before and after the Development of an Integrated Pest Management Strategy (IPMS): A Five-Year Study (LIFE13 ENV GR/000414)

Eleftheria Bempelou  1 , Christos Anagnostopoulos  1 , Maroula Kiousi  1 , Panagiota Malatou  1 , Konstantinos Liapis  1 , Nikos Kouloussis  2 , Vassilis Mavraganis  3 , Nikolaos T Papadopoulos  4
Affiliations

Τemporal Variation in Pesticide Residues in Citrus Fruits from Chios, Greece, before and after the Development of an Integrated Pest Management Strategy (IPMS): A Five-Year Study (LIFE13 ENV GR/000414)

Eleftheria Bempelou et al. Toxics. .

Abstract

The temporal variation in pesticide residues in Kampos, of Chios Island, in Greece, was determined between June 2014 and October 2019. Monitoring of residues took place before and after the development of an Integrated Pest Management Strategy (IPMS) for the sustainable control of the Mediterranean fruit fly (medfly) based on mass trapping with the non-toxic and environmentally friendly attractant Biodelear. A total of 1252 samples of citrus fruits, collected from 12 experimental citrus orchards, were analyzed for the presence of 353 active substances and metabolites of pesticides. A modified QuEChERS method and sensitive chromatographic techniques were used. During preparatory monitoring for the project, the most frequently detected pesticides were the insecticides chlorpyrifos, deltamethrin and spirotetramat; the fungicides propamocarb, dimethomorph and mepanipyrim; and the synergist piperonyl butoxide. The implementation of the IPMS to address medfly resulted in a dramatic reduction in the pesticides detected in citrus fruits during confirmatory monitoring, with no detectable residues-which may cause serious problems to human health-in any of the samples analyzed at the end of the project, thus enhancing consumer safety.

Keywords: Integrated Pest Management Strategy (IPMS); citrus fruits; food safety; pesticide residues; plant growth regulators.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Citrus experimental orchards in Kampos, Chios, Greece. Pilot-scale orchards (1 ha) are marked with red outline and real-scale orchards (10 ha) with blue outline.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Determination of the fungicide propamocarb in the LC–MS/MS. (A) Chromatogram of fragment ions (parent and daughter) of propamocarb detected in citrus sample from Kampos, Chios. (B) Chromatogram of fragment ions (parent and daughter) of propamocarb detected in matrix-matched standard solution.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Incidence (% of total samples analyzed) of pesticide residues in citrus fruits sampled from the pilot experimental area in preparatory monitoring (PM) and confirmatory monitoring (CM) stages.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Determination of the synergist piperonyl butoxide in the LC–MS/MS. (A) Chromatogram of fragment ions (parent and daughter) of piperonyl butoxide detected in citrus samples from Kampos, Chios. (B) Chromatogram of fragment ions (parent and daughter) of piperonyl butoxide detected in matrix-matched standard solution.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Incidence (% of total samples analyzed) of pesticide residues in citrus fruits sampled from the real-scale experimental area in preparatory monitoring (PM) and confirmatory monitoring (CM) stages.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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