| Summary: | Degradation of acetamiprid in sweet cherry samples was evaluated at several intervals
from the product application until the end of the pre-harvest interval. An orchard
of sweet cherries located at Stepanovićevo village near Novi Sad was used in this study.
Acetamiprid was applied according to the manufacturer’s recommendation for protecting
sweet cherries from their most important pests. Sweet cherry fruit samples were collected
at eight intervals: immediately after acetamiprid application and 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12
and 14 days after application. The extraction of acetamiprid from sweet cherry samples
was performed using a QuEChERS-based method. Determination was carried out using
an HPLC-UV diode array detection system (Agilent 1100, United States) with an Agilent
Zorbax Eclipse C18 column (50 mm × 4.6 mm internal diameter, 1.8 μm particle size).
The method was subjected to a thorough validation procedure. The recovery data were
obtained by spiking blank sweet cherry samples at three concentration levels (0.1-0.3 mg/
kg), yielding 85.4% average recovery. Precision values expressed as relative standard deviation
(RSD) were below 1.61% for the intraday precision. Acetamiprid showed linear calibrations
from 0.05 to 2.5 μg/ml with correlation coefficient (R2) of 0.995%. The limit of
detection and limit of quantification were found to be 5 μg/kg and 14 μg/kg, respectively.
The validated method was applied in the analysis of acetamiprid in sweet cherry samples.
During the study period, the concentration of acetamiprid decreased from 0.529
mg/kg to 0.111 mg/kg. The content of acetamiprid in sweet cherry samples at the end
of the pre-harvest interval was below the maximum permissible level specified by the
Serbian and EU MRLs.
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