BACKGROUND: Diquat dibromide is a fast-acting nonselective herbicide and plant growth regulator. In this study, in order to understand the possibility of unintentional pesticide contamination in the following crops, the phytotoxicity and transition of diquat dibromide residue in soil into the following crops such as pepper, radish, lettuce and corn have been assessed through phytotoxicity trial and residual evaluation in the unintentional contamination of the higher residual diquat dibromide. METHODS AND RESULTS: The pepper, radish, lettuce and corn were cultivated in the sandy soil and loam soil where the 35 mg/kg and 90 mg/kg diquat dibromide were applied, respectively. Mild growth inhibition symptoms were observed in radish, lettuce and corn crops at the 90 mg/kg-diquat dibromide treatment on the 30 day of cultivation. Diquat dibromide was analyzed using liquid chromatography QTRAP (LC-MS/MS). The recovery rates of diquat dibromide from soil and crop were determined within range from 89.1 to 116.4% with relative standard deviation less than 14.7%. Diquat dibromide residues in soil were found to be 23.90-30.22 and 69.59-82.57 mg/kg from the 35 mg/kg and 90 mg/kg of diquat dibromide-treated soil, respectively after 30 days of crop cultivation. This result implicates that diquat dibromide did not convert to metabolites and remained mostly in the soil, even though it was partially decomposed during crop cultivation. In addition, the diquat dibromide in pepper and radish that were grown for 47 days, and lettuce and corn that were cultivated for 30 days were detected to be

BACKGROUND: Pre-harvest interval and decline pattern of thiamethoxam were determined in kiwifruit using liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). The study was carried out to propose import tolerance using OECD maximum residue limit (MRL) calculator for the export promotion of kiwifruit to Taiwan. METHODS AND RESULTS: The thiamethoxam residue in kiwifruit was determined by using the LC-TriQ-MS/ MS with the analytical process to set up the import tolerance under greenhouse conditions for Taiwan. Excellent linearity was observed for all of the analytes with a determination coefficient (R 2 )≥0.99. The limit of quantification was determined to be 0.01 mg/kg for both thiame-