Current-use pesticides monitoring and ecological risk assessment in vegetable soils at the provincial scale

Pesticides represent one of the largest intentional inputs of potentially hazardous compounds into agricultural soils. However, as an important vegetable producing country, surveys on pesticide residues in soils of vegetable production areas are scarce in China. This study presented the occurrence, spatial distribution, correlation between vegetable types and pesticides, and ecological risk evaluation of 94 current-use pesticides in 184 soil samples from vegetable production areas of Zhejiang province (China). The ecological risks of pesticides to soil biota were evaluated with toxicity exposure ratios (TERs) and risk quotient (RQ). The pesticide concentrations varied largely from below the limit of quantification to 20703.06 μg/kg (chlorpyrifos). The situation of pesticide residues in Jiaxing is more serious than in other cities. Soils in the vegetable areas are highly diverse in pesticide combinations. Eisenia fetida suffered exposure risk from multiple pesticides. The risk posed by chlorpyrifos, which exhibited the highest RQs at all scenarios, was worrisome. Only a few pesticides accounted for the overall risk of a city, while the other pesticides make little or zero contribution. This work will guide the appropriate use of pesticides and manage soil ecological risks, achieving green agricultural production.