Chemical residues and bioactivity of tebufenozide applied to apple foliage

Tebufenozide, an insect growth regulator that acts as an ecdysone agonist, was applied at recommended label rate to apple trees in August 1997 and May 1998. Foliar residues were determined by high-performance liquid chromatography from samples collected 2, 24, 48 and 96 h post-spray, and at weekly intervals thereafter for 9 weeks in 1997 and 11 weeks in 1998. Foliage sampled at the same times was used in bioassays to determine residual toxicity to first-instar obliquebanded leafrollers, Choristoneura rosaceana (Harris). Residue decay followed first-order kinetics in both years, with residual half-life of 36.3 days in 1997 and 7.2 days in 1998. Estimates of the time needed to reduce bioactivity to 50% in bioassays were 18.7 days in 1997 and 36.3 days in 1998. The accuracy of equations describing decay of tebufenozide residues and bioactivity over time was not improved by using degree-day accumulations as the independent variable.