Toxicityevaluationof4matrine-basedproductsonnon-targetorganisms

Environmental safety assessment of non-tartarget organisms is essential for the development and application of new pesticides. In order to guide the rational use of matrine-based botanical pesticide products, the toxicities of 4 matrine-based products (matrine, total alkaloid, mtrine extract and 0.3% matrine AS) on 6 kinds of non-target organism and the effect of succeeding crop (cowpea) were investigated and compared. The results indicated that the acute toxicities of matrine, total alkaloid, mtrine extract and 0.3% matrine AS were low for quail, silkworm, bee, earthworm, tadpole and zebra fish. And these products were also low risk to cowpea. 0.3% Matrine AS has no chronic toxicity to the silkworm. But there were significant differences among toxicities of different products on the same species.The   7 d  -LD₅₀ value of matrine, total alkaloid, mtrine extract and 0.3% matrine AS were 512, 504, >1 000 and >3 000 mg a.i./kg_quail on quail, respectively; >3 000, 1 300, >5 000 and 821 mg a.i./L on silkworm (96 h-LC₅₀), respectively; 1 145, 1 361, >3 000 and 337 mg a.i./L on bee(48 h-LC₅₀), respectively; 549, 428, 564 and >1 000 mg a.i./kg _soil on earthworm(14 d-LC₅₀), respectively; >100, >100, 263 and 15 mg a.i./L on tadpole(48 h-LC₅₀), respectively; and 85, 65, 193 and 20 mg a.i./L on zebra fish(96 h-LC₅₀), respectively. Among 4 products, mtrine extract had the lowest toxicity. Thus, matrine-based products are safe to non-target organisms, and will exhibit good ecological benefits in field application.