In this study, the effects of the immobilized bacterial mixture (IM-FN) of Arthrobacter sp. NJ-1 and Klebsiella variicola strain FH-1 using sodium alginate-CaCl₂ on the degradation of atrazine were investigated. The results showed that the optimal ratio of three types of carrier materials (i.e., rice straw powder, rice husk, and wheat bran) was 1:1:1 with the highest adsorption capacity for atrazine (i.e., 3774.47 mg/kg) obtained at 30°C. On day 9, the degradation efficiency of atrazine (50 mg/L) reached 98.23% with cell concentration of 1.6 × 10⁸ cfu/ml at pH 9 and 30°C. The Box–Behnken method was used to further optimize the culture conditions for the degradation of atrazine by the immobilized bacterial mixture. The IM-FN could be reused for 2–3 times with the degradation efficiency of atrazine maintained at 73.0% after being stored for 80 days at 25°C. The population dynamics of IM-FN was explored with the total soil DNA samples specifically analyzed by real-time PCR. In 7 days, the copy numbers of both PydC and estD genes in the IM-FN were significantly higher than those of bacterial suspensions in the soil. Compared with bacterial suspensions, the IM-FN significantly accelerated the degradation of atrazine (20 mg/kg) in soil with the half-life shortened from 19.80 to 7.96 days. The plant heights of two atrazine-sensitive crops (wheat and soybean) were increased by 14.99 and 64.74%, respectively, in the soil restored by immobilized bacterial mixture, indicating that the IM-FN significantly reduced the phytotoxicity of atrazine on the plants. Our study evidently demonstrated that the IM-FN could significantly increase the degradation of atrazine, providing a potentially effective bioremediation technique for the treatment of atrazine-polluted soil environment and providing experimental support for the wide application of immobilized microorganism technology in agriculture.

Glyphosate has excellent herbicidal activity, and its extensive use may induce residue in the environment and enter into humans living through the food chain, causing negative impact. Here, water-soluble 1.55 nm size nitrogen-doped carbon quantum dots (NCDs) with strong blue fluorescence were synthesized using sodium citrate and adenine. The maximum excitation and emission wavelengths of NCDs were 380 nm and 440 nm, respectively. The above synthesized NCDs were first used for the construction of a fluorescence sensor for glyphosate detection. It was found that Cu²⁺ could quench the fluorescence of NCDs effectively through the photoinduced electron transfer (PET) process, which was confirmed using fluorescence lifetime measurements. Additionally, the fluorescence was restored with the addition of glyphosate. Hence, a sensitive turn-on fluorescence sensor based on NCDs/Cu²⁺ for glyphosate analysis was developed. The LODs of glyphosate for water and rice samples were recorded as 0.021 μg/mL and 0.049 μg/mL, respectively. The sensor was applied successfully for ultrasensitive and selective detection of glyphosate in environmental water and rice samples with satisfied recoveries from 82.1% to 113.0% using a simple sample pretreatment technique. The proposed strategy can provide a significant potential for monitoring glyphosate residue in water and agricultural product samples.

Several challenges persist in China’s ginseng industry. Phoxim, chlorpyrifos, quintozene—unregistered pesticides primarily used as soil insecticides and fungicides—may pose high dietary risks. This study performed a thorough screening of potential pesticides used in Chinese ginseng cultivation, evaluated the long-term dietary risks for the ginseng-consuming group, and used the primary risk factors for ginseng in China and South Korea to compare the two nations’ pesticide usage scenarios. From 2020 to 2022, 325 pesticides and related compounds were screened in 15 major ginseng-producing counties and 3 commercial markets in Northeast China, and 39 pesticides and 3 metabolites were identified using gas chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry and liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry, including allylmorph, pyrimethanil, pyraclostrobin, and other contaminants in Northeast China. Acute and chronic dietary risk assessment was performed using 0.009 kg as the maximum daily intake and 0.005 kg as the average daily intake, with adults as the exposed population. Based on these findings and reliable toxicological data, acute and chronic dietary risk quotients for ginseng were assessed, considering dietary intake and population exposure. The results indicate that ginseng products are generally safe and manageable, with acute and long-term dietary risks remaining within acceptable limits.

The simultaneous determination of 166 pesticides using dispersive liquid–liquid micro extraction combined with gas chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry and ultra-high performance liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry (DLLME–GC-MS/MS+LC-MS/MS) is presented here. In this work, DLLME was extended to complex residues in the ginseng wine matrix. This study first focused on the selection of an appropriate solvent that enabled the dissolution of analytes from ginseng wine. The matrix-matched calibration curves showed good linearity in the range of 2–100 µg L⁻¹ for all pesticides, with coefficients of determination of 0.977–1. The mean recoveries were in the range of 3–124%, with 133 pesticides in the range of 60–130%, and the relative standard deviations (RSDs) were between 0.4% and 31.4%. The limits of detection (LOD) and limits of quantitation (LOQ) were within the ranges of 0.14–140 and 0.5–470 ng L⁻¹, respectively. Therefore, this analytical method contributes to residue analyses of 133 pesticides for the routine laboratory testing of ginseng wine. Research was also carried out by soaking the pesticide-positive samples in ginseng wine to monitor the migration and degradation of pesticides. The results showed that, the migration rates of thifluzamidewaslower than 60%, cyprodinil was 73.7, while azoxystrobin, pyrimethanil, carbendazim, dimethomorph, difenoconazole, pyraclostrobin, propiconazole, quintozene, pentachloroaniline, tebuconazole and phoximwere between 75% and 95%. Quintozene was more easily degraded into pentachloroaniline in the wine.