According OECD 504 (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development), Studies on Residues in Rotational Crops (Limited Field Studies) are performed to determine the amount of pesticide residues which may be accumulated into rotational crops via soil uptake as a result of realistic agricultural practices. These data may be used to establish crop rotation restrictions, i.e., the time elapsing between the application and the moment when rotational crops can be planted based on residue accumulation in order to provide information and assess the overall significance of residues for dietary risk assessment; this also determines whether maximum residue limits (MRLs) will be needed in rotational crops.
Different representative crops fit for rotations and agricultural practice should be tested on each trial site to determine the uptake of residues. The chosen representative crops should fall under one of the three following crop categories: root and tuber vegetables, leafy vegetables, small grains (e.g. wheat, barley). An additional representative crop group might also be included if a rotation-relevant crop is not covered by those crop categories.