An Evaluation of Three Drift Reduction Adjuvants for Aerial Application of Pesticides

Abstract

Preventing pesticide drift from aerial applications is important for environmental and application efficiency reasons. Proper analysis of drift reduction technologies or techniques is an essential component of the drift prevention process. In the current study, three drift reduction adjuvants were tested with two herbicides under several application conditions used by rotary-wing and fixed-wing aircraft in the U.S. Data was collected using a high speed wind tunnel and laser diffraction equipment. The results of the study indicated application conditions, and not adjuvant inclusion, were the largest drivers of the droplet size distribution and drift potential. Data was further computed in the drift prediction program, AGDISP, where little differences were observed between the treatments. This study highlighted the importance of testing drift reduction technologies or techniques from multiple viewpoints.