Polymeric Drift Control Adjuvants for Agricultural Spraying

The movement of a pesticide or herbicide to an off‐target site during agricultural spraying can cause injury to wildlife, plants and contamination of surface water. This phenomenon is known as spray drift and can be controlled by spraying during favorable environmental conditions, and by using low d...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Macromolecular chemistry and physics 2016-10, Vol.217 (20), p.2223-2242
Main Authors: Lewis, Reece W., Evans, Richard A., Malic, Nino, Saito, Kei, Cameron, Neil R.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adjuvants
Architecture
branched
degradation
Drift
Droplets
polyelectrolytes
solution properties
Sprayers
Spraying
Sprays
Surface water
viscoelastic properties
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Summary:The movement of a pesticide or herbicide to an off‐target site during agricultural spraying can cause injury to wildlife, plants and contamination of surface water. This phenomenon is known as spray drift and can be controlled by spraying during favorable environmental conditions, and by using low drift nozzles and drift control adjuvants (DCAs). Polymeric DCAs are the most common type of DCA and function by increasing the droplet size produced during spraying. There are, however, two main drawbacks of polymeric DCAs; they are prone to mechanical degradation during spraying which reduces their performance and they can produce oversized drops which reduces the efficacy of the spray. In this trend article, existing DCA technology is reviewed including the mechanism through which they function. This then provides a platform for the discussion of novel polymeric architectures which have currently not been applied in DCA formulations. Polymeric drift control adjuvants (DCAs) increase the droplet size produced during agricultural spraying which minimizes drift of agrichemicals. Current DCAs are reviewed, highlighting key weaknesses and the mechanism through which they increase droplet size. A discussion on the applicability of new polymer chemistries and architectures to drift control then follows.
ISSN:1022-1352
1521-3935
DOI:10.1002/macp.201600139