SEDL / STP / STP1312-EB / STP11343S

Off-Target Drift with Air-Assisted Agricultural Sprayers

Gaultney, LD
Senior research engineer, Global Technology, Product Delivery Systems, E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company, Newark, DE

Howard, KD
Application and Production Unit, USDA, Stoneville, MS

Mulrooney, JE
Application and Production Unit, USDA, Stoneville, MS

Pages: 10    Published: Jan 1996

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Abstract

A protocol was developed and tested that gives reliable data to compare off-target drift from air-assisted and air shear sprayers. The test method consisted of using two separate drift tracers in each of two sprayers that were being operated simultaneously over the same spray area. The two sprayers, one the test sprayer, and the other a standard hydraulic sprayer with flat fan nozzles, each sprayed a mixture of a fluorescent dye and an insecticide. The dyes were chosen because of their excellent photostability in direct sunlight under high humidity conditions. The insecticides were selected for their reliability as tracers in prior drift studies. The four tracers were collected on two different types of samplers: passive, horizontal sheets to measure droplet deposition downwind of the spray area; and active, vertical filters to measure drift at head height level for workers in a downwind field.

This paper reports on representative data collected on the horizontal and vertical collectors using the insecticide tracers. The tests indicated that significant differences exist in the amount and type of drift created by different air-assist and air-shear sprayers.