Can an organosilicone adjuvant reduce aerial spray volumes for scrubweed herbicides?

摘要

Herbicides are only effective on forest scrubweeds, such as gorse, with the addition of an organosilicone surfactant to ensure evenness and consistency of kill. Scrubweed control is undertaken predominantly by aerial application of herbicide sprays. Abioassay was used to compare the performance of metsulfuron herbicide on potted gorse, using a gantry tracksprayer to simulate aerial application. An organosilicone superspreader adjuvant was shown to have potential to improve the cost-effectiveness ofscrub weed control by lowering aerial spray application volumes by at least 50%. Increasing rates of adjuvant increased the control of gorse by metsulfuron. Sprays containing high adjuvant rates in low water volumes controlled gorse better than the conventional use of less adjuvant in high water volumes. The work efficiency and cost of aerial spraying operations would be markedly improved if sprays could be concentrated and applied in approximately half the spray volume currently used.