Abstract
Herbicides are powerful chemical agents that exert strong biological activity on plants. The release of new formulations of dicamba and 2,4-D and their use in transgenic agronomic crops will probably result in many more applications during the time of year when sensitive nontarget vegetation will be present. The use of herbicides is regulated by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and there are usually no negative effects on nontarget species. One negative aspect of herbicide use occurs when the application moves away from the target area and causes unwanted plant injury on susceptible species. Interest in herbicide drift is increasing, as evidenced by the number of refereed articles that investigate the mitigation or potential for herbicide drift (Figure 1). Although the topic of herbicide drift is broad, in this manuscript I will focus on an overview of off-site movement from a historical perspective and then discuss specific research protocols to examine vapor drift.
Highlights
The release of new formulations of dicamba and 2,4-D and their use in transgenic agronomic crops will probably result in many more applications during the time of year when sensitive nontarget vegetation will be present
The topic of herbicide drift is broad, in this manuscript I will focus on an overview of off-site movement from a historical perspective and discuss specific research protocols to examine vapor drift
Staten was a pioneering researcher who understood the importance of determining how the herbicide moved off target and what the biological consequences were
Summary
Herbicides are powerful chemical agents that exert strong biological activity on plants. One interesting note from the Spray Drift Task Force report was the following definition: ‘‘pesticide drift does not include the movement of pesticide caused by other types of migration such as windblown soil particles or volatilization from the application site after application’’ (Anonymous 2013, p 4). Staten was a pioneering researcher who understood the importance of determining how the herbicide moved off target and what the biological consequences were He conducted a wide variety of studies, including water carriage, spray drift, and volatility studies using a variety of innovative methods. The author fully recognizes that one of the central challenges of field research is how to separate particle spray drift from vapor spray drift, and, while some important considerations are brought forward, this discernment remains a challenge for field researchers
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