29th International Symposium on Actual Tasks on Agricultural Engineering, OPATIJA, Croatia, 6 - 09 February 2001, vol.29, pp.259-266
Pesticides are sprayed by aerial and ground equipment. Drift occurs for each equipment. So drift has got a lot of disadvantages in agriculture. Spray drift is harmful for wildlife and water supplies in environment. If we research the behaviour of drift, we may lake precautions for minimum environment pollution. Generally we want the spray to fall directly on a specific target area, but sometimes we want the material to spread widely to seek out target pests. If spray is applied to kill larvae in still water, it is desirable to be "right on target." However, when combating a heavy adult mosquito infestation, it Is advantageous to have the material drift into every nook and cranny, remaining airborne over a large area, in this case "drift is good." Spray drift is defined as the movement of chemical off-target area. Drift occurs in two ways. These are vapor and particle drift. Vapor drift is movement of spray as a vapour. Particle drift is the movement of spray as particles or droplets. Drift is affected by several factors. These factors are related to pesticide specification, droplet size, equipment, application methods and meteorological conditions. Drift can not be completely eliminated, but it can be greatly reduced, ii drift is reduced, environment pollution, phitotoxity and residue problems will be minimized in off-target areas. In this paper, affected factors on drift are investigated and recommendations related to minimum drift are presented for pesticide applications.