A new retention system that could reduce pesticide use
Pesticide spraying has a retention problem : only two per cent of the spray sticks to the plants,
while a significant portion bounces off the plants into agricultural lands, and
the run off eventually pollutes our water sources .Now a team of researchers
from the Massachusetts institute of Technology has found a way which could
allow farmers to get the same effects by using just 1/10th of the
pesticide .They have developed a combination of two inexpensive additives to
the spray -each prepared with a
different polymer substance. One gives
the solution a negative electric charge; the other results in a positive charge.
When tow of the oppositely -charged droplets meet on a leaf surface, the form a
hydrophilic (water attracting) ‘’ defect” that sticks to the surface and increases
the retention. The researchers hope to conduct field trials of the new system
in small farms in India.
Down To Earth 16-30 September 2016
Down To Earth 16-30 September 2016
