Adjuvant and application technologies to minimise offtarget drift from kiwifruit sprays

Abstract

The productivity and quality of the New Zealand kiwifruit crop depends on dormancy breaking sprays that are applied in high volumes to bare canes The risk from offtarget spray drift is high This study investigated new nozzle and adjuvant technologies to improve the targeting of hydrogen cyanamide sprays and reduce offtarget losses The use of air inclusion (AI) nozzles could reduce vertical and horizontal drift of hydrogen cyanamide airblast sprays relative to conventional cone nozzles The combination of an adjuvant with AI nozzles resulted in a significant decrease in offtarget drift by as much as 86 compared to current industry standard application methods Deposits on target canes were not adversely affected by the use of AI nozzles and biological efficacy of the budbreaking agent was maintained