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The cause that has the most impact on spraying is wind velocity. Generally, any wind can cause spray to drift tremendously. Therefore, that is why wind velocity and nozzle (spray) pressure are the main variables used in our experiment.
What does Spray Drift
Cause?
The effects
of spray drift are numerous and not clear. In most circumstances,
the drift from herbicides meant for cereal crops will noticeably damage a nearby
broadleaf crop. Another major concern is the risk of the spray missing
its target, which is very costly to the farmer. A person cannot really
say that unwanted spray drift will harm the natural environment in a significant
way. This is due to the reason, that any amount of sprays (large
or small), in any fashion, will damage and pollute our water/plant/animal
systems in an unwanted way.
Prevention
Spray
drifts can easily be prevented by correcting the factors that cause the
problems. The different nozzle types have certain drift measurements
under different conditions, so that is why we decided to test this in our
experiment.
Importance of Reducing
Spray Drift
Chemicals
these days tend to be extremely expensive, especially when it can cost
a few thousands dollars to spray an 80 acre field. Farmers have other
areas such as farm machinery to spend their income on, therefore many producers
can not afford the high costs of sprays. Many sprays are extremely
dangerous to the environment and other crops, thus these chemicals can
cause dangerous effects on the environment.
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Common Spray Terms
In general,
pesticides are chemicals that kill or damage life. The four common types
of pesticides are Organic, Inorganic, Botanical and Microbial. Organic
pesticides are made mostly out of synthetic substances, like carbon, oxygen
and hydrogen. They are the most commonly used insecticides.
Inorganic sprays are made from minerals which are not naturally found in
the agricultural environment. Botanical chemicals are those that
are made from plants, and microbial sprays are those that consist of micro-organisms
and pathogens which disease or kill the insect, or are plant pests.
Pesticides themselves are divided into two groups, Selective and Non selective.
Selective pesticides kill specific animals or plants, while Non selective
pesticides kill all animals and plants which the chemical targets.
Insecticides
are chemicals that kill insects and aphid pests such as mites (wheat midge),
moths, maggots, grasshoppers, wire worm and beetles. Herbicides are chemicals
that kill plant life. They are used to control, or destroy unwanted
plants. In general, chemicals that are used as herbicides are inorganic
and microbial.
*Cholinesterase Inhibition
A precaution
with handling many types of insecticides is the risk of developing cholinesterase
inhibition. This is a condition in which the acetyl cholinesterase
enzymes in the nervous system of the human body are damaged, preventing
the destruction of unwanted acetylcholine chemicals, used in the
transportation (from cell to cell of nerves) of messages sent from the
brain throughout the nervous system. Since the acetylcholine chemicals
are not destroyed, repeated transmission of messages from the brain will
be sent.
The behavior
of the actylcholine enzymes will return to normal over a period of weeks.
Since an immediate antidote would be requested, the drug atropine sulfate
can be used to destroy the unwanted acetylcholine chemicals in the nervous
system. However, the damage already done to the nervous system (altered
coordination and reaction time) will still remain. If a person regularly
works with insecticides from the organophosphate or carbamate groups, they
should have a cholinesterase test (blood test) conducted by a doctor before
each spray season. This would be used to calculate the normal cholinesterase
level in the bloodstream for the person. A physician may advise a
patient to stop using carbamate and organophoshate insecticides if their
cholinesterase level is to high.
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Carbamate Insecticides are moderate to very high in toxicity. Insecticides from this family include aldicarb, carbaryl, carbofuran, methomyl, pirimicarb and propoxur. Pesticides from the carbamate group are also used in fungicides and herbicides. However, only the insecticides cause cholinesterase inhibition. After one exposure, the cholinesterase level in the blood should generally return back to normal within a week. The specific poisoning symptoms from the absorption of carbamate insecticides are: Mild - flu like weakness and nausea; Moderate - diarrhea, slow heart rate, blurred vision, breathing difficulties, joint and muscle pain, vomiting, tightness in the chest; and Severe - loss of bladder and bowel control, constriction of pupils, twitching of muscles, coma, convulsion, or respiratory failure.
Organochloride
Insecticides are very high in toxicity. Insecticides from this family
include dicofol, endosulfan, lindane and methoxychlor. Insecticides
from this group are very dangerous because they are absorbed by the fatty
tissue of animals, and the toxins in the insecticides do not break down
for years (which accumulate in the body of animals and descend down the
food-chain). Compared to past organochloride (chlorinated hydrocarbon)
insecticides like DDT, today's organochloride insecticides contain a very
low level of toxins. The specific poisoning symptoms from absorption
of organochloride insecticides are: Mild
- weakness, dizziness, loss of appetite; Moderate - trembling, nervousness,
extreme paleness in face and skin, vomiting; and Severe - lack of oxygen
reaching blood (cyanosis), convulsions, or coma.
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Pyridylium Herbicides are extremely toxic to humans and all forms of life, in an any size amount. The herbicides in this family are divided into two groups, diquat and paraquat. There is no way to treat paraquat chemicals once they have entered the stomach (results in death). The specific poisoning symptoms from absorption of pyridylium herbicides for Diquat chemicals are: Mild - nails crack, nosebleeds, dry throat, blistering of the skin; Moderate - intense stomach pains, vomiting, diarrhea, blood in spool; and Severe - lungs fill with water (edema), coma, or possible death. For Paraquat chemicals, the symptoms include: Mild - nails crack, nosebleeds, skin and eye blistering, dry throat; Moderate - nausea, burning pain all over body, vomiting, internal bleeding, blood in spool, kidney and liver damage; and Severe - lack of oxygen reaching blood (cyanosis), lungs fill with water (edema), or death.
The three ways in which pesticides are absorbed into living organisms are through contact (dermal exposure), ingestion (oral absorption) and inhalation of the pesticide vapor (lung absorption). The three ways in which pesticides break down (after being applied to the environment) are by the means of Chemical, Microbial and Photo degradation. By Chemical means, the pesticides are changed or broken down by chemical reactions from exposure of the environment (soil pH, temperature, etc.). With Microbial means, the pesticides are consumed by microorganisms as being used as an energy source. The more fertile the soil is, means the more microorganisms there are. By Photo degradation, the pesticides are broken down when exposed to a sufficient amount of sunlight.
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