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ARS Home » Southeast Area » Stoneville, Mississippi » Crop Production Systems Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #249652
Title: Determination of Cotton Plant Injury by Aerial Application of Glyphosate Using Remote Sensing and Spray Drift Sampling

Author
item Huang, Yanbo
item Thomson, Steven
item ORTIZ, BRENDA - Auburn University
item Reddy, Krishna
item DING, WEI - Northeast Agricultural University
item Zablotowicz, Robert
item Bright Jr, Jerry

Submitted to: National Cotton Council Beltwide Cotton Conference
Publication Type: Proceedings
Publication Acceptance Date: 1/14/2010
Publication Date: 1/15/2010
Citation: Huang, Y., Thomson, S.J., Ortiz, B.V., Reddy, K.N., Ding, W., Zablotowicz, R.M., Bright Jr, J.R. 2010. Determination of Cotton Plant Injury by Aerial Application of Glyphosate Using Remote Sensing and Spray Drift Sampling. Proceedings of 2010 National Cotton Council, Beltwide Cotton Conference, January 4-7, 2010, New Orleans, LA.

Interpretive Summary: Off-target drift of aerially applied pesticide can cause unexpected crop injury. This is of great concern to farmers and aerial applicators. To determine the extent of crop injury due to near-field drift of herbicide, an experiment was conducted through a single aerial application of glyphosate, which is a broad-spectrum systemic herbicide used to kill weeds, over a field planted in alternating blocks of cotton, soybeans, and corn. Spray samplers were placed in the spray swath and in several downwind orientations to quantify relative concentration of applied chemical. An Air Tractor 402B agricultural airplane equipped with fifty-four CP-09 spray nozzles was flown down the center of the field to apply Roundup Weathermax for weed removal and Rubidium Chloride tracer for spray measurement. One, two and three weeks after the experiment aerial Color-Infrared (CIR) imagery was acquired over the crop field using a Global Positioning System (GPS)-triggered Geospatial Systems MS-4100 camera system on the Air Tractor airplane. This study assessed glyphosate spray drift injury to cotton using the CIR imagery and spray drift sampling. The processed image data were compared with data from spray drift samplers placed downwind.

Technical Abstract: Off-target drift of aerially applied glyphosate can cause plant injury, which is of great concern to farmers and aerial applicators. To determine the extent of crop injury due to near-field drift, an experiment was conducted from a single aerial application of glyphosate. For a larger-scoped project involving identification of the drift effect on different crops, a field was planted in alternating blocks of cotton, soybeans, and corn. Spray samplers were placed in the spray swath and in several downwind orientations to quantify relative concentration of applied chemical. An Air Tractor 402B spray airplane equipped with fifty-four CP-09 nozzles was flown down the center of the field to apply 22 oz/acre of Roundup Weathermax and Rubidium Chloride (RbCl) tracer at a 5 gal/acre spray rate. Relative concentrations of this tracer were quantified at downwind spray samplers. At one week intervals aerial Color-Infrared (CIR) imagery was obtained over the crop field using a Global Positioning System (GPS)-triggered Geospatial Systems MS-4100 camera system. This study’s main focus was to assess glyphosate spray drift injury to cotton using the CIR imagery and spray drift sampling. The processed image data were compared with data from spray drift samplers placed downwind. Results will be helpful for determining the extent to which near-field drift sampling and multispectral imaging can be viable tools for determining the extent of damage relative to derived concentrations of glyphosate.