Tank mix adjuvants

Spraying pesticides onto crops can be inefficient when there are challenges with the chemical nature of the mixture, difficulty with the technical spray process or unfavorable climatic conditions. Fortunately, the performance of the tank mix can be optimized by adding adjuvants.

These tank mix adjuvants are able to ease the application and to increase the effectiveness of the spray process as well as the bioefficacy of the active ingredients. Therefore, from both an economic and environmental point of view, using such adjuvants is beneficial.

What is an adjuvant and how does it work?

Tank mix adjuvants are usually blends of additives, which are selected for specific functions. Adjuvants are normally classified as either utility adjuvants or activator adjuvants. Utility adjuvants are able to modify the physical properties of the spray mix while activator adjuvants increase the biological activity of the pesticide. In practice, however, these functions are often connected to each other and cannot always be distinguished clearly.

UTILITY ADJUVANTS:

– pH buffer, water hardness regulator

– Stabilization/compatibility

– Foam control

– Drift control

– Retention

– Rainfastness

ACTIVATOR ADJUVANTS:

Optimizing the bioavailability of active ingredients in order for them to unfold their full biological potential, is one of the strongest pursuits within agrochemistry. On the one hand, it saves the crop by securing the effectiveness of the plant protection agents. On the other hand, it reduces the amount of plant protection agents and helps to minimize the exposure of xenobiotics to the environment. Tank mix adjuvants that support the bioavailability in any way (e.g. wetting agents, penetration enhancers, humectant, etc.) are called activators.