title: A decision-support tool to predict spray deposition of insecticides in commercial potato fields and its implications for their performance.
abstract: Approximately US $1.3 billion is spent each year on insecticide applications in major row crops. Despite this significant economic importance, there are currently no widely established decision-support tools available to assess suitability of spray application conditions or of the predicted quality or performance of a given commercial insecticide applications. We conducted a field study, involving 14 commercial spray applications with either fixed wing airplane (N=8) or ground rig (N=6), and we used environmental variables as regression fits to obtained spray deposition (coverage in percentage). We showed that (1) ground rig applications provided higher spray deposition than aerial applications, (2) spray deposition was lowest in the bottom portion of the canopy, (3) increase in plant height reduced spray deposition, (4) wind speed increased spray deposition, and (5) higher ambient temperatures and dew point increased spray deposition. Potato psyllid, Bactericera cockerelli (Sulc) (Hemiptera: Triozidae), mortality increased asymptotically to approximately 60% in response to abamectin spray depositions exceeding around 20%, whereas mortality of psyllid adults reached an asymptotic response approximately 40% when lambda-cyhalothrin/thiamethoxam spray deposition exceeded 30%. A spray deposition support tool was developed (http://pilcc.tamu.edu/) that may be used to make decisions regarding (1) when is the best time of day to conduct spray applications and (2) selecting which insecticide to spray based on expected spray deposition. The main conclusion from this analysis is that optimization of insecticide spray deposition should be considered a fundamental pillar of successful integrated pest management programs to increase efficiency of sprays (and therefore reduce production costs) and to reduce risk of resistance development in target pest populations.
authors: Department of Entomology, Texas AgriLife Research, 1102 E FM 1294, Lubbock, TX 79403, USA. cnansen@ag.tamu.edu
authors: Christian
authors: C
authors: Nansen
authors: Kathy
authors: K
authors: Vaughn
authors: Yingen
authors: Y
authors: Xue
authors: Charlie
authors: C
authors: Rush
authors: Fekede
authors: F
authors: Workneh
authors: John
authors: J
authors: Goolsby
authors: Noel
authors: N
authors: Troxclair
authors: Juan
authors: J
authors: Anciso
authors: Ashley
authors: A
authors: Gregory
authors: Daniel
authors: D
authors: Holman
authors: Abby
authors: A
authors: Hammond
authors: Erik
authors: E
authors: Mirkov
authors: Pratyusha
authors: P
authors: Tantravahi
authors: Xavier
authors: X
authors: Martini
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D003661:Decision Support Techniques; D006430:Hemiptera; D007306:Insecticides / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D011198:Solanum tuberosum / Q000469:parasitology
chemical_list: D007306:Insecticides