Spray drift into field margins: The effect of width of buffer strip and plant species on the interception of spray drift.

Abstract

The spray-tracer dye, fluorescein, was used to measure the amount of spray drift intercepted by 16 species of commonly occurring arable field margin plant protected by 6m and 2m wide buffer strips compared with plants adjacent to a fully sprayed strip. Whereas the amount of spray drift was significantly reduced on plants protected by the 2m and 6m wide buffer strips, plants did not receive significantly less drift in the 6m than in the 2m wide strips. Spray drift interception differed between plant species and hairy leaved plants received significantly less spray drift than non-hairy leaved plants. Plant leaf area was shown not to influence the amount of spray drift intercepted.