Real-time particle monitoring of pesticide drift from an axial fan airblast orchard sprayer. 2019

Magali N Blanco, and Richard A Fenske, and Edward J Kasner, and Michael G Yost, and Edmund Seto, and Elena Austin
Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA. magali@uw.edu.

In Washington State, a majority of reported pesticide-related illnesses and application-related complaints involve drift. We employed real-time particle monitors (Dylos) during a series of experimental spray events investigating drift. Sections of an orchard block were randomly sprayed by an axial fan airblast sprayer, while monitors sampled particulate matter above and below the canopy at various downwind locations. We found elevated particle mass concentrations (PMC) at all distances (16-74 m). The 75th percentile PMC while spraying was significantly greater than the control periods by 107 (95% CI 94-121) μg/m3, after adjusting for sampler height and wind speed. The 75th percentile PMC below the canopy was significantly greater than above the canopy by 9.4 (95% CI 5.2-12) μg/m3, after adjusting for spraying and wind speed. In a restricted analysis of the spray events, the 75th percentile PMC significantly decreased by 2.6 (95% CI -3.2 to -1.7) μg/m3 for every additional meter away from the edge of the spray quadrant, after adjusting for canopy height and wind speed. Our results were consistent with a larger study that performed passive sampling during the same spray events, suggesting that real-time monitoring can be used as a screening tool for pesticide drift. Compared with traditional methods of drift sampling, real-time monitoring is overall an easily employed, affordable sampling technique, and it can provide minute-by-minute measurements that can be coupled with meteorological measurements to better understand how changes in wind speed and direction affect drift.

UI MeSH Term Description Entries
D010575 Pesticides Chemicals used to destroy pests of any sort. The concept includes fungicides (FUNGICIDES, INDUSTRIAL); INSECTICIDES; RODENTICIDES; etc. Pesticide
D004784 Environmental Monitoring The monitoring of the level of toxins, chemical pollutants, microbial contaminants, or other harmful substances in the environment (soil, air, and water), workplace, or in the bodies of people and animals present in that environment. Monitoring, Environmental,Environmental Surveillance,Surveillance, Environmental
D000383 Agriculture The science, art or practice of cultivating soil, producing crops, and raising livestock. Agronomy,Agricultural Development,Farming,Agronomies,Development, Agricultural
D014861 Washington State bounded by on the north by Canada, on the east by Idaho, on the south by Oregon, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean.
D014919 Wind The motion of air relative to the earth's surface. Winds
D052638 Particulate Matter Particles of any solid substance, generally under 30 microns in size, often noted as PM30. There is special concern with PM1 which can get down to PULMONARY ALVEOLI and induce MACROPHAGE ACTIVATION and PHAGOCYTOSIS leading to FOREIGN BODY REACTION and LUNG DISEASES. Ultrafine Fiber,Ultrafine Fibers,Ultrafine Particle,Ultrafine Particles,Ultrafine Particulate Matter,Air Pollutants, Particulate,Airborne Particulate Matter,Ambient Particulate Matter,Fiber, Ultrafine,Particle, Ultrafine,Particles, Ultrafine,Particulate Air Pollutants,Particulate Matter, Airborne,Particulate Matter, Ambient,Particulate Matter, Ultrafine
D055904 Meteorology The science of studying the characteristics of the atmosphere such as its temperature, density, winds, clouds, precipitation, and other atmospheric phenomena and aiming to account for the weather in terms of external influences and the basic laws of physics. (From McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific and Technical Terms, 6th ed) Biometeorology,Climatology

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