RETENTION PHENOMENON FROM SATURATING PLANT-LEAVES WITH AGRICULTURAL LIQUIDS

A simple handheld field tool called an immersion cell was designed and developed to pursue studies of liquid formulation retention effects w ith plant leaves. The immersion protocol is one in which a finite leaf disk area is covered with a volume of a liquid formulation. A decanti ng process removes liquid that is classed as runoff By measuring the r unoff volume and comparing it to the original, the maximum liquid rete ntion is obtained. Field studies were carried out to provide data for quantitative analysis. Four types of plants and three different liquid formulations were subjected to the immersion-retention study. Statist ical analysis revealed a wide variety of retention phenomena. The anal ysis permitted a comparison of retention among the four type plants su bjected to the three formulations, and separately for both sides of th e leaves. Using a standard protocol, tap water was found to have the h ighest retention potential (mu L/cm(2)) among the formulations on plan t species studied. This was true for both the top and bottom of all ty pe plant leaves. Field evidence was established that inducing drought- stress in cotton increased the retention forces that bind an aerial ap plied danitol/orthene insecticide spray formulation to the leaf surfac e. This response was anticipated on the basis of early exploratory stu dies of the retention effects. This research provides a technique/prot ocol for making a basic measurement regarding the retention forces tha t interface a liquid formulation with a plant leaf surface.