Methods To Measure Herbicide Volatility

Abstract

Herbicides are powerful chemical agents that exert strong biological activity on plants. The release of new formulations of dicamba and 2,4-D and their use in transgenic agronomic crops will probably result in many more applications during the time of year when sensitive nontarget vegetation will be present. The use of herbicides is regulated by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and there are usually no negative effects on nontarget species. One negative aspect of herbicide use occurs when the application moves away from the target area and causes unwanted plant injury on susceptible species. Interest in herbicide drift is increasing, as evidenced by the number of refereed articles that investigate the mitigation or potential for herbicide drift (Figure 1). Although the topic of herbicide drift is broad, in this manuscript I will focus on an overview of off-site movement from a historical perspective and then discuss specific research protocols to examine vapor drift.