Brazil creates 1st rain simulation booth to test adjuvants for spraying crop protection products

By Leonardo Gottems, Reporter for AgroPages

A new testing method was developed in Brazil, which is the first rain simulation booth that enables the assessment of the adhesive effects of adjuvants during the spraying of pesticides. The development is known as the “Spray Adjuvants Program,” which is the outcome of over a decade of joint research between the private sector and the Center for Engineering and Automation (CEA) at the Agronomic Institute (IAC), located in the state of São Paulo.

According to scientific researcher Hamilton Ramos, Program Coordinator, the simulator is already integrated into the program’s laboratory. In practice, the method simulates the spraying and impact of water when fixing the crop protection product on the leaves of a specific crop.

“The simulator’s features enable us to accurately assess the extent to which an agricultural pesticide associated with an ‘adhesive’ adjuvant remains on the target, in other words, how active it is in controlling pests, diseases or weeds, after rainy periods. If an adjuvant does not work as expected, it subjects the producer to losses, despite the investments made in the crop protection,” he told AgroPages.

According to Ramos, the method is a significant contribution of São Paulo's agricultural research to the knowledge of agribusiness. The CEA-IAC is a branch of the Secretariat of Agriculture and Supply of the State of São Paulo, he added.

At the end of 2020, the Spray Adjuvants Program and the “Coopercitrus” cooperative, the largest in the State of São Paulo and one of the most active in the country, signed an agreement to jointly adopt the certification related to the functionality of agricultural adjuvants. Under the agreement, the cooperative will ask its adjuvant suppliers to evaluate their products in the program’s laboratory.

According to Coopercitrus, it will start selling only agricultural adjuvants that receive the “Functionality Seal of Spray Adjuvants.” 

"The cooperation agreement with the Agronomic Institute will contribute to the efforts of Coopercitrus to increase the quality of production of its cooperative members,” explained Celso José da Silva, Agronomist and Consultant, who is responsible for the adjuvant area of the Bebedouro cooperative, also in São Paulo.