Guangxi Tianyuan: Leading development of ULV formulations and multi-dimensional solutions

Editor’s note: According to relevant data, by the end of 2023, plant protection UAVs' capacity reached 200,000 units in China. They served an application area of over 2.1 billion mu (140 million Ha), especially with the continued rise in the application to control of rice and wheat pests and diseases. China has become the country with the largest capacity of agriculture drones in the world and the most extensive application area, leading the global aerial application operations in respect of annual operating area, application volume and technical level. 

With the gradual popularization of aerial application, problems are also emerging daily, such as the lack of particular pesticides for aerial application, lack of a sound administration system, lack of effective industry or national standards, lack of professional operator team, and satisfactory social service system. As a critical factor in aerial application,  the aerial application-oriented particular pesticides remain as one of the problems that need to be solved urgently. 

Prime aerial crop protection players have successively upgraded their existing products, or developed new formulations to better match the needs of aerial application scenarios. In addition to making efforts on product and technology, some companies are committed to the whole industrial chain development for aerial application by providing farmers with an integrated ″product + service″ solution.

In light of the existing problems, key players have made suggestions and called for improvement to the administration system as early as possible, wishing to participate in the establishment of effective industry standards or national standards, as well as establishment of a stable and professional pilot organizations. At the same time, the entire industrial chain is required to collaborate closely so as to enable a high-quality development of the aerial crop protection industry.

Recently, AgroPages invited some key players in this field to discuss and analyze the problems and challenges faced by aerial applications, share solutions, practical experiences and forecast the future. These companies include Noposion, Wynca, Syngenta, Bayer CropScience, Guangxi Tianyuan and Jiangxi Zhengbang. In this article, Li Weiguo, President of Guangxi Tianyuan shared his insights.

Li Weiguo, President of Guangxi Tianyuan

Launch of 17 ULV formulations, 2023 saw applications to 16 million mu (1.1 million Ha) of cropland

Up to now, Guangxi Tianyuan has been a prime enterprise in China granted registration of ultra-low-volume (ULV) formulations for use in field crops, in possession of 17 ULV formulations with all three certificates, accounting for 70% of the total registered field crop-targeted ULV liquid products; the company has filed for 109 patents pertaining to ULV spray products and supportive equipment or technology.

Guangxi Tianyuan has participated in the research program entitled Development and Application of Green Novel Pesticides and Formulations for Control of Major Crop Insect Pests, which won the second prize in the 2019 National Science and Technology Progress Award. The Development and Application of Novel Formulations aim to fill the gap in the product varieties for aerial application, for which Guangxi Tianyuan has developed a ULV formulation and formula system fit for aerial application, and has developed a high-efficiency aerial application-oriented new technology.

Guangxi Tianyuan’s ULV formulations have good tank-mix properties, which prevent evaporation and drift when atomized into small particle droplets. They are safe for crops at low dilution or no dilution and are specialized agents for aerial application, specially designed for aerial application of crop protection products.

Anti-evaporation - Guangxi Tianyuan’s ULV formulation evaporation weight loss of 30% is ≥ 5 minutes; the evaporation rate of conventional formulations under the same condition for 5 minutes is over 2 times that of Guangxi Tianyuan’s ULV formulations.

Anti-drift - 10% drift is reduced. Droplets with particle size below 30 μm is difficult to sediment on the surface of crops even under windless conditions while the 10-fold water-diluted ULV product reduces droplets below 30 μm by above 10% under the same spray equipment versus the conventional formulations.

High tank-mix stability – ULV products can be mixed with each other in random order, without layering, flocculation, crystallization or uneven mixing. Even if stored for 24 hours after mixing, it can be still used as normal.

Guangxi Tianyuan’s ULV product applications have been growing year after year. In 2023, its ULV product application area reached 16 million mu (1.1 million Ha).

Calling for the establishment of industry standards for product in aerial application, developing low-drift formulations

So far, the industry standards for products in aerial application are still missing. It is difficult to refer to the lower standards for conventional formulations, which cannot ensure the higher requirement of the aerial application. At present, dilution testing of most of the traditional pesticide formulations (such as EC, WDG, SC, ME) is at 100-fold and 200-fold, while the current dilution of products for aerial application generally stays at the concentration range of 5-50 fold (as shown in the table below). The formulation system is very different, which causes difficulties in the compatibility of conventional tank-mix formulations. If different formulation systems are condensed to a dilute concentration range of 5-50 fold, various compatibility problems would emerge, such as crystallization, layering, flocculation and sedimentation. The drastic change in the properties of formulations will impact the efficacy and safety (as shown in the figure below), which will undoubtedly bring obstacles and difficulties to aerial application.

The amount of ULV pesticide applied by drones is far less than that of regular spray, while the droplet is finer. Also, because the nozzle distance to the crop canopy is higher than the ground manual/mechanical operation, the drift goes far away, which may easily hurt the surrounding area of the aerial application operation area. Each year, disputes or claims would happen from time to time due to damages to crops, bees, silkworms and fish farms in the surrounding area, resulting from the drift of aerial application. Therefore, the aerial application needs to have several low-drift formulations and operating techniques fit for operations in sensitive operation areas.

Guangxi Tianyuan is currently developing low-drift formulations for aerial application, such as herbicides for paddy fields, molluscicide granules and water surface spreading agents. Innovation is needed to improve the spreading and delivery technology of pesticidal active ingredients in water.

Granules are low-drift formulations fit for aerial application, but the Chinese Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs issued strict restrictive measures on using granule products. The Chinese Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs is hoping to organize technical forces to study and compare the hazards of spray drift with the residues of soil-applied granules, thus providing a relaxed policy for the aerial application of granules while environmental risk is not increased. 

Focusing on industry issues to develop multiple-dimension solutions 

At present, Guangxi Tianyuan is focusing on the study of crops that can be sprayed aerially and establishing a complete set of tank-mix products that remain stable for 24 hours. It will continue improving the target hit rates and retention rates of the full set of products on the crops by aerial application.

In the meantime, the company is actively developing low-drift granules and high-water surface spreadability formulations for aerial application and a digitalization-aided system to support drone operators' dispensing and operation.

The company has been developing low-volume ground pesticide application equipment and technology that complements drones and collaborates with drones to conduct more efficient crop protection operations. This allows pilots to efficiently accomplish crop protection operations under different conditions. 

This interview was published in AgroPages '2024 Formulation&Adjuvant Technology' magazine. Click the following picture to Read/Download. 

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