Adjuvants are any product added to a spray solution to enhance or modify its performance. Surfactants are specialized additives, formulated to improve the emulsifying, spreading, sticking and absorbing properties of liquids. Herbicide, weed species and environmental conditions affect surfactant performance. Herbicides provide growers and land managers with a way to chemically manage weeds. They generally inhibit some biochemical process, work with one or several Crops, and affect one or several weed species.
Plants put up many barriers to the retention, entry and transport of herbicides.
Adjuvants are commonly used to improve herbicide performance. Spray solution adjuvants are available for a variety of purposes. Surfactants are a specialized additive formulated to improve the performance of herbicides in spray solution. They are, by far, the most commonly used adjuvant for postemergence herbicides. How Surfactants Work Figure 1 illustrates how herbicide spray solution droplets containing surfactant provide greater leaf surface coverage and a greater potential for herbicide absorption into the plant.