Once the methodology has been worked out, other pests will be tested to assess the generality of the results. Assessment of deposit structure will be done using SEM for examining the within-deposit structure. This will provide some measure for assessing the biological effect of deposit topology. Factors like evenness of coverage, wet versus dry, and film versus particle are all important factors influencing the dose transfer process which require further elucidation for understanding and predicting optimal presentation characteristics. The deposit structure on a leaf surface will be examined using a mixture design model.
Preliminary results suggest that the interactions are very complex.
The main effects of AI concentration and the effect of droplet size are both greater than the effect of droplet number. However, the interaction terms between these factors have a greater impact on the biological effect than any factor by itself. This intermediate phase will help bridge the gap between results from the laboratory to the field. Finally, a computer simulation model will be used to examine the theoretical reasons for the lab and field results. The ultimate goal is to improve efficacy of existing biological insecticides by understanding placement and formulation criteria for optimal dose transfer.