A Facile Approach to Increasing the Foliage Retention of Pesticides Based on Coating with a Tannic Acid/Fe3+ Complex

The effective utilization of many conventional pesticide formulations is less than 30%, which can increase the environmental impact of these substances. This degree of waste could be reduced by improving the adhesion of pesticides to foliage. In the present work, a complex comprising tannic acid (TA) and Fe3+ ions was used to encapsulate azoxystrobin and avermectin water dispersible granule (WDG) formulations (termed Az-WDG-TA and Av-WDG-TA) to improve adhesion. The treated pesticides exhibited improved photostability as well as sustained continuous release behavior. The retention proportions of the Az-WDG-TA and Av-WDG-TA on cucumber and lettuce foliage were improved by more than 50%. The ability of solutions of these materials to wet foliage was also enhanced after coating, such that the toxicity of Av-WDG-TA to aphids and the antifungal activity of Az-WDG-TA to Fusarium oxysporum were increased by nearly 50%. Given the low cost of TA and Fe3+ compounds and the simple synthesis process, this method represents a promising means of producing foliage-adhesive pesticide formulations with increased retention and bioavailability.