Colloidal science aspects of crop protection with active pigment formulations

石蜡和某些不溶性色素的混合物有助于植物和草对抗真菌疾病，并极大地提高草对低水分条件的耐受性。这一令人惊讶的发现催生了森科尔(前加拿大石油公司)销售的一系列新的植保化学品。麦克马斯特大学的一个团队将与森科尔的研究人员合作，更好地了解当前产品的运作机制，以期提高它们的有效性。这项研究将集中在影响色素颗粒在叶片表面分布的因素以及色素颗粒/叶片接触区的纳米级细节。森科尔将在瓜尔夫温室设施中评估麦克马斯特的新材料，增加我们对颜料和佐剂(非活性配方化学品)特性的作用的了解。

Mixtures of paraffins and certain insoluble pigments help plants and grasses fight fungal diseases and greatly increase grass tolerance to low moisture conditions. This surprising finding has lead to a new family of crop protection chemicals marketed by Suncor (formerly Petro Canada). A team from McMaster University will be working with Suncor researchers to better understand the mechanisms by which the current products function with a view to increasing their effectiveness. This research will focus on the factors influencing the distribution of pigment particles on the leaf surfaces as well as nano-scale details of the pigment particle/leaf contact zone. Suncor will evaluate McMaster's new materials in their Guelph greenhouse facilities, increasing our understanding of the role of pigment and adjuvant (non-active formulation chemicals) properties.