Thebiological activity of apesticide, be it chemical or biological in nature, is determined by itsactive ingredient (AI - also called theactive substance).Pesticide products very rarely consist of the pureactive ingredient. The AI is usually formulated with other materials (adjuvents and co-formulants) and this is the product as sold, but it may be further diluted in use. Formulations improve the properties of a chemical for handling, storage, application and may substantially influence effectiveness and safety.[1][2]
Formulation types are categorised into two-letter international formulation codes: (e.g. GR: granules), which must be used when registering a new pesticide product.[3]Croplife maintains this list, which in the 7th update (2017) contains 65 formulation codes and 29 codes which are no longer used.[4]
By far the most frequently used products are formulations for mixing with water then applying as sprays.Water miscible, older formulations include:
Newer, non-powdery formulations with reduced or no use of hazardous solvents include:
Other common formulations include granules (GR) and dusts (DP), although for improved safety the latter have been replaced by microgranules (MGe.g. forrice farmers inJapan). Specialist formulations are available forultra-low volume spraying, fogging, fumigation,etc. Very occasionally, some pesticides (e.g.malathion) may be sold as technical material (TC - which is mostly AI, but also contains small quantities of, usually non-active, by-products of the manufacturing process; TGAC - "technical grade active constituent" means the same.).
A particularly efficient form of pesticide dose transfer isseed treatment and specific formulations have been developed for this purpose. A number of pesticidebait formulations are available forrodent pest control,etc.
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