Surfactants can improve the surface activity of the spray liquid, facilitate the wetting, adhesion and penetration of the foliar fertilizer on the leaf surface of the crop, and increase the nutrient absorption rate of the crop leaves. There are certain differences in the absorption-assisting effect of different surfactants. If used improperly, it is easy to cause adverse reactions such as foliar damage and reduced nutrient utilization. Choosing a suitable surfactant has a significant effect on improving the nutrient utilization of foliar fertilizer; Surfactants show synergistic effects, which can significantly improve the absorption-assisting effect of surfactants, and have been widely used in foliar fertilization; as people pay attention to environmental issues, the application of pollution-free surfactants Gradually got attention.

     The ultimate point of action of herbicides, plant growth regulators and nutrients is in plant tissues, and silicone surfactants can enhance the ability of the leaves to absorb pesticides, which is of great significance for improving the efficacy of pesticides and reducing their dosage.

       In 1992, Buick et al. studied the effect of organosilicon surfactants on the foliar absorption of triclopyridine. The experiment uses abscisic acid to treat plants (to close the stomata of the plant epidermis) and compares plants not pretreated with abscisic acid.

       It was found that the stomata are one of the main ways for the medicament to enter the plant body. The organic silicon surface agent can make the surface tension of the liquid medicine lower than the critical value of plant leaf surface wetting (about 25 mN/m), so it can promote the liquid medicine to penetrate into the epidermis through the leaf stomata. Permeation requires ultra-stretch properties, so it is limited to the permeation observed with trisiloxane. In order to obtain a suitable pore permeability, the concentration of silicone surfactants in pesticide formulations must exceed the threshold concentration of 2 g/L, while pesticide formulations tend to suppress silicon.

       For example, when silicone is used, the permeability of glyphosate preparations is lower than that of pure active ingredients. This is because when the spray volume is less than a certain amount, there may be a sufficient amount of silicone surfactant to overcome the inhibitory effect caused by the pesticide formulation and provide the required penetration effect. Therefore, the formulation should be fully optimized, not just the silicone surfactant itself. Many crops have no stomata on the leaf surface, so the leaf tissue must penetrate the epidermis. The interaction between active ingredients, plants and additives tends to be highly specific, and silicone surfactants can promote the penetration of these active ingredients into plants.

       The synergistic effect of organosilicon on abamectin is mainly reflected in its ability to make the medicinal liquid enter the human microscopic pest hiding place; secondly, it depends on being absorbed by the leaf surface and entering the human epidermis to extend the residual effect period. The residual period of abamectin after using agricultural silicone is longer than the residual period of using mineral oil additives. Agricultural silicones are not only superior in performance and low in dosage, but also can be directly added as a tank-mixing adjuvant in the formulation, which has commercial feasibility.