What effect does increasing airspeed have on pesticide application if the spray output remains unchanged?

Increasing airspeed during pesticide application, while keeping the spray output unchanged, leads to a decrease in the amount of pesticide active ingredient applied per acre. This phenomenon occurs because as the aircraft moves faster, it travels over a given area in less time, resulting in less time for the spray to effectively cover that area.

When airspeed increases without altering the total volume of pesticide being sprayed, the same quantity of pesticide is dispersed over a larger area in a shorter period. Consequently, as the aircraft covers more ground quickly, the concentration of pesticide per unit area inevitably decreases. This lower application rate can impact the effectiveness of the treatment, as the targeted pests or diseases may not receive a sufficient dose of the pesticide for adequate control.

The other options focus on different aspects of application, like swath width and coverage area, but the direct relationship between speed and application rate is best captured by the decrease in the amount of pesticide applied per acre.