Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Department of Biosystems Engineering, College of Agriculture, Isfahan University of Technology

2 Head of Control Technology Group, Office of Pesticides, Plant Protection Organization

Abstract

There is no unique method for evaluating different sprayer technologies. Existing methods have advantages and limitations that should be considered. The purpose of this study is to introduce a test method to evaluate the ULV sprayers that can be installed on the back of the trucks, which is often are used to fight invading pests, especially desert locusts. The FAO minimum requirements guideline was used to provide a test method to evaluate the performance of the ULV sprayers. Droplet size, transverse distribution and spray height of three sprayer models named ULV 3, ULV 3 Plus and ULV 5 which use atomizers with different technologies, were evaluated and spraying patterns were drawn. Results indicated that the maximum working pressure was 5 Bar and the maximum flow rate was 1.83 liters per minute at the pressure of 0.5 Bar. Numerical and volumetric median diameters were measured using water-sensitive papers and were reported smaller than 30 and 60 microns, respectively. The ULV 3 Plus sprayer which uses electrical and pneumatic power had the best performance by producing droplets with a numerical median diameter of 28 µm and a volumetric median diameter of 51 µm. Due to the limitations of this evaluating method, it is suggested that new technologies such as the use of laser light scattering or high-speed cameras replace the measurement by the water sensitive papers.

Keywords

Anon. (2001). Guidelines on minimum requirement for agricultural pesticide application equipment. Vol. 2. Vehicle-mounted and trailed sprayers, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Rome.
 
Anon. (2006a). Equipment for vector control: specification guidelines. Geneva, Switzerland: World Health Organization.
 
Anon. (2006b). Pesticides and their application. Geneva, Switzerland: World Health Organization.
 
Anon. 2013. World population prospects: The 2010 revision and world urbanization prospects: The 2011 revision. United Nations. Available at: http://esa.un.org.
 
Beyaz, A., Dagtekin, M., Cilingir, I., & Gerdan, D. (2017). Evaluation of droplet size spectra for agricultural pesticide applications using water sensitive paper and image analysis techniques. Fresenius Environmental Bulletin, 27, 7717-7723.
 
Cawood, P. N., Robinson, T. H., & Whittaker, S. (1995). An investigation of alternative application techniques for the control of black-grass. Proceeding of the Brighton Crop Protection Conference - Weeds. Nov. 20-23. Brighton, United Kingdom.
 
Ciba-Geigy Limited. (1985). Water-sensitive paper for monitoring spray distribution. Ciba-Geigy Application Services, Publ. No. AG 8.11/19374 XYe. Basle, Switzerland.
 
Cunha J. P., Reis, E. F., de Assunção, H. H. T., & Landim, T. N. (2019). Evaluation of droplet spectra of the spray tip AD 11002 using different techniques. Engenharia Agrícola, Jaboticabal, 39(4), 476-481.
 
Cunha, M., Carvalho, C., & Marcal, A. R. S. (2012). Assessing the ability of image processing software to analyze spray quality on water-sensitive papers used as artificial targets. Biosystems Engineering, 111(1), 11-23.
 
Fox, R. D., Salyani, M., Cooper, J. A., & Brazee, R. D. (2001). Spot size comparisons on oil/water sensitive paper. Applied Engineering in Agriculture, 17(2), 131-136.
 
Fox, R., Derksen, R., Cooper, J., Krause, C., & Ozkan, H. (2003). Visual and image system measurement of spray deposits using water sensitive paper. Applied Engineering in Agriculture, 19(5), 549-552.
 
Gil, E., Escola, A., Rosell, J.R., Planas, S., & Val, L. (2007). Variable rate application of plant protection products in vineyards using ultrasonic sensors. Crop Protection, 26, 1287-1297.
 
Haman, D. Z., & Zazueta, F. S. (2011). Measuring Pump Capacity for Irrigation System Design. IFAS Extension. University of Florida. Available at: http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu.
 
Hoffmann, W. C., & Hewitt, A. J. (2005). Comparison of three imaging systems for water-sensitive papers. Applied Engineering in Agriculture, 21(6), 961-964.
 
Hoffmann, W. C., Walker, T. W., Fritz B. K., Farooq, M., Smith, V. L., Robinson, C. A., & Lan, Y. (2012). Further evaluation of spray characterization of sprayers typically used in vector control. Journal of the American Mosquito Control Association, 28(2), 93-101.
 
Hoffmann, W. C., Walker, T. W., Fritz, B. K., Gwinn, T., Smith, V. L., Szumlas, D., Quinn, B., Lan, Y., Huang, Y., & Sykes, D. (2008). Spray Characterization of Thermal Fogging Equipment Typically Used in Vector Control. Journal of the American Mosquito Control Association24(4), 550-559.
 
Longo, D., Manetto, G., Papa, R., & Cerruto, E. (2020). Design and construction of a low-cost test bench for testing agricultural spray nozzles. Applied Sciences, 10, 5221.
 
Maghsoudi, H. (2013). Variable treatment garden sprayer with mechatronic target detection system by ultrasonic sensors (Ph. D Thesis), Faculty of Agriculture. Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran. (in Persian)
 
Martini, X., Kincy, N., & Nansen, C. (2012). Quantitative impact assessment of spray coverage and pest behavior on contact pesticide performance. Pest Management Science, 68(11), 1471-1477.
 
Matthews, G. A., Bateman, R., & Miller, P. (2014). Pesticide application methods. Wiley Blackwell.
 
Nuyttens, D., De Schampheleire, M., Baetens, K., Brusselman, E., Dekeyser, D., & Verboven, P. (2011). Drift from field crop sprayers using an integrated approach: Results from a five-year study. Transactions of the ASABE, 54(2), 403-408.
 
Panneton, B. (2002). Image analysis of water-sensitive cards for spray coverage experiments. Applied Engineering in Agriculture, 18(2), 179-182.
 
Renton, M., Busi, R., Neve, P., Thornby, D., & Vila-Aiub, M. (2014). Herbicide resistance modelling: past, present and future. Pest Management Science, 70(9), 1394-1404.
 
Rhodes, M. J. (2008). Introduction to particle technology. New Jersey, USA. John Wiley and Sons Inc.
 
Rostami, M. A., & BehAyeen, M. A. (2021). Guideline to identification, calibration, and adjustment of sprayers. Tehran: Publication of Agricultural Education. (in Persian)
 
Salyani, M., Zhu, H., Sweeb, R. D., & Pai, N. (2013). Assessment of spray distribution with water-sensitive paper. Agricultural Engineering International: CIGR Journal, 15(2), 101-111.
 
Sanchez-Hermosilla, J., & Medina, R. (2004). Adaptive threshold for droplet spot analysis using water-sensitive paper. Applied Engineering in Agriculture, 20, 547-551.
 
Schick, J. R. (1997). An engineer's practical guide to drop size. Spraying Systems Co.
 
Sies, M. F., Madzlan, N. F., Asmuin, N., Sadikin, A., & Zakaria, H. (2017). Determine spray droplets on water sensitive paper (WSP) for low pressure deflector nozzle using image J. IOP Conference Series: Materials Science and Engineering, 243, 012047.
 
Symmons, P. M., Boase, C. J., Clayton, J. S., & Gorta, M. (1989). Controlling desert locust nymphs with bendiocarb applied by a vehicle-mounted spinning disc sprayer. Crop Protection, 8, 324-331.
 
Vulgarakis Minov, S. (2015). Integration of imaging techniques for the quantitative characterization of pesticide sprays (Ph. D. Thesis), Faculty of Bioscience Engineering. Ghent University. Belgium.
 
Wang, L., Yue, X., Liu, Y., Wang, J., & Wang, H. (2019). An intelligent vision based sensing approach for spraying droplets deposition detection. Sensors, 19, 933.
 
Zhu, H., Salyani, M., & Fox, R. D. (2011). A portable scanning system for evaluation of spray deposit distribution. Computers and Electronics in Agriculture, 76, 38-43.