Evaluation of UAV spraying performance in fertilizing saffron compared to conventional liquid fertilization spraying methods

Saeidirad, Mohammad Hossein; Zarifneshat, Saeed; Forouhar, Majid

doi:10.22092/amsr.2024.366525.1493

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

¹ Agricultural engineering department, Khorasan Razavi Agricultural and natural resources research and education center, AREEO, Mashhad, Itan

² Department of Soil and Water Institute, Khorasan Razavi Agricultural and Natural Resources Research and Education Center, AREEO, Mashhad, Iran.

https://doi.org/10.22092/amsr.2024.366525.1493

Abstract

In this research, the performance of the drone sprayer and conventional sprayers was evaluated for saffron liquid fertilization. This project was conducted in a completely randomized experimental design with three replications. The treatments used included: drone, atomizer, lance sprayer and without fertilizing (control treatment). The studied parameters included: effective spraying width, spraying time of one-hectare, effective field capacity and efficiency, numerical median diameter (NMD) and volumetric median diameter (VMD) of dissolved particles, drift and efficiency. The results of analysis of variance showed a significant difference between the experimental treatments at the 1% level. Drone sprayer, atomizer and lance sprayer had 19.3, 199.3 and 212.2 liters of fertilizer solution consumption per hectare, 17.5%, 25.4% and 24.7% rate of drift and 5.9, 0.46 and 0.74 hectar per hour field capacity respectively. Also, in the drone sprayer, the VMD was 473 microns, the NMD was 235 microns, and the spraying quality coefficient was 1. 1, which had better spray uniformity than the lance and atomizer device. The evaluation of the effectiveness of all sprayers showed that their effects on agricultural characteristics of the field were significant and the use of lance sprayers and atomizers resulted in higher performance of the saffron field than spraying with a drone sprayer. The yields of 2.4 and 2.3 kg of dry saffron per hectare belong to fertilization spraying with lance and atomizer type, respectively, and also the lowest yield, 2.1 kg/ha, belongs to drone sprayer. In general, liquid fertilization spraying increased the yield of saffron by 20% compared to the control treatment (without spraying).

Keywords

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Evaluation of UAV spraying performance in fertilizing saffron compared to conventional liquid fertilization spraying methods

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Volume 24, Issue 88 - Serial Number 88November 2023Pages 1-16

Volume 24, Issue 88 - Serial Number 88
November 2023
Pages 1-16