Technical-economic evaluation of drone sprayer with conventional sprayers in controlling cotton bollworm pest

Taghinazhad, Jabraeil; Mahdavi, Vahia

doi:10.22092/amsr.2025.369437.1517

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

¹ Associate Professor, Department of Agricultural Engineering Research, Ardabil Agricultural and Natural Resources Research and Education Center, AREEO, Ardabil, Iran

² Assistant Professor, Department of Agricultural Photo medicine Research, Ardabil Agricultural and Natural Resources Research and Education Center, AREEO, Ardabil, Iran

10.22092/amsr.2025.369437.1517

Abstract

In this study, it was done to investigate the efficiency to improve the quality of spraying on the control of cotton pests in Moghan. This project was conducted in a completely random block experimental design with four replications. The treatments tested were spraying with UAV sprayer, boom and turboliner sprayer. The measured parameters included the effective capacity, amount of spraying of poison solution per hectare, numerical and volumetric median diameter of poison, spraying quality, drift, and effectiveness of sprayers. The results showed that the lowest spraying quality index for the turboliner sprayer was 1.88, and for the boom sprayer and the drone sprayer were 2.26 and 2.60, respectively. The boom sprayer was the best method for controlling the thrips pests in the early stages of cotton growth due to its easy access, suitability of field and plant conditions, and favorable relative spraying quality. However, in the final stages of plant growth, depending on the availability of sprayers and field conditions (irrigation and field area), and due to the high height of the crop and traffic problems in the field, the use of the drone sprayer and the turbo liner was more suitable. The highest field capacity with 4.75 ha.hr-1 related to the drone and the lowest drift with %10.01 were related to boom. The results of the economic analysis showed that the marginal efficiency rate of replacing the use of drone with other treatments in inappropriate field conditions and plant height is more than 76.98%. Therefore, drone sprayer is recommended.

Keywords

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Technical-economic evaluation of drone sprayer with conventional sprayers in controlling cotton bollworm pest

References

References

Lebeau, F., L. E., Bahir., M. F., Destain., M., Kinnaert., & R. Hanus. (2004). Improvement of spray deposit homogeneity using a PWM spray controller to compensate horizontal boom speed variations. Computers and Electronics in Agriculture, 43, 149-161. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compag.2004.01.001.

Volume 25, Issue 90 - Serial Number 90June 2024Pages 43-60

Volume 25, Issue 90 - Serial Number 90
June 2024
Pages 43-60