Journal of Food, Agriculture and Environment




Vol 9, Issue 1,2011
Online ISSN: 1459-0263
Print ISSN: 1459-0255


Effects of prototype air deflector and spray unit on pesticide canopy distribution uniformity and drift in vineyards


Author(s):

Huseyin Guler *, Erkan Urkan, Oncul Caner, Mujdat Tozan

Recieved Date: 2010-09-18, Accepted Date: 2011-01-06

Abstract:

A prototype air deflector and spraying unit hanged on conventional air-assisted orchard sprayer was used to make applications to the outside row of a trellis vineyard. Fluorescent tracer dye was applied by using hollow cone nozzles with 1.2 mm diameter orifice. Experiments were conducted at three levels of spraying pressure, which were 6, 12 and 18 bar, and three levels of air flow rates, which were 24,830, 30,473 and 36,117 m3 h-1. During the experiments, canopy distribution uniformity, coverage, downwind sedimentation and airborne drift were measured from 16 locations by using water- sensitive papers and filter papers. Treatment with air deflector and spraying unit at 6 bar pressure and 30,473 m3 h-1 air flow rate produced the most uniform canopy distribution (CV = 6.24%). Although treatment with 18 bar provided the highest average deposit on the canopy samples, the difference between these two treatments was not significant. Generally, increasing of pressure and air flow rate increased the coverage on the canopy, but the differences among all treatments were found not significant statistically. One of the lowest sedimentation on ground was measured at the treatment with 6 bar pressure and 30,473 m3 h-1 air flow rate. The conventional air-assisted sprayer produced worse deposits, coverage and canopy distribution uniformity than the unit. Additionally, the conventional air-assisted sprayer produced higher ground sedimentation and airborne drift than the treatment with air deflector and spraying unit at 6 bar pressure and 30,473 m3 h-1 air flow rate conditions. Therefore, instead of conventional air-assisted sprayer, use of air deflector and spraying unit is suggested to achieve better application results.

Keywords:

Air-assisted sprayer, drift, coverage, deposition percentage, vineyards


Journal: Journal of Food, Agriculture and Environment
Year: 2011
Volume: 9
Issue: 1
Category: Agriculture
Pages: 215-218


Full text for Subscribers
Information:

Note to users

The requested document is freely available only to subscribers/registered users with an online subscription to the Journal of Food, Agriculture & Environment. If you have set up a personal subscription to this title please enter your user name and password. All abstracts are available for free.

Article purchasing

If you like to purchase this specific document such as article, review or this journal issue, contact us. Specify the title of the article or review, issue, number, volume and date of the publication. Software and compilation, Science & Technology, all rights reserved. Your use of this website details or service is governed by terms of use. Authors are invited to check from time to time news or information.


Purchase this Article:   20 Purchase PDF Order Reprints for 15

Share this article :