Research in precision spraying investigates the means to reduce the amount of herbicide applied by directing droplets more accurately towards the weeds. The trend in the development of spot spraying equipment is an increase of the spatial resolution and new actuators that are able to target very small areas. However, there is a lack of methods for assigning rates of herbicides relating target to optimal droplet features. A wide range of droplet impact angles occurs during the spray application process because of droplet trajectories and the variability of leaf orientation. In this study, laboratory experiments were conducted to highlight the effect of surface orientation on droplet impact outcomes (adhesion, rebound or splashing) on two very difficult-to-wet surfaces: an artificial surface with a regular roughness pattern and an excised black-grass leaf with an anisotropic roughness pattern. Measurements were performed for different surface orientations with a high-speed camera coupled with backlighting LED. Droplets of two formulations (distilled water and distilled water + a surfactant) were produced with a moving flat-fan hydraulic nozzle to obtain a wide range of droplet sizes and velocities, which were measured by image analysis. Increasing surface angle reduces surface area available for droplet capture. Droplet impact behaviors are then modified since surface tilt induces a tangential velocity component at impact and, consequently, a reduction of the normal component. Impact modifications have also been observed due to the anisotropic roughness pattern of a black-grass leaf.The integration of droplet-surface interaction information offers a significant way to further improve the precision spraying efficiency by considering the optimal droplet size, speed and ejection angle depending on the target surface and architecture.2

Highlights• We investigated retention for drops splashing in the Wenzel wetting regime.• 45-58% of the volume of these drops remained on the leaf after impact.• This contributed from 28 to 46% of the retention on barley, and was a function of formulation and VMD.• The contribution of these drops should be included in process-based retention models. AbstractDrop behaviour during impact affects retention. Increasing adhesion is usually seen as an objective when applying crop protection products, while bouncing and shattering are seen as detrimental to spray retention. However, observation of drop impacts on barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) using high speed shadowgraphy shows that bouncing and fragmentation can occur in Cassie-Baxter as well as in Wenzel wetting regimes. In this last regime, a part of the drop may remain stuck on the surface, contributing to retention. Using simultaneous measurements of drop impacts with high speed imaging and of retention with fluorophotometry for spray mixtures on excised barley leaves using a Teejet 11003 nozzle at 0.2 MPa, it was observed that about 50% of the drops that fragmented in the Wenzel state remain on the horizontal leaf. Depending on the spray mixture, these impact outcomes accounted for 28-46% of retention, the higher contribution being correlated with bigger VMD (Volume Median Diameter). This contribution is not negligible and should be considered when modelling spray retention processes.