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Because of variations in environmental conditions, spray-drift field measurements following ISO 22866:2005 involve complicated and time-consuming experiments often with low repeatability. Therefore, simple, repeatable, and precise alternative drift assessment methods that are complementary to the official standards are required. One of the alternatives is the use of a drift test bench for field crop sprayers. Previous studies have demonstrated that the drift test bench can be considered an adequate complement to existing standard protocols for field drift measurements. In this study, in order to further improve the methodology and to evaluate the possibility of classifying different field-crop-sprayer settings according to drift risk using a test bench, a series of tests were performed in a test hall. A conventional mounted Delvano HD3 crop sprayer (Delvano, Kuurne, Belgium) equipped with an 800-l spray tank and a 15-m-wide stainless steel spray boom was used. Eight different sprayer setups were tested, involving three nozzle types (TeeJet XR 110 04, Agrotop TDXL 110 04 and Micron Micromax 3) and three boom heights (0.30, 0.50, and 0.70 m). For the drift classification, the reference sprayer drift behaviour was defined as that obtained using conventional flat fan TeeJet XR 110 04 nozzles operated at 0.30 MPa and at a boom height of 0.50 m. The different sprayer setups were successfully assigned to different drift reduction classes, and the results underlined the effects of nozzle type and boom height on the potential drift. The feasibility of the test-bench methodology for classifying field-crop-sprayer drift according to ISO 22369-1:2006 was demonstrated.Postprint (published version

A summary is given of research within the field of application technology for crop protection products for the past 10 years in The Netherlands. Results are presented for greenhouse, orchard, nursery tree and arable field spraying for the typical Dutch situation. Research predominantly focussed on the quantification of spray deposition in crop canopy and the emissions into the environment, especially spray drift. The risk of spray drift is related to defined distances and dimensions of the surface water adjacent to a sprayed field. Spray deposition and spray drift research was setup in order to identify and quantify drift-reducing technologies. Results are presented for cross-flow sprayers, tunnel sprayers and air-assisted field sprayers. For field crop spraying with a boom sprayer the effect of nozzle type on spray deposition in crop canopy and spray drift is highlighted both with a modelling approach as based on field experiments. The use of spray drift data in regulation is discussed. A relation between spray deposition and biological efficacy is outlined for drift-reducing spray techniques. The effect of spray drift-reducing technologies in combination with crop-and spray-free buffer zones is outlined. It is concluded that spray technology plays an important role to minimise spray-and crop-free buffer zones, and to maintain biological efficacy and acceptable levels of ecotoxicological risk in the surface water.