New Technical Solutions for Precise and Safe Application of Plant Protection Products

Abstract

The technical development of field crop sprayers have reached a high level. Due to automation and assistance modern sprayers are able to achieve very high application quality combined with low risks for environment and operator as well as high efficacy. But, the requirement to spray plant protection products as homogeneously as possible all over the field runs out of date. Due to possibilities arising from precision farming and digitalization of agriculture the idea of site specific application moves closer to realisation. Therefore two technologies are necessary, direct injection and sensor systems for weed, pest and disease detection. Moreover, the efficacy and safety of plant protection can be still raised by looking on the whole process of plant protection, meaning to integrate planning, preparation and documentation besides the application itself. The article gives an overview about the state of the art of field crop sprayers and their technical development.