Quality Analysis of Some Spray Parameters When Performing Treatments in Vineyards in Order to Reduce Environment Pollution

Abstract

There is a worldwide trend that supports the rational use of chemicals in agriculture. It has become common knowledge that irresponsible application of pesticides can cause food security issues, by endangering human and animal health while also having negative environmental consequences. The aim of this experiment was to assess the qualitative parameters of spraying treatments in vineyards. To achieve this, a vineyard and orchard sprayer machine was used for the application of treatments under a gradient of pressures (3, 5, 7, 9 bar). Water-sensitive collectors were placed at three heights (0.8 m, 1.5 m, 2.5 m). Following spraying was determined using DepositScan: the volume median diameter characterization of droplets (DV 1, DV 5, DV 9), and coverage degrees of sprayings. Results indicated that best coverage degree and larger droplets tend to be deposited 1.5 m from the ground, which corresponds with the highest proximity to the positioning of the nozzles of the machine during application, and lowest coverage is found at the top, where droplets deposited also tend to be smaller. For the anti-drift nozzle model used in the study, the best coverage was obtained at a pressure of 5 bar. For sustainability of agricultural practices and rational use of pesticides, more research is required for optimization of increased precision spraying that could ensure high coverage at lower doses of chemicals and coarse droplets. In this way the quantity of product sprayed is expected to be reduced, due to minimization of off-target losses and increased efficiency. This can ensure that negative environmental impacts are lowered. Improved treatment application at higher positioning of the canopy remains a challenge and shall receive more attention.

Anti-Drift Technology Progress of Plant Protection Applied to Orchards: A Review

“…Researchers worldwide have researched various types of air-assisted sprayers to solve the problems of insufficient droplet penetration and large drift by using air-assisted spraying technology [33,34]. tower-type air-assisted sprayers [35], multi-conduit air-assisted sprayers [36], multi-fan air-assisted sprayers [37], and centrifugal plus agro-cannon sprayers [38].…”

The Influence of Working Speed on the Quality Parameters for Spraying in Vineyards

“…From economic and environmental standpoints this can be considered the most viable approach. For this purpose, air injection nozzles can be used, capable of reducing drift (Zande, et al, 2008;Nuyttens, et al, 2006), and thus implicitly pollution, while keeping the degree of coverage similar to the classic nozzles, hydraulic, disc-core nozzles (Derksen, et al, 2000;Ranta, et al, 2021).…”

Characterization of irrigator emitter to be used as solid set canopy delivery system: which is best for which role in the vineyard?

“…In this way, spray pressure is held constant and droplet size spectrum remains unchanged throughout the spraying process 3‐5 . The other path reduces spray drift in one of three ways: using air inclusion nozzles in hydraulic atomization, 6 employing adjuvants to increase droplet size, 7,8 and correctly aligning active nozzles, air flow and spray direction 9,10 . Air‐assisted sprayers have undergone many upgrades, yet still fall short for spraying the steep‐sloped, niche vineyards that predominate in Europe 11–13 .…”

“… 3 , 4 , 5 The other path reduces spray drift in one of three ways: using air inclusion nozzles in hydraulic atomization, 6 employing adjuvants to increase droplet size, 7 , 8 and correctly aligning active nozzles, air flow and spray direction. 9 , 10 Air‐assisted sprayers have undergone many upgrades, yet still fall short for spraying the steep‐sloped, niche vineyards that predominate in Europe. 11 , 12 , 13 Replacing the knapsack sprayers commonly adopted in these areas is needed to limit farm labour costs 14 , 15 and operator risk.…”