Improvement of air blast unit of a sprayer for citrus trees and experimentations

ABSTRACT MASTER of SCIENCE THESIS IMPROVEMENT OF AIR BLAST UNIT OF A SPRAYER FOR CITRUS TREES AND EXPERIMENTATIONS İ. HALİL BAŞMAN DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURAL MACHINERY INSTITUDE OF NATURAL AND APPLIED SCIENCES UNIVERSITY OF ÇUKUROVA Supervisor : Assoc. Prof. Dr. Ali BAYAT Year: 1999, Pages: 41 Jury : Prof. Dr. Fahri DELİGÖNÜL : Assoc. Prof. Dr. Ali BAYAT : Assoc. Prof. M. Tunç ÖZCAN The objective of this study was to improve air blast unit of a sprayer that can be used for mature citrus trees. Sprayer should have 40 - 50 m/s air velocity, 50.000 - 70.000 m3/h air outlet capacity and 20 - 30 1 aplication volume per tree. Coverage rate of different application volumes are also studied during the tests. The improved air blast unit has reached an air velocity of 53.83, air outlet capacity of 71.000 m3/h and 29 1 aplication volume per tree as mentioned in the objective. Application volumes of 29.3 1/tree (4396 1/ha), 17.6 1/tree (2648 1/ha) and 13.2 1/tree (1983 1/ha) are tested during the experiment and it was observed that the greater coverage rate are obtained with the greater application volume. With highest application volumes, although coverage rates were 96 % on the upper surface of leaves and 86 % on lower surface of leaves at the exterior of the tree canopy, 87 % and 62 % coverage rates were obtained at the interior of the tree canopy, respectively. Key Words: Air Blast Sprayer, Air Capacity, Air Velocity, Application Volume, Coverage Rate, Citrus Trees II