Development of an apparatus that improves the penetration and pesticide drift performance of field sprayers

It is very important to prevent pesticide losses in wheat production and to ensure effective pesticide application. In pesticide application, besides the decrease in application success and unnecessary use of pesticides, it is necessary to consider the negative effects of the environment and living organisms. In this study, an apparatus to be attached to field sprayers was developed in order to improve both pesticide drift and penetration. For this purpose, the design created by using a pipe apparatus attached in front of a boom and a sheet metal curtain attached behind it was compared with the application using a conventional sprayer. Drop samples were collected and evaluated with the help of water sensitive papers used for this purpose. The success of this developed apparatus in wheat cultivation area was demonstrated. In the experiments, the correct application conditions were tried to be determined by looking at the effect of pressure change. In order to prevent drift, a curtain covering the back side of the boom and a pipe apparatus that tilts the product in front of the boom were placed according to the feed direction. In this way, the movement of the drops was restricted both by the feed speed and the wind and the penetration was improved. In addition, it was observed that pesticide drift was eliminated. However, with the effect of this, the amount of drops remaining on the plant increased. This caused excessive accumulation. Considering the effect of pressure change, penetration generally improved as the pressure increased. However, while the drop sizes increased due to overlapping, increases in the upper surfaces were inevitable. In the light of these results, the nozzle size can be reduced during the use of this system. Thus, since smaller drops will be formed, it is expected that the overlapping and accumulation seen on the upper surfaces will be more homogeneous. The application of 4 bar pressure and decreasing the nozzle hole diameter will further increase the success of the study. The experiments have shown that the new system consisting of product tilting and anti-drift curtain elements has been successful in terms of both penetration and drift compared to the classical system.