Title
Effect of emitter type and mounting configuration on spray coverage for solid set canopy delivery system
Abstract
Significantly greater spray coverage on upper-side of leaves than on under-side of leaves when using SSCD system.Emitters with 80¿ spray cone angle provided greater coverage and penetration compared to other emitters.Configuration-4 provided uniform canopy coverage but in upper third 0.8m high canopy region.Uniform canopy coverage could be achieved by installing additional emitters in configuration-4. Timely and precise application of chemicals is critically important for improved pest control and reduced off-target movement of chemicals. A fixed or solid set canopy delivery (SSCD) system with emitters within a tree canopy has potential to reduce chemical loss and cost by applying right amount of spray at right time and location under favorable ambient conditions. The study was conducted to quantify spray coverage using various emitters mounted at different configurations within tree canopy using a SSCD system. Six different emitter (E) types with varying characteristics were selected for a field study. Each emitter was installed in four different mounting configurations. Water sensitive cards (WSCs) were mounted on upper- and under-side of leaves at 22-25 locations on each tree. After spray application, the WSCs were scanned and analyzed for percent coverage. The configuration with 80¿ hollow cone emitters (E6) attached to a Y-connector and mounted at height of 2.0m from the ground exhibited greater mean coverage on the WSCs placed on upper-side (58%) and under-side (21%) of leaves as compared to other emitter and configurations. It was found that coverage with this arrangement was nearly equal in upper (57.5%) and under-side (51.3%) of leaves in the high canopy region, which was the area where emitters were spraying directly. Therefore, configuration using E6 on Y-connector provided the desired uniform canopy coverage, however emitters at more locations would have to be installed to achieve similar coverage in the medium and low canopy regions.
Year
DOI
Venue
2015
10.1016/j.compag.2014.07.012
Computers and Electronics in Agriculture
Keywords
Field
DocType
Solid set delivery,Spray emitter,Orchard,Chemical delivery,Precision application
Tree canopy,Computer vision,Ligand cone angle,Upper third,Common emitter,Remote sensing,Botany,Artificial intelligence,Delivery system,Engineering,Canopy
Journal
Volume
Issue
ISSN
112
C
0168-1699
Citations 
PageRank 
References 
1
0.39
0
Authors
6
Name
Order
Citations
PageRank
Ajay Sharda153.54
Manoj Karkee2509.02
Qin Zhang3225.66
Igor Ewlanow410.39
Ute Adameit510.39
Jay Brunner610.39