Assessment of spray drift potential reduction for hollow-cone nozzles: Part 2. LiDAR technique

Eduard Gregorio; Xavier Torrent; Santiago Planas; Joan R Rosell-Polo

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.06.151

Assessment of spray drift potential reduction for hollow-cone nozzles: Part 2. LiDAR technique

Sci Total Environ. 2019 Oct 15:687:967-977. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.06.151. Epub 2019 Jun 11.

Authors

Eduard Gregorio¹, Xavier Torrent², Santiago Planas³, Joan R Rosell-Polo²

Affiliations

¹ Research Group in AgroICT & Precision Agriculture, Department of Agricultural and Forest Engineering, Universitat de Lleida (UdL)-Agrotecnio Center, Edifici CREA, c/ Pere de Cabrera s/n, 25001 Lleida, Spain. Electronic address: egregorio@eagrof.udl.cat.
² Research Group in AgroICT & Precision Agriculture, Department of Agricultural and Forest Engineering, Universitat de Lleida (UdL)-Agrotecnio Center, Edifici CREA, c/ Pere de Cabrera s/n, 25001 Lleida, Spain.
³ Research Group in AgroICT & Precision Agriculture, Department of Agricultural and Forest Engineering, Universitat de Lleida (UdL)-Agrotecnio Center, Edifici CREA, c/ Pere de Cabrera s/n, 25001 Lleida, Spain; Plant Health Services, Generalitat de Catalunya, Avda. Rovira Roure, 191, 25198 Lleida, Spain.

PMID: 31412500
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.06.151

Abstract

Pesticide spray drift poses health hazards to humans and causes a significant impact on the environment. In this work the capacity of an ad hoc light detection and ranging (LiDAR) system to differentiate spray nozzles according to their potential drift risk is evaluated for the first time. A total of 23 drift potential tests using 10 hollow-cone nozzles were carried out with the sprayer kept in a static position. Drift potential reduction (DPR) values of between 88.6% and 93.6% were obtained when comparing standard and drift reduction nozzle types. It was also possible to order different standard nozzle sizes according to their DPR. The LiDAR signal was correlated with several droplet size parameters measured by a phase Doppler particle analyzer (PDPA), being V₁₀₀ the best indicator. In the four field tests that were performed, the LiDAR system was also able to differentiate between standard and drift reduction nozzles under real application conditions, obtaining a DPR of 56.7%. The results of this work demonstrate that the developed LiDAR system is an advantageous alternative for the assessment of drift potential reduction.

Keywords: Drift reduction; Droplet size; Light detection and ranging; Pesticide drift; Pesticide spraying.