Chemical control of wheat sunn pest, Eurygaster integriceps Put. by the UAV sprayer

Abstract

Abstract The sunn pest is one of the most important pests of wheat crops in Iran and the Middle East. Chemical control by spraying is the most common method of controlling this pest. In general, ground sprayers that are currently used are not equipped with advanced spraying technologies and have low efficiency. This study aimed to investigate the efficacy of using an Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) sprayer for the chemical control of wheat sunn pest. The effectiveness, field capacity, and costs of chemical insecticide application were compared by the drone sprayer and the knapsack Micronair sprayer. We found that the chemical control effectiveness of the two spraying methods was not significantly different. Both drone sprayer and knapsack Micronair sprayer had an effectiveness percentage of more than 95%. The drone sprayer was better than the knapsack Micronair in terms of field capacity, insecticide dosage ml ha− 1, spray volume L ha− 1, reduced drift, and the probability of user contamination. The field capacity of the drone sprayer and the knapsack Micronair sprayer was 5.5 and 0.8 hectares per hour, respectively, and the spray volume was 14.6 and 30.0 L ha− 1, respectively.