Quality Analysis of Some Spray Parameters When Performing Treatments in Vineyards in Order to Reduce Environment Pollution

Abstract

There is a worldwide trend that supports the rational use of chemicals in agriculture. It has become common knowledge that irresponsible application of pesticides can cause food security issues, by endangering human and animal health while also having negative environmental consequences. The aim of this experiment was to assess the qualitative parameters of spraying treatments in vineyards. To achieve this, a vineyard and orchard sprayer machine was used for the application of treatments under a gradient of pressures (3, 5, 7, 9 bar). Water-sensitive collectors were placed at three heights (0.8 m, 1.5 m, 2.5 m). Following spraying was determined using DepositScan: the volume median diameter characterization of droplets (DV 1, DV 5, DV 9), and coverage degrees of sprayings. Results indicated that best coverage degree and larger droplets tend to be deposited 1.5 m from the ground, which corresponds with the highest proximity to the positioning of the nozzles of the machine during application, and lowest coverage is found at the top, where droplets deposited also tend to be smaller. For the anti-drift nozzle model used in the study, the best coverage was obtained at a pressure of 5 bar. For sustainability of agricultural practices and rational use of pesticides, more research is required for optimization of increased precision spraying that could ensure high coverage at lower doses of chemicals and coarse droplets. In this way the quantity of product sprayed is expected to be reduced, due to minimization of off-target losses and increased efficiency. This can ensure that negative environmental impacts are lowered. Improved treatment application at higher positioning of the canopy remains a challenge and shall receive more attention.