Drop Nozzle from a Remotely Piloted Aerial Application System Reduces Spray Displacement

• DOI: 10.3390/drones9020120
• Publication Date: 2025-02-06T09:47:31Z
• Authors: Ryan P. Gibson; Daniel E. Martin; Zachary S. Howard; Scott A. Nolte; Mohamed A. Latheef
• Keywords: Spray characteristics

Weeds remain one of the major limiting factors affecting agricultural production, causin significant yield loss globally. Spot spraying resistant weeds as an alternative to broadcast applications provides delivery chemicals closer plant canopy. Also, wind speed can cause spray displacement and lead inefficient coverage environmental contamination. To mitigate this issue, study sought evaluate drop nozzles configured direct target. A remotely piloted aerial application system was retrofitted with a 60 cm nozzle comprising straight stream 30° full cone nozzle. tracer solution applied on 13 Kromekote cards placed in grid configuration. The center deposition for each determined using Python (3.11) software. Regardless angle, produced ca. 76% lower than no had narrower relative span compared nozzles. This suggests that smaller, more driftable fractions did not deposit targets due displacement. Additional research investigating in-field weed species under various meteorological conditions is required move technology forward.