Evaluation of the deposition and distribution of spray droplets in citrus orchards by plant protection drones

作者：Yu Yan, Yubin Lan, Guobin Wang, Mujahid Hussain, Huizheng Wang, Xiaoqing Yu, Changfeng Shan, Baoju Wang, Cancan Song · 发表于：Frontiers in Plant Science · 年份：2023 · DOI：10.3389/fpls.2023.1303669 · 被引用次数：40 · 研究领域：Plant Surface Properties and Treatments、Forest Insect Ecology and Management、Tree Root and Stability Studies

Plant protection drone spraying technology is widely used to prevent and control crop diseases and pests due to its advantages of being unaffected by crop growth patterns and terrain restrictions, high operational efficiency, and low labor requirements. The operational parameters of plant protection drones significantly impact the distribution of spray droplets, thereby affecting pesticide utilization. In this study, a field experiment was conducted to determine the working modes of two representative plant protection drones and an electric backpack sprayer as a control to explore the characteristics of droplet deposition with different spray volumes in the citrus canopy. The results showed that the spraying volume significantly affected the number of droplets and the spray coverage. The number of droplets and the spray coverage area on the leaf surface were significantly increased by increasing the spray volume from 60 L/ha to 120 L/ha in plant protection drones. Particularly for the DJI T30, the mid-lower canopy showed a spray coverage increase of 52.5%. The droplet density demonstrated the most significant variations in the lower inner canopy, ranging from 18.7 droplets/cm 2 to 41.7 droplets/cm 2 by XAG V40. From the deposition distribution on fruit trees, the plant protection drones exhibit good penetration ability, as the droplets can achieve a relatively even distribution in different canopy layers of citrus trees. The droplet distribution uniformity inside the canopy i...