Analysis of pesticide use efficiency of a UAV sprayer at different growth stages of rice

Abstract

Abstract: Pesticide use efficiency is an important index to evaluate the spraying quality of a sprayer. However, the existing sampling methods and calculation results for pesticide use efficiency of crop plants still exist problems such as complex operation and poor repeatability. In this study, the experiment of pesticide use efficiency of a CE-20 UAV sprayer at different flight speeds (3m/s,4m/s,5m/s) and nozzle types (F110-015, F110-025) was conducted and analyzed by using polyester card and rice plant sampling method, combined with the plant weight per unit area at different growth stages (tillering stage, jointing stage, booting stage) of rice. The results showed that there was no significant difference between the method of polyester card and the method of plant, which indicated that the method based on plant weight per unit area was reliable. The best operation parameters of the CE-20 UAV sprayer were with4m/s in flight speed and F110-025 nozzle, and the best plant pesticide use efficiencies are 47.1%, 56.1% and 52.6%, respectively for each growth stage, which are better than those of the 3W-30 engine-driven knapsack sprayer that has a plant pesticide use efficiency of 41.8%, 38.6% and 37.9%, respectively for each growth stage. This study lays a basis for the determination of the best sampling method for pesticide use efficiency, and provides a reference for the optimization of operation parameters of UAV sprayer at different growth periods of rice. Keywords: rice, growth period, UAV sprayer, pesticide use efficiency DOI:  10.33440/j.ijpaa.20200301.64  Citation: Zhou Q Q, Xue X Y, Qin W C, Chen C, Cai C.  Analysis of pesticide use efficiency of a UAV sprayer at different growth stages of rice.  Int J Precis Agric Aviat, 2020; 3(1): 38–42.