Application of Multi-rotor Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Application in Management of Stem Borer (Lepidoptera) in Sugarcane

Abstract

Stem borer (Lepidoptera) is a key pest and causes significant damage in commercial sugarcane production. Unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) is an unpiloted and automatic aircraft that is being used for precision agriculture. The impact of multi-rotor UAV (four-rotor electronic UAV, 3WWDZ-10A) application on controlling the stem borer in sugarcane variety GT46 was explored with aerial spray of 1.5% abamectin (liquid) and 2% lufenuron (microemulsion) at seedling stage of sugarcane crop. The knapsack electric sprayer (KES) without pesticide (NP) treatments were used as the controls. The droplet deposition, spray efficiency and rate of dead larvae for UAV and KES treatments were compared after spraying. The rate of dead larvae counts for UAV spray was found 40.0%, which was higher compared to KES (30.0%) and NP (0.0%) treatments. Besides, the spray efficiency of UAV treatment was recorded 14.37 times more than that of KES treatment, and the pesticide requirement was lowered as much as 90.65% as compared to KES. The droplet coverage and deposition were also recorded lower, accounting for 9.5% and 0.7% of KES, respectively. Our results suggest the high potential use of UAV spray of insecticides for the management of sugarcane borer in commercial crop production in China.