Abstract
Maize (Zea mays L.) lodging is an important factor limiting its yield increase worldwide. EDAH (containing 27% ethephon and 3% DA-6) is commonly used to decrease lodging. There is an urgent need to select efficient application methods of agrochemical for better spray deposition. In our research, an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) (15 L ha−1 and 30 L ha−1) with EDAH dosages of 72 and 90 g a.i. ha−1, and electric knapsack sprayers (EKS) (450 L ha−1) with dosages of 90 g a.i. ha−1 were used to compare the droplet deposition distribution, uniformity and maize growth. According to our research, EDAH applied by UAV had a higher droplet deposition rate than EKS; EKS had a higher droplet coverage rate, deposition density, droplet distribution uniformity. At the same dosage of EDAH, the UAV had a better effect on controlling maize growth than EKS, and almost equal effects were detected when the dosage applied by the UAVs was decreased by 20%. Considering the lodging occurrence and yield, we recommend that the dosage of EDAH applied by UAVs should be 72 g a.i. ha−1 when there is weak lodging and 90 g a.i. ha−1 when there is heavy lodging, with a spray volume of 15 L ha−1.
Highlights
Maize (Zea mays L.) is one of the most widely cultivated crops globally, and the production of maize needs to increase with the increasing global population [1–3]
The objectives of our work were to (1) study whether unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) application has the same maize growth control effect even if the dosage is reduced by 20% with the instantaneous concentration increased by 15–30 times; (2) investigate the droplet deposition applied by UAV and electric knapsack sprayers (EKS) (3) obtain the appropriate EDAH dosage and spray volume applied by UAVs in maize
This paper revealed that the deposition rate of UAV treatments was increased by 3–10%, and the highest droplet deposition rate was recorded in the UAV (30 L) (Figure 4D)
Summary
Maize (Zea mays L.) is one of the most widely cultivated crops globally, and the production of maize needs to increase with the increasing global population [1–3]. Maize lodging is one of the main global challenges that can make maize yield loss by 5–20% [4]. Maize lodging occurs in root and stem [5], both of which cause less photosynthesis and substance transportation to ear in maize plants and are difficult to harvest by agricultural machinery [4,6]. Ethephon is a widely used PGR to control maize lodging at the early stage of jointing. It can significantly shorten plant height, ear height, basal internode length and increase internode crushing strength [12–14]. Some reports showed that ethephon causes yield loss by decreasing the number of grains per ear and the 1000-grain weight when no lodging [12] or slight lodging occurred [14]. EDAH (containing 27% ethephon and 3% DA-6) is used to decrease lodging and promote the development of kernels to increase maize yield in China [21–24]
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