Field sprayer for inter and intra-row weed control: performance and labor savings

J Carballido,A Rodríguez-Lizana,M Pérez-Ruiz,J Agüera

doi:10.5424/sjar/2013113-3812

J Carballido, A Rodríguez-Lizana + Show 2 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.5424/sjar/2013113-3812

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Abstract

Studies of new tools and methods for weed control have been motivated by increased consumer demand for organic produce, consumer and regulatory demands for a reduction in environmentally harmful herbicide use, and the decreased availability of farm workers willing to perform manual tasks, such as hand weeding. This study describes the performance of a new sprayer system for commercial production that integrates two herbicide applications in a single pass, selective herbicide (SH) application in narrow bands over the crop row, and a non-selective herbicide (NSH) application between crop rows. A real-time kinematic (RTK) global positioning system (GPS) was used for auto-guidance in seeding and spraying operations. Conventional broadcast SHs and experimental treatments were applied at a constant nominal speed of 5.5 km h-1 for comparison. Trials in commercial sugar beet fields demonstrated the following: (i) average hand-weeding time can be reduced by 53% (ii) the new sprayer system reduced SH use by 76%, and (iii) sugar beet density did not change significantly during treatment. These results demonstrate the feasibility of using the new RTK-GPS controller sprayer system for differential and efficient herbicide application in inter- and intra-row zones in row crop production.

Highlights

Competition from weeds in row crops can cause significant losses in crop yields and impair crop quality, resulting in unnecessary economic loss for the farmer
Herbicides applied by field sprayers have been used most frequently because of their ability to control a broad spectrum of weed species, their proven efficacy, and their low cost compared to manual labor, such as hand hoeing
All measurements of lateral hood movements, i.e., the ground distances between the mark left by an antidrift hood and the crop rows, were located within the intra-row bandwidth, which for this study was defined as ±70 mm from the row center line

Summary

Introduction

Competition from weeds in row crops can cause significant losses in crop yields and impair crop quality, resulting in unnecessary economic loss for the farmer. Herbicides applied by field sprayers have been used most frequently because of their ability to control a broad spectrum of weed species, their proven efficacy, and their low cost compared to manual labor, such as hand hoeing. The current objective of precise herbicide application is to make operating input more efficient by minimizing overlap and skip incidents and eliminating application on non-crop areas. As this objective is achieved, fewer herbicides can be used compared to conventional application, resulting in lower cost and risk for the environment (Schroers et al, 2010)

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