Improved quality of fungicide deposition and coverage of potato leaves using flat fan air-injector nozzle IDK

Abstract

The aim of our experiment was to improve fungicide spray deposition and coverage of potato leaves by using air-injector nozzle types. We used two standard nozzle types a flat fan nozzle ST and a hollow cone nozzle TR, as well as a couple of air-injector nozzle types an air-injector compact nozzle IDK and a symmetric double flat fan air-injector nozzle TWIN (with a 30 ° forward and a 30 ° backward spray jet angle). Water-sensitive paper was placed on the upper, middle and lower part of the plant in order to determine the quality of fungicide deposition and the ability of droplets to penetrate lower parts of the plant. When using the air-injector compact nozzle IDK, potato leaves were covered well at all three levels of the plant. The use of the above-mentioned nozzle resulted in the lowest reduction in coverage value and droplet impression area from the top towards the lowest part of the plant. Furthermore, the nozzle created large enough droplets with sufficient mass and speed to penetrate the dense canopy all the way to the lowest part of the plant. When using the symmetric double flat fan air-injector nozzle TWIN, the angle of both spray jets was excessively wide in order for the droplets to reach the lower part of the plant despite a very large droplet impression area. The use of both standard nozzle types resulted in a poor spray mixture coverage of the middle and lower part of the plant. This predominantly occurred due to insufficient droplet size and the subsequent lack of kinetic energy. Results show that the use of a newer air-injector compact nozzle IDK improves the deposition and coverage of potato leaves with spray mixture.