Infrared thermoimage analysis as real time technique to evaluate in-field pesticide spraying quality distribution

Abstract

Tests and calibration of sprayers have been considered a very important task for chemicals use reduction in agriculture and for improvement of plant phytosanitary protection. A reliable, affordable and easy-to-use method to observe the distribution in the field is required and the infrared thermoimage analysis can be considered as a potential method based on non-contact imaging technologies. The basic idea is that the application of colder water (10 °C less) than the leaves surface makes it possible to distinguish and measure the targeted areas by means of a infrared thermoimage analysis based on significant and time persistent thermal differences. Trials were carried out on a hedge of Prunus laurocerasus, 2.1 m height with an homogenous canopy. A trailed orchard sprayer was employed with different spraying configurations. A FLIR TM (S40) thermocamera was used to acquire (@ 50 Hz) thermal videos, in a fixed position, at frame rate of 10 images/s, for nearly 3 min. Distribution quality was compared to the temperature differences obtained from the thermal images between pre-treatment and post-treatment (ΔT)., according two analysis: time-trend of ΔT average values for different hedge heights and imaging ΔT distribution and area coverage by segmentation in k means clustering after 30 s of spraying. The chosen spraying configuration presented a quite good distribution for the entire hedge height with the exclusion of the lower (0-1 m from the ground) and the upper part (>1.9 m). Through the image segmentation performed of ΔT image by k-means clustering, it was possible to have a more detailed and visual appreciation of the distribution quality among the entire hedge. The thermoimage analysis revealed interesting potentiality to evaluate quality distribution from orchards sprayers.