Abstract

Pesticide operators are often exposed to high levels of contaminants, leading to potential adverse health impacts on these agricultural workers. In tropical regions, pesticide applicators are more vulnerable to dermal exposure than their counterparts in temperate regions. Thus, it is highly desirable to develop new spraying methods to minimize the pesticide exposure level without sacrificing the pest control efficiency. Due to their flexibility, high efficiency, and lower labor intensity, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) have attracted considerable attention in precision pest management. However, the pesticide operator exposure assessment during the spraying application with UAVs, especially the comparison with conventional ground sprayers, has not been well investigated. In this work, the control effect against thrips on cowpea and operator exposure determination by aerial and ground spraying in Hainan Province were carried out and compared. When biopesticide spinetoram with the same dosage was applied, the field control efficacy against cowpea thrips sprayed by UAVs was higher than that of knapsack electric sprayers. Moreover, UAV spraying could greatly reduce water consumption and working time. For UAV spraying, when the amounts of water applied per hectare were 22.5, 30, and 37.5 L, the control effects on thrips on the first day were about 69.79%, 80.15%, and 80.58%, respectively. When Allura Red as a pesticide surrogate was applied under similar spraying scenarios with the field control against thrips on cowpea, the average total unit exposure of the knapsack operator (1952.02 mg/kg) was greatly higher than that of the UAV operator (134.51 mg/kg). The present research indicates that plant protection UAV is the direction of development of modern intensive sustainable agriculture.

Highlights

  • Agricultural pesticide handlers are often exposed to high levels of pesticides due to missing or improper personal protective equipment (PPE), leading to potential adverse health impacts on these agricultural workers [3]

  • Due to its distinctive properties, such as solubility in spray mixtures, low toxicity, quick quantification, and a bright color differentiating it from naturally occurring substances, we have reported that water-soluble food dye of Allura Red could be used as a pesticide surrogate for the exposure assessment of operators and spray deposition on target crops [39,40]

  • When spinetoram with the same dosage of active ingredient per hectare was applied, the field control efficacy against cowpea thrips sprayed by unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) was higher than that of the knapsack electric sprayer

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Summary

Introduction

Agricultural pesticide handlers are often exposed to high levels of pesticides due to missing or improper personal protective equipment (PPE), leading to potential adverse health impacts on these agricultural workers [3]. These exposures occur mainly through inhalation and dermal contact with pesticides when mixing, loading, cleaning equipment, applying the spray mixtures, or entering sprayed areas [4]. Multiple factors affect the amount of exposure, such as the application equipment, type of pesticide formulations, crop height and canopy density, application rate and duration, climatic conditions, PPE, and the training and aptitude of the applicators [5]. In tropical regions or countries, pesticide applicators are more vulnerable to dermal exposure than their counterparts in temperate countries [6]

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