Spray Backstop: A Method to Reduce Orchard Spray Drift Potential without Limiting the Spray and Air Delivery

Alireza Pourreza, Ali Moghimi, Franz J. A. Niederholzer, Peter A. Larbi, German Zuniga-Ramirez, Kyle H. Cheung and Farzaneh Khorsandi
Additional contact information
Alireza Pourreza: Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering, University of California, Davis, One Shields Ave, Davis, CA 95616, USA
Ali Moghimi: Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering, University of California, Davis, One Shields Ave, Davis, CA 95616, USA
Franz J. A. Niederholzer: University of California Cooperative Extension, 142 Garden Hwy A, Yuba City, CA 95991, USA
Peter A. Larbi: Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering, University of California, Davis, One Shields Ave, Davis, CA 95616, USA
German Zuniga-Ramirez: Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering, University of California, Davis, One Shields Ave, Davis, CA 95616, USA
Kyle H. Cheung: Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering, University of California, Davis, One Shields Ave, Davis, CA 95616, USA
Farzaneh Khorsandi: Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering, University of California, Davis, One Shields Ave, Davis, CA 95616, USA

Sustainability, 2020, vol. 12, issue 21, 1-11

Abstract: Unmanaged spray drift from orchard pesticide application contributes to environmental contamination and causes significant danger to farmworkers, nearby residential areas, and neighbors’ crops. Most drift control approaches do not guarantee adequate and uniform canopy spray coverage. Our goal was to develop a spray backstop system that could block drifting from the top without any negative impact on spray coverage and on-target deposition. The design included a foldable mast and a shade structure that covered the trees from the top. We used a continuous loop sampling to assess and quantify the effectiveness of spray backstop on drift potential reduction. We also collected leaf samples from different sections of trees to compare on-target deposition and coverage. The results showed that the spray backstop system could significantly ( p -Value < 0.01) reduce drift potential from the top (78% on average). While we did not find any statistical difference in overall canopy deposition with and without the backstop system, we observed some improvement in treetops deposition. This experiment’s output suggests that growers may be able to adjust their air-assist sprayers for a more uniform spray coverage without concern about the off-target movement of spray droplets when they employ the spray backstop system.

Keywords: air-assist; almond; coverage; deposition; drift; fluorometry; pesticide; spray (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/21/8862/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/21/8862/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:12:y:2020:i:21:p:8862-:d:434638

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().