Drift and deposition of ultra-low altitude and low volume application in paddy field

Abstract: Field trials were performed to evaluate various techniques for measuring spray deposition and aerial drift during spray application to paddy field. The application of a spraying agent containing the fluorescent dye Rhodamine-B was applied by an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) which flew at a height of 5 m, a speed of 3 m/s, and the wind speed of 3 m/s. The results showed that because the downdraft produced by a helicopter rotor increased the penetrability of crops, there is a higher deposition on the upper layer and the under layer than the traditional spraying. The average deposition on the upper layer accounts for 28% of the total spraying ,the deposition on the under layer accounts for 26% of the total spraying. The deposition on the under layer takes up 92.8% of the deposition on the upper layer. Droplets drift data showed that the drift of non-target area took up 12.9% of the total liquid spray. The 90% drifting droplets were located within a range of 8 m of the target area; the drift quantity was almost zero at a distance of 50 m away from the treated area. Keywords: paddy field, ultra-low altitude, low volume, UAV, droplet drift, deposition DOI: 10.3965/j.ijabe.20140704.003 Citation: Xue X Y, Tu Kang, Qin W C, Lan Y B, Zhang H H. Drift and deposition of ultra-low altitude and low volume application in paddy field. Int J Agric & Biol Eng, 2014; 7(4): 23－28.