Smart spraying can help cut pesticide use in orchards
Knowledge Center

Smart spraying can help cut pesticide use in orchards

Researchers have developed an automated spraying system based on ultrasonic sensors that promise to reduce pesticide consumption in orchards.Ultrasonic sound signals are sent and received by the sprayer, which may be mounted on a tractor. When the tractor goes through a plant canopy, the sprayer activates, and it becomes silent when it passes through open space as it drives through an orchard.

The most frequent methods employed by orchard producers are manual spraying and continuous spraying. Both of them have serious issues. Manual spraying demands the use of a sprayer, which is hazardous to one’s health. In ongoing operating procedures, the pesticide is sprayed continuously. As a consequence, more than half of the chemicals sprayed are wasted. The sensor-based sprayer, on the other hand, is capable of spraying the pesticide just on plants.

We expect our technology to replace both of these traditional spraying techniques and would assist farmers in protecting their health as well as resources,” BrajeshNare of ICAR-Central Potato Study Institute, Shimla, and a part of the study team stated in an interview with India Science Wire.

Pesticide spraying on plant canopies in orchards is a significant concern because of the evident complex structure of plants and variations in their spacing. When pesticides are applied, a substantial portion of the pesticide misses its intended target – leaves and fruits – and enters the environment via soil or air, degrading the ecosystem.

Orchard sprayers that can skip the area between trees can conserve the environment while saving money for growers.

The concept is simple: when agricultural chemicals are sprayed on orchards throughout the dormant and in-season seasons, the spray should only land on the trees where they are needed, rather than on the ground where they are not.

Target sensors that activate spray nozzles only when a tree is present can be integrated into orchard sprayers.

Crops are vulnerable to pest and disease outbreaks, resulting in up to 20% production losses if not handled. Unfortunately, traditional farming still uses many synthetic pesticides and spraying machinery that isn’t always appropriately calibrated. This use case illustrates how IoT-enabled and highly efficient smart sprayers may considerably minimize the consumption of plant protection chemicals.

Farmers’ expenditures are reduced, and environmental impacts are reduced because of the faithful and automated adaption of sprayers to specific field zones and individual plant conditions. Innovative spraying technology helps to avoid crop damage and production losses by proactively preventing application mistakes. Furthermore, with tailored crop protection and real-time information on treatment quality, operating efficiency is improved. As a consequence, this application aids farmers in producing high-quality crops in an environmentally friendly and safe manner. Let us now describe how this idea emerged from the visionary’s fire.

Helping farmers save money and preserve biodiversity

Citrus, fruit trees, and vine and stonecrops, including cherries, apples, and almonds, benefit from using a trailed air-blast sprayer.

It uses the cloud to link to a field management platform (Specialty Crops Platform, SCP), allowing direct communication between the smartomizer H3O on the field and the farm’s back office. For proper and effective treatment, the SCP offers the best treatment settings based on the crop dimensions.

The technician may quickly configure work orders and send the required parameters straight to the sprayer using the program. This intelligent equipment sends real-time alerts to the tractor operator if any pre-configured treatments are not completed correctly, preventing potential failures. As a result, this proactive strategy significantly decreases drift. When the treatment is finished, all data is sent to the field management portal, allowing additional analysis. Every stage of the spraying process is monitored to provide complete traceability of the amount, time, and place where a specific plant protection product was sprayed. It assists the farmer in complying with food safety regulations and organic labeling requirements and makes mandatory farm paperwork easier. For the customer, this means more information on the product on store shelves.

Additionally, end-user input is included in development cycles to guarantee that current procedures and software solutions on testing sites are integrated. The device also gives real-time alerts for the operators who are currently executing the therapy due to this.

Final Words

Grow horticultural crops like grapes and pomegranates using spraying equipment from Mitra. It hasn’t taken us long to become India’s leading sprayers manufacturer like Tractor Mounted SprayersAir Blast Sprayer, and Orchard Sprayer & Duster. Our Boom Sprayers and Rotavators are of the highest quality, as well. Modern crop protection has made the agricultural sprayer a necessary piece of equipment. Every farmer’s goal is to improve the yield in every field they produce. Purchasing high-quality agricultural sprayers will aid farmers in achieving their farming goals. Tractor sprayer pumps and other farming sprayers are manufactured and provided by Mitra, one of the top manufacturers and suppliers. We aim to provide Tractor Trailed Sprayer, Tractor Blower Sprayer, Tractor Operated Sprayer, Orchard Sprayer, and Vineyard Sprayer at the best pricing in India and internationally.