Abstract
In Italy high-quality vines are sometimes grown in small fields with slope steeper than 5–10%, where an air-blast sprayer is impractical so spray-gun application of pesticides is used, a technique that is very costly and labour intensive, and that causes high pesticide exposure of the operators. A possible alternative is the use of a fixed spraying system, and the first researches are in progress in Italy.
A fixed spraying system prototype was built in a vineyard at Laimburg Research Centre with an upper line with micro-sprinkler and a lower line with cooler-type nozzles, and a trial was performed with the aim of measuring the deposition pattern of droplets on the row and between rows with water sensitive papers, also in comparison with a precise low-drift air-blast sprayer.
Results show that with the fixed spraying system the treated crop row accounts for 38–44% of total deposition, that about 85–88% of sprayed solution falls on the sprayed row and on the closest right and left adjacent inter-rows, and that at 4 m from the spraying line the spray drift was <0.1%.
This highlights that a fixed spraying system has the potential to apply plant protection products without generating drift problems, with a field performance similar to a low-drift sprayer, becoming an opportunity for vineyards on very steep slopes.
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•In steeply sloping vineyards pesticides can be applied with a fixed spraying system.•An upper micro-sprinkler line with low drift potential can protect bunches.•A lower cooler nozzle line can provide a fine coverage of grapes.•Overall drift potential is similar to a that of a modern low-drift air-blast sprayer.•In sloping vineyards a fixed spraying system is a possible alternative to spray-gun.