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Volume 11
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10.3390/horticulturae11091002
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Article

Wind-Induced Bending Characteristics of Crop Leaves and Their Potential Applications in Air-Assisted Spray Optimization

by
Zhouming Gao
1,2,
Jing Ma
1,2,3,
Wei Hu
1,2,
Kaiyuan Wang
1,2,
Kuan Liu
1,2,
Jian Chen
1,2,
Tao Wang
1,2,
Xiaoya Dong
1,2,* and
Baijing Qiu
1,2,*
1
School of Agricultural Engineering, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang 212013, China
2
Key Laboratory of Plant Protection Engineering, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang 212013, China
3
School of Mechanical Engineering, Zhejiang University of Water Resources and Electric Power, Hangzhou 310018, China
*
Authors to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Horticulturae 2025, 11(9), 1002; https://doi.org/10.3390/horticulturae11091002
Submission received: 26 July 2025 / Revised: 11 August 2025 / Accepted: 20 August 2025 / Published: 23 August 2025
(This article belongs to the Special Issue New Technologies Applied in Horticultural Crop Protection)
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Abstract

Crop leaves naturally exhibit a curved morphology and primarily display bending deformation and vibrational responses under wind load. The curved surface structure of leaves plays a critical role in the deposition and retention of pesticide droplets. In this study, wind tunnel experiments combined with high-speed photography and digital image analysis were conducted to systematically investigate the curvature and flexibility distributions of three typical crop leaves: walnut, peach, and pepper, across a range of wind speeds. The results indicate that with increasing wind speed, all three types of leaves gradually transition from smooth, uniform bending to a multi-peak pattern of pronounced local curvature, with increasingly prominent nonlinear deformation characteristics. Moreover, once the wind speed exceeds the critical threshold of 6 m/s, the primary deformation region generally shifts from the leaf base to the tip. For example, the maximum curvature of walnut leaves increased from 0.018 mm−1 to 0.047 mm−1, and that of pepper leaves from 0.031 mm−1 to 0.101 mm−1, both more than double their original values. In addition, all three types of leaves demonstrated a distinct structural gradient characterized by strong basal rigidity and high apical flexibility. The tip flexibility values exceeded 1.5 × 10−5, 4 × 10−4, and 5.6 × 10−4 mm−2·mN−1 for walnut, peach, and pepper leaves, respectively. These findings elucidate the mechanical response mechanisms of non-uniform flexible crop leaves under wind-induced bending and provide a theoretical basis and data support for the optimization of air-assisted spraying parameters.
Keywords: leaf biomechanics; high-speed imaging; air-assisted spraying; pesticide deposition; spray parameter optimization leaf biomechanics; high-speed imaging; air-assisted spraying; pesticide deposition; spray parameter optimization

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MDPI and ACS Style

Gao, Z.; Ma, J.; Hu, W.; Wang, K.; Liu, K.; Chen, J.; Wang, T.; Dong, X.; Qiu, B. Wind-Induced Bending Characteristics of Crop Leaves and Their Potential Applications in Air-Assisted Spray Optimization. Horticulturae 2025, 11, 1002. https://doi.org/10.3390/horticulturae11091002

AMA Style

Gao Z, Ma J, Hu W, Wang K, Liu K, Chen J, Wang T, Dong X, Qiu B. Wind-Induced Bending Characteristics of Crop Leaves and Their Potential Applications in Air-Assisted Spray Optimization. Horticulturae. 2025; 11(9):1002. https://doi.org/10.3390/horticulturae11091002

Chicago/Turabian Style

Gao, Zhouming, Jing Ma, Wei Hu, Kaiyuan Wang, Kuan Liu, Jian Chen, Tao Wang, Xiaoya Dong, and Baijing Qiu. 2025. "Wind-Induced Bending Characteristics of Crop Leaves and Their Potential Applications in Air-Assisted Spray Optimization" Horticulturae 11, no. 9: 1002. https://doi.org/10.3390/horticulturae11091002

APA Style

Gao, Z., Ma, J., Hu, W., Wang, K., Liu, K., Chen, J., Wang, T., Dong, X., & Qiu, B. (2025). Wind-Induced Bending Characteristics of Crop Leaves and Their Potential Applications in Air-Assisted Spray Optimization. Horticulturae, 11(9), 1002. https://doi.org/10.3390/horticulturae11091002

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