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Agronomy
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Advances in Precision Pesticide Spraying Technology and Equipment
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Advances in Precision Pesticide Spraying Technology and Equipment

A special issue of Agronomy (ISSN 2073-4395). This special issue belongs to the section "Precision and Digital Agriculture".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 September 2025 | Viewed by 1340

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Longlong Li

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Research Center for Intelligent Equipment, Beijing Academy of Agriculture and Forestry Sciences, Beijing 100097, China
Interests: precision pesticide spraying; spray drift control; variable-rate spraying system; aerial spraying quality evaluation; bystander exposure in pesticide spraying
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Chenhui Zhang

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Applied Chemistry, College of Science, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100193, China
Interests: pesticide science and interface chemistry; regulation mechanism of pesticide efficient delivery; advanced functional materials in pesticide formulation and adjuvant; interaction effect of "pesticide-crop-environment" under the coordination of auxiliaries

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Pest control is an important management approach for achieving high crop yields and ensuring the quality of agricultural products. The application of plant protection products (PPPs) is the primary method for crop pest and disease control today. In the foreseeable future, pesticide spraying will remain indispensable, especially in the context of the growing demand for food. Precision pesticide spraying aims to maximize pest control efficacy while utilizing minimal pesticide dosage, not only achieving pesticide reduction but also contributing to environmental protection. Emerging technologies such as variable-rate sprays, contour-adaptive sprays, controlled atomization techniques, and novel anti-drift adjuvants are transforming traditional pesticide spraying methods. These innovations are revolutionizing agricultural production practices by enhancing pesticide spraying efficiency, minimizing off-target losses, and optimizing the deposition efficacy of pesticide formulations.

This Special Issue focuses on in-depth research and addresses advances in precision pesticide spraying technology and equipment, including crop canopy remote sensing, novel spraying systems, new sprayer development and testing, spray deposition and drift patterns, bystander exposure from pesticide spraying, spray adjuvant development, and microscale droplet deposit behavior. Included research will cover a broad range of precision pesticide spraying technologies, including ground sprays, air-assisted sprays, aerial sprays, etc. All types of articles, such as original research, opinions, and reviews, are welcome.

Dr. Longlong Li
Dr. Chenhui Zhang
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Agronomy is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • precision agriculture
  • pesticide spraying
  • remote sensing
  • UAV
  • spray deposition
  • spray drift
  • variable-rate spraying
  • spray robot
  • deposits behavior
  • spray adjuvant

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Further information on MDPI's Special Issue policies can be found here.

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

18 pages, 7370 KiB  
Article
The Effect of Pesticide Solutions on the Deposition of Bubble-Containing Droplets
by Mingzhi Yan, Feng Jia, Chen Gong and Can Kang
Agronomy 2025, 15(5), 1172; https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy15051172 - 12 May 2025
Viewed by 196
Abstract
The deposition of spray droplets is a critical topic in plant protection. The air-induction nozzle is believed to mitigate spray drift by producing bubble-containing droplets. However, research on the deposition of bubble-containing droplets is limited. In this study, the deposition process of bubble-containing [...] Read more.
The deposition of spray droplets is a critical topic in plant protection. The air-induction nozzle is believed to mitigate spray drift by producing bubble-containing droplets. However, research on the deposition of bubble-containing droplets is limited. In this study, the deposition process of bubble-containing droplets was investigated using high-speed photomicrography. Three typical pesticide solutions, oil-based emulsions, suspensions, and aqueous solutions were used to produce bubble-containing droplets. Both hydrophilic and hydrophobic surfaces were used as deposition targets. The results indicate that the deposition of bubble-containing droplets can generate a central jet resembling the Worthington jet. All three solutions reduced liquid surface tension, thereby increasing the maximum spreading diameter of bubble-containing droplets. On hydrophilic surfaces, a functional curve describing the maximum spreading factor was fitted based on the dimensionless Weber number (We), expressed as fmax=0.04We0.508+3.21. On hydrophobic leaves, the dynamic evolution and retention effects of bubble-containing droplets were analyzed. Suspensions and aqueous solutions exhibited droplet rebound, while oil-based emulsions transitioned from rebound (0–0.2% concentration) to adhesion (0.4–0.8% concentration), with 0.4% identified as the critical concentration for this rebound-to-adhesion transition. Morphological variations during deposition, including rebound, splashing, and fragmentation, were also observed across different solution concentrations. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Precision Pesticide Spraying Technology and Equipment)
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24 pages, 15025 KiB  
Article
Drift Suppression by Adjusting Flight Parameters for Manned Helicopters in Forested Regions
by Shuping Fang, Liping Chen, Yu Ru, Ningning Wang, Xiaojun Jin, Yangyang Liu and Lingyuan Sun
Agronomy 2025, 15(5), 1129; https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy15051129 - 4 May 2025
Viewed by 246
Abstract
Under complex climatic conditions, variable application parameters and a two-dimensional application route, it is difficult to ensure the accurate deposition of pesticide droplets during helicopter aerial applications. This is especially true when the deposition area is forested. The Agricultural Dispersal (AGDISP) model was [...] Read more.
Under complex climatic conditions, variable application parameters and a two-dimensional application route, it is difficult to ensure the accurate deposition of pesticide droplets during helicopter aerial applications. This is especially true when the deposition area is forested. The Agricultural Dispersal (AGDISP) model was used with an optimization procedure to study the influence of flight height, flight speed, and ambient wind speed. Optimization techniques were used to obtain the best fit between the simulation results. Three objectives were used to propose a new application strategy, namely (i) the average deposition in the forest area; (ii) the uniformity of droplet deposition; and (iii) the deposition at a distance of 50 m downwind outside the forest area. A new application strategy was proposed, where the forest area was divided into two subareas, namely the safe area (the area away from forest boundaries) and the edge area (the area close to forest boundaries). Flight height and speed were adjusted to ensure the desired average deposition and uniformity in the safety area and the desired deposition at 50 m downwind in the edge area. Six helicopter spraying experiments at different wind speeds were conducted at Longtan, Nanjing, China. The deposition effects of the new strategy were compared with those of the common manual empirical method (operating at the same height and speed over the whole forest). It was found that at wind speeds of 2 m/s, 1 m/s, and 2.5 m/s, the average deposition in the safe area was improved by 4.82%, 0.91%, and 8.24%, respectively, and that in the edge area, it was improved by 7.04%, 0.90%, and 0.77%, respectively. Conversely, the deposition at 50 m downwind was reduced by 25.00%, 16.58% and 22.90%, respectively. These experimental results demonstrated that the new strategy can effectively reduce the droplet drift. We achieved the synergistic optimization goal of moderate (and uniform) deposition in the forest area with low deposition outside the forest area. This study can provide important technical references for precision forestry. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Precision Pesticide Spraying Technology and Equipment)
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16 pages, 10141 KiB  
Article
The Effect of Pesticide Formulation on the Characteristics of Air-Induction Sprays
by Mingzhi Yan, Fujun Chen, Chen Gong and Can Kang
Agronomy 2025, 15(4), 979; https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy15040979 - 18 Apr 2025
Viewed by 264
Abstract
Air-induction sprays are widely used for drift control; however, their disintegration mechanism is not yet fully understood. After exiting the nozzle, the liquid typically first forms a liquid sheet, which then breaks up into droplets. Therefore, a deep understanding of the liquid sheet [...] Read more.
Air-induction sprays are widely used for drift control; however, their disintegration mechanism is not yet fully understood. After exiting the nozzle, the liquid typically first forms a liquid sheet, which then breaks up into droplets. Therefore, a deep understanding of the liquid sheet of air-induction sprays is essential for elucidating its disintegration mechanism. In this study, high-speed photography and image processing methods were employed to capture and measure the structure of the liquid sheet of air-induction sprays under different pesticide formulations. The effects of different pesticide formulations on the liquid sheet’s spreading angle, breakup length, and the behavior of bubbles within the liquid sheet were analyzed. The results indicate that compared to pure water, pesticide solutions significantly alter the liquid sheet’s spreading angle, length, and bubble size. Under oil-based emulsion conditions, the sheet length and bubble size decrease with increasing concentration, while the spreading angle is less affected. The oil phase in emulsions exhibits defoaming properties, reducing the number of large bubbles. Additionally, oil droplets contribute to the formation of perforations in the liquid sheet, leading to earlier breakup and shortening the sheet length. For suspensions, the variation in liquid sheet behavior is similar to that observed in oil-based emulsions, but its effect on bubble size is less pronounced. In aqueous solutions, bubble size decreases with increasing concentration, but the number of bubbles significantly increases. Moreover, the liquid sheet length and spreading angle increase markedly with concentration. Unlike oil-based emulsions and suspensions, which contain hydrophobic dispersed phases, aqueous solutions do not exhibit significant defoaming properties. Our work can provide a theoretical reference for the applications of air-induction sprays. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Precision Pesticide Spraying Technology and Equipment)
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20 pages, 19733 KiB  
Article
Experimental Research on the Atomization Characteristics of Air-Induction Spray Based on Oil-Based Emulsion
by Mingzhi Yan, Fujun Chen, Chen Gong and Can Kang
Agronomy 2025, 15(4), 936; https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy15040936 - 11 Apr 2025
Viewed by 207
Abstract
Spray drift is one of the major factors that causes pesticide loss and environmental pollution. Air-induction spray is an important anti-drift technology; however, the atomization characteristics of air-induction spray, particularly when the spray liquid is an oil-based emulsion, are not yet fully understood. [...] Read more.
Spray drift is one of the major factors that causes pesticide loss and environmental pollution. Air-induction spray is an important anti-drift technology; however, the atomization characteristics of air-induction spray, particularly when the spray liquid is an oil-based emulsion, are not yet fully understood. In this paper, high-speed photography, PIV (particle image velocimetry) and image processing techniques are used to study the atomization characteristics of the air-induction spray under the oil-based emulsion condition. The structure of liquid sheet, the spatial distributions of the spray droplets size and the velocity are captured and measured. Additionally, the effects of spray pressure and nozzle configuration on atomization characteristics are discussed. The results indicate that, compared to water, air-induction spray under oil-based emulsion conditions exhibits a larger spray angle, a smaller droplet size, a narrower droplet size distribution and a higher droplet velocity. It is indicated that the oil-based emulsion reduces the size of bubbles within the liquid sheet, thereby decreasing the size of bubble-containing droplets. Furthermore, the oil-based emulsion alters the breakup mode of the liquid sheet, leading to an increase in droplet velocity and a narrower droplet size distribution. Both spray pressure and nozzle configuration have significant effect on the atomization characteristics. When the spray pressure changes from 0.1 MPa to 0.3 MPa and 0.5 MPa, the droplet size decreases by 10.56% and 15.67%, respectively, while the droplet velocity increases by 46.12% and 91.06%, respectively. When the nozzle changes from ID120-01 to ID120-03 and ID120-05, the droplet size increases by 20.64% and 33.99%, respectively, while the droplet velocity increases by 3.71% and 14.15%, respectively. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Precision Pesticide Spraying Technology and Equipment)
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