New Technologies Applied in Horticultural Crop Protection

A special issue of Horticulturae (ISSN 2311-7524). This special issue belongs to the section "Protected Culture".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 September 2025 | Viewed by 1113

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
College of Science, China Agriculture University, Beijing, China
Interests: plant protection; precision agriculture; sensor
Shandong Academy of Agricultural Machinery Sciences (SAAMS), Shandong Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Jinan 250100, China
Interests: intelligent crop protection machinery; pesticide application technology; plant protection drone downwash airflow; CFD
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Guest Editor
Key Laboratory of Modern Agricultural Equipment and Technology, Ministry of Education, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang, China
Interests: R&D of orchard moving robots; R&D of orchard intelligent spray machinery; research on intelligent perception and obstacle avoidance technology of agricultural machinery; research on intelligent control technology of agricultural machinery

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Guest Editor
Institute of Plant Protection, Beijing Academy of Agriculture and Forestry Sciences, Beijing, China
Interests: plant protection; agriculture aerial applications; atomization

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Crop protection is a critical aspect of horticultural crop production and thus new technologies, equipment and methods, including drones, robots and other precision applications, are being developed. These provide various means of applying pesticides and other chemicals, potentially enhancing the efficiency and reducing the dosage of chemicals. The aim of this Special Issue, entitled "New Technologies Applied in Horticultural Crop Protection", is to present an overview of the new technologies recently developed by researchers in crop protection practice. We welcome the submission of innovative articles that address crop protection in any fruit and vegetable, as well as those that present reliable experiments. This is not limited to the application of pesticides, herbicides and fungicides, but includes all types of plant protection products (PPPs). In addition, the scope of this Special Issue is not limited to unmanned aerial spraying systems (UASSs) and the use of remote sensing and computer vision (CV) in crop protection. However, the development of new machines and pure mathematical methods are beyond the scope of this Special Issue.

Dr. Zhichong Wang
Dr. Peng Qi
Dr. Xianping Guan
Dr. Zhan Huang
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • plant protection
  • applied agriculutre
  • precision agriculture
  • UASS

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

21 pages, 5528 KiB  
Article
Experimental and Simulation Study on the Ditching and Backfilling Characteristics of a 3DGZ-50A Self-Propelled Orchard Ditching Machine
by Mengmeng Niu, Huawei Yang, Qingyi Zhang, Peng Qi, Shaowei Wang, Huimin Fang and Hongbo Wen
Horticulturae 2025, 11(2), 171; https://doi.org/10.3390/horticulturae11020171 - 5 Feb 2025
Viewed by 554
Abstract
The characteristics of soil ditching and backfilling are crucial for orchard ditching operations. However, experimentally investigating the dynamic ditching and backfilling process is currently not feasible. To address this issue, the 3DGZ-50A self-propelled orchard ditching machine (SPODM) was designed using a modular concept, [...] Read more.
The characteristics of soil ditching and backfilling are crucial for orchard ditching operations. However, experimentally investigating the dynamic ditching and backfilling process is currently not feasible. To address this issue, the 3DGZ-50A self-propelled orchard ditching machine (SPODM) was designed using a modular concept, incorporating three types of ditching cutter discs (01#, 02#, and 03#). These discs were designed, trial-manufactured, and tested in orchard ditching experiments. A corresponding simulation model was also constructed using EDEM 2022 software. This study evaluated the ditching and backfilling process, analyzing the performance of the three cutter discs through experimental and simulation methods. Results indicated that the 01# and 02# cutter discs created V-shaped furrows, whereas the 03# cutter disc formed an arc-shaped furrow. The relative errors in the final furrow depth (Df) and width (Wf) between experimental and simulated results were 30.70% and 8.61%, respectively, while those in the maximum furrow depth (Dm) and width (Wm) were 9.44% and 3.00%. These minor relative errors confirmed the accuracy of the simulation model. Regarding maximum power consumption, the 01# cutter disc used 86.3% of the power consumed by the 02# cutter disc and 85.1% of that used by the 03# cutter disc. During the ditching process, the blades penetrated the soil to create the maximum furrow cross-section, which then gradually decreased due to backfilling. Both simulation and test results demonstrated that the 01# cutter disc performed best, achieving a maximum furrow cross-sectional area (46.70%), minimum final surface furrow cross-sectional area (6.04%), and lower power consumption (31.03 kW). This study provides equipment for ditching operations in low-height close-planting orchards in northern China. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue New Technologies Applied in Horticultural Crop Protection)
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