Comprehensive assessment of intelligent unmanned vehicle techniques in pesticide application: A case study in pear orchard

Abstract

The intelligent pesticide application techniques in orchards have grown rapidly worldwide due to the decrease in agricultural populations and the increase in labor costs. However, whether and how intelligent pesticide application techniques are better than conventional pesticide application remains unclear. Here, we evaluated the performance of the unmanned aircraft vehicle (UAV) and unmanned ground vehicle (UGV) on pesticide application, ecological environment protection, and human’s health protection compared to conventional manual methods. We quantified characteristics from the aspects of working effectiveness, efficiency, environmental pollution, water saving and carbon dioxide reduction. The results showed that the UAV application has the advantages of a higher working efficiency and less environmental pollution and natural resource consumption compared to the UGV and conventional manual methods despite of its worse spray performance The UGV application techniques could improve spray performance at the cost of high environmental pollution. The conventional spray gun technique was unfriendly to environmental and resource protection although it showed a better spray performance. Thus, the balance of improving spray performance and controlling environmental pollution is the key to improve the performance of UAV and UGV technology in the future. The study could be useful in the development of intelligent pesticide application techniques and provide scientific support for the transition of intelligent management in orchards.

Evaluating the use of unmanned aerial vehicles for spray applications in mountain Nanguo pear orchards

“…However, this process is not always smooth and unobstructed. Jiang et al 18 conducted studies on the penetration of droplets at different levels (upper, middle, lower) of pear trees during UAV spraying. Wang et al 24 analyzed droplet penetration in apple trees in both hilly and plain orchards using UAV.…”

“…However, this process is not always smooth and unobstructed. Jiang et al 18 . conducted studies on the penetration of droplets at different levels (upper, middle, lower) of pear trees during UAV spraying.…”

“…Introducing UAV technology for pesticide application may serve as an alternative solution. 7 Researchers have currently studied the application of UAVs for pest control in tree crops, including olive, 8 peach, 9 apple, 10 citrus, 8,11 vineyards, 12 areca, 13 almonds, 14 cherry, 15 guavas, 16 sugarcane, 17 pear, 18 and more. These studies mainly concentrated on variables such as flight height, velocity, spray patterns, nozzle types, application rates, and adjuvants to better understand the deposition quality and effectiveness of pest and disease control under different treatments.…”

Determination of the effective swath of a plant protection UAV adapted to mist nozzles in mountain Nangguo pear orchards

“…As a new type of plant protection, plant protection unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are also known as Unmanned Arial Systems (UAS), plant protection UAV aerial application has the advantages of high spraying efficiency, good atomization, and suitability for a variety of terrains (Xavier et al, 2019;Jiang et al, 2022;Sinha et al, 2022), and has been widely used in recent years. However, due to various factors, such as operating parameters and airflow, the aerial application of pesticides by plant protection UAVs has risks, such as low pesticide utilization and droplet drift, resulting in serious pesticide residues or loss, polluting the environment and endangering public safety, so there is a high demand for accuracy in the application process (Chen et al, 2020;Itmec et al, 2022).…”

Research Status, Methods and Prospects of Air-Assisted Spray Technology

“…In this context, plant protection operations are facing the dual pressure of food security and environmental protection. Therefore, it is an extremely urgent mission to conduct research on improving the level of accurate pesticide application technology, the quality of pesticide application and the effective utilization of pesticides [4,5], advance the strategy of pesticide reduction and efficiency enhancement, and achieve the sustainable development of green agriculture.…”