Machinery for Plant Protection in Cotton Crop

Abstract

Spraying is very tedious and time consuming operation. There is a need of an efficient, precise and high capacity machine for spraying. The pesticide with conventional sprayers is not so effective because non-uniform spray and of lesser width of coverage. Distribution of pesticide is not uniform especially at the underside of the leaves. The pest can be controlled effectively if pesticides are applied properly at the right rate, right time and on the target by right equipment. In field crops like cotton the pest attacks is on the lower side of the leaves during vegetative as well as reproductive stages of the cotton crop. The sprays with conventional sprayer do not enter at the bottom of the plant canopy and at lower side of the leaves. Different type of sprayers are being developed especially for the control of white fly in cotton crop. These sprayers can also be used for crops like sugarcane, potato etc. Air assisted electrostatic sprayer, Auto rotating gun type sprayer, Multipurpose high clearance sprayer and even drones are now a days used for spraying in cotton crop. Multipurpose high clearance sprayer mostly preferred by the farmers has three types of spraying arrangements namely auto rotate gun, boom type and drop up type nozzles can work at all stages of the crop and saves time, labor and cost of operation as well as it reduces drudgery of the operation. Selection of nozzle is also important for these type of sprayers. Automatic controller can be fitted on these sprayers for adjusting the discharge and to reduce missing or overlapping of spray.