Management of Pest Insects and Plant Diseases in Fruit and Nursery Production with Laser-guided Variable-rate Sprayers

Abstract

Laser-guided variable-rate intelligent spray technology is anticipated to reduce pesticide use in production of crops and safeguard the environment. However, the ability of this technology to effectively control insect pests and diseases of crops must be validated before it becomes part of integrated pest management programs. Abilities of three different intelligent sprayers were tested to control pest insects and plant diseases at one fruit farm and two ornamental nurseries in Ohio during three consecutive growing seasons. The same sprayers with disabled intelligent functions were used as conventional constant-rate applications for comparisons. Test crops were apple (Malus pumila), peach (Prunus persica), blueberry (Vaccinium sect. Cyanococcus), black raspberry (Rubus occidentalis), crabapple (Malus sp.), maple (Acer sp.), birch (Betula sp.), and dogwood (Cornus florida). There were five insects and six diseases total involved in the investigations in the fruit farm and two nurseries. The field tests showed the intelligent spray applications reduced pesticide and foliar fertilizer use by ≈30% to 65% on average during the 3-year experiments. At the same time, intelligent spray technology was similar or more effective than conventional spray technology when controlling insects and diseases on a variety of crops. These results demonstrated that intelligent spray technology was environmentally friendly and more effective for control of insect and disease pests in fruit farms and ornamental tree nurseries.

Sensing and Automation Technologies for Ornamental Nursery Crop Production: Current Status and Future Prospects

“…Conventionally, radial air-assisted sprayers are the most used spray equipment for pesticide application in ornamental nurseries [ 59 ]. These sprayers apply pesticides to the entire field regardless of the plant structure, plant growth stage, and absence of plants in rows, thus, resulting in under- or over-spraying [ 60 ] as well as contaminating the environment, wasting pesticides, and increasing production cost [ 61 ]. This problem is more critical for the nursery industry, as there is great diversity in canopy structures and densities found in nursery crops.…”

“…The author reported 56% and 52% chemical savings for two nurseries. Similarly, a few other studies have compared the performance of smart laser-guided sprayers with conventional sprayers and reported promising results for effective disease control in different nursery crops [ 61 , 68 ].…”

A Theory of Planned Behavior-Informed Evaluation of Growers’ Intent to Use Automated Nursery Technologies

“…Numerous studies have shown that pest control was equivalent if not better utilizing the automated technology. For example, Chen et al [44] found equivalent or better control of five insects and six diseases on eight woody crops in Ohio. Fessler et al [45] found equivalent and commercially acceptable levels of powdery mildew control.…”

Evaluation of a Laser-Guided Intelligent Sprayer for Disease and Insect Management on Grapes

“…Axial fan air-blast spray technology has been used since the 1940s in the United States (Fox et al 2008) and is the primary method of applying agrochemicals to fruit crops and nursery plants for disease and insect control in regions east of the Rocky Mountains (Chen et al 2021). However, the application efficiency of air-blast sprayers is very low because sprays are continuously discharged at constant rates, regardless of crop canopy structures and empty spaces in the field.…”