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Project partners: Österreichische Vereinigung für Agrarwissenschaftliche Forschung (ÖVAF), Wien, Austria.
Function of the Project Partner: Partner

Funded by: Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, Environment and Water Management , Stubenring 1, A-1012 Wien, Austria

Abstract: Applying pesticides or fungicides at the correct rate is essential to obtain satisfactory disease control without damaging the fruit or the environment. Obtaining the proper rate requires accurate application technique with the target to transport the plant protection material without loss and with optimal distribution to the leaves.
This ideal situation can not be realized in practise. Although air spraying is widely utilized and accepted, several observations indicate a need for improved methods. Such facts are poor distribution of spray within the tree and droplet drift as a result from low deposition efficiency . It is evident, that by economical and ecological reasons such losses have to be minimised.
Within the framework of the research project the following items are investigated.
¿ Investigation of spray movement of used sprayers.
¿ Investigation of spray movement in a fruit culture at different stages of development of the trees within a year as basis for a optimized distribution pattern.
¿ Use of numerical simulation technique to find the best distribution profile for a sprayer.
¿ Development of a variable air regulation equipment for sprayers.
¿ Integration of a windtest device in the present system for optimizing sprayers at the agricultural school for fruit culture in Gleisdorf.

Keywords: agricultural machines and equipment; fruit production; orchard protection; organic farming;; Orchard; Plant protection; Sprayer;