USE OF SPRAYING DRONE FOR SPRAYING PEA CROP WITH POD SEALANTS

Abstract

Experimental studies to be carried out in 2022 in Anykščiai district, Mackeliskes, in a 9 ha farmer's field where cv. Velvet peas were sown. The 2022 peas were sown on 17 April. Pea harvesting took place three weeks later. The survey was carried out using a four-propeller drone sprayer and a self-propelled sprayer with a 24 m boom width, a anemometer for measuring wind speed and a meteorological station, grain loss frames (50 × 50 cm), 2 types of scales, acrylic and trisiloxane based pod sealant and a CASE 2388 combine harvester (with 5 m wide cutterbar) for pea harvesting. The selected field is divided into three regular rectangles of 2.5 ha each. One part of the field is sprayed with a drone sprayer, the middle part is left unsprayed as a control and the third part is sprayed with a self-propelled sprayer. The self-propelled sprayer travels at a speed of 10 km h^-1. The sprayer is set to spray a volume of 200 l ha^-1 of liquid (400 ml of sealant added per hectare). The drone sprayer sprayed at a speed of 14.4 km h^-1 at a height of 2 m above the ground. The application rate was 17 l ha^-1. 400 ml ha^-1 of sealant was mixed into the solution. No pod sealant was used in the control part of the field. The pre-harvest and harvest losses of pea grain were investigated. The pea grain harvested from each field was weighed separately. Knowing the total grain yield and the amount of grain that shattered on the soil surface, the total N_b, the pre-harvest loss N_s and the harvested grain loss N_d (kg ha^-1 and %) were calculated.  It was found that the pre-harvest grain loss of pea grain varied from 23,20 kg ha^-1 (drone spraying) to 40,48 kg ha^-1 (self-propelled sprayer spraying), depending on the technical means used for the application of the sealants. This represented 1.10% and 1.76% of the total pea grain yield respectively. The loss of pea grain at harvest in the unsprayed field was 44.64 kg ha^-1 or 2.45 % of the total pea grain harvested. When comparing the grain loss in the field sprayed by drone (31.36 kg ha^-1) with that in the field sprayed by self-propelled sprayer (32.80 kg ha^-1), the difference was not significant. In conclusion, the results of the study show that the use of a drone sprayer for the spraying of the pea crop not only saves water resources but also increases the efficiency of the pod sealant. The drone spraying of a field can reduce grain losses by almost 40% compared to an unsprayed field and by 21.10% compared to a self-propelled sprayer.