PPO-inhibiting herbicides in combination with glyphosate for postemergence applications is a comm... more PPO-inhibiting herbicides in combination with glyphosate for postemergence applications is a common approach to manage glyphosate- and ALS-inhibitor-resistant weeds. PPO-inhibitors can reduce glyphosate translocation when applied in tank-mixtures, but adjuvants may be used to overcome this effect. Additionally, optimal droplet size may be affected by tank-mixtures of different herbicides and it can be crucial to herbicide efficacy. Field and greenhouse studies were conducted to investigate the impact of nozzle selection and adjuvants on weed control and interactions when applying PPO-inhibitors (fomesafen or lactofen) alone or in tank-mixture with glyphosate to five weed species using six nozzle types. Ultra-coarse droplets were just as effective as medium droplets regardless of the spray solution, but have a lower likelihood of off-target movement. Tank-mixtures applied were consistently antagonistic to common lambsquarters, horseweed, and Palmer amaranth. Only fomesafen was antago...
The southern green stink bug, Nezara viridula (L.) (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae), is cosmopolitan in ... more The southern green stink bug, Nezara viridula (L.) (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae), is cosmopolitan in distribution and feeds on many cultivated plants. On cotton, it reduces yield and transmits fungal and bacterial pathogens that result in necrosis of the locule and boll rotting. Objectives of this study were to determine the seasonal flight activity and to assess numerical changes in the season-long captures of N. viridula in blacklight traps. Traps were established in a commercial farmscape where cotton and corn were the predominant crops. Minor crops grown in the area were milo, soybean, pecan, and watermelon. Study areas included four to five locations during each year from 2003 to 2011 in Burleson County of Central Texas. Frequency distribution of seasonal counts of N. viridula conformed to a clumped dispersion pattern when analyzed by Taylor’s Power Law and negative binomial distribution as probability models. Counts transformed by a power law function, x 0.165 , adequately uncoupl...
International Journal of Agricultural and Biological Engineering, 2013
Two-spotted spider mites are important pests in many agricultural systems. Spider mites (Acari: T... more Two-spotted spider mites are important pests in many agricultural systems. Spider mites (Acari: Tetranychidae) have been found to cause economic damage in corn, cotton, and sorghum. Adult glass vial bioassays indicate that Temprano? (abamectin) is the most toxic technical miticide for adult two-spotted spider mite. From an aerial application standpoint, additional research is needed to identify aerial application parameters for this miticide. The objective of this study was to investigate spectral response of spider mite-infested cotton plants with different density levels of mites and treated with different rates of miticide. Results showed significantly different spectral signatures of cotton plants infested with different density levels of mites. By treating mite-infested cotton plants with five different Temprano rate treatments (control, one-eighth, one-fourth, one-half, and full rates), spectral reflectance curves were found to be significantly different. Four wavelengths of 5...
Organized mosquito control programs (MCP) in the United States have been protecting public health... more Organized mosquito control programs (MCP) in the United States have been protecting public health since the early 1900s. These programs utilize integrated mosquito management for surveillance and control measures to enhance quality of life and protect the public from mosquito-borne diseases. Because much of the equipment and insecticides are developed for agriculture, MCP are left to innovate and adapt what is available to accomplish their core missions. Unmanned aerial systems (UAS) are one such innovation that are quickly being adopted by MCP. The advantages of UAS are no longer conjectural. In addition to locating mosquito larval habitats, UAS affords MCP real-time imagery, improved accuracy of aerial insecticide applications, mosquito larval detection and sampling. UAS are also leveraged for applying larvicides to water in habitats that range in size from multi-acre wetlands to small containers in urban settings. Employing UAS can reduce staff exposure to hazards and the impact ...
To investigate the spray atomization characteristics of aerial nozzles adapted to manned agricult... more To investigate the spray atomization characteristics of aerial nozzles adapted to manned agricultural helicopters under medium-low airflow velocity (0 to 27.8 m/s) conditions, the droplet size test was carried out in both wind tunnel and field tests. In the wind tunnel test, the laser diffraction device (LDD) was used to test the spray droplet size of CP02, CP03, and CP04 aerial nozzles. A Bell206L4 helicopter was used in the field test. The results in the wind tunnel test showed that due to the nozzles had been used for a long time and the cause of wear, the spray stability of individual nozzles was affected during the test. The limitation of droplet size measurement by using LDD was also found. The field test results showed that the main distribution range of the droplet size measured in the field test was consistent with the results of the wind tunnel test, but the droplet size value was significantly higher and the uniformity of droplet size distribution was poorer than the wind...
International Journal of Agricultural and Biological Engineering, 2021
With changing climate and farmland ecological conditions, pest outbreaks in agricultural landscap... more With changing climate and farmland ecological conditions, pest outbreaks in agricultural landscapes are becoming more frequent, increasing the need for improved crop production tools and methods. UAV-based agricultural spraying is anticipated to be an important new technology for providing efficient and effective applications of crop protection products. This paper reviews and summarizes the status of the current research and progress on UAV application technologies for plant protection, and it discusses the characteristics of atomization by unmanned aircraft application systems with a focus on spray applications of agrichemicals. Additionally, the factors influencing the spraying performance including downwash airflow field and operating parameters are analyzed, and a number of key technologies for reducing drift and enhancing the application efficiency such as remote sensing, variable-rate technologies, and spray drift models are considered. Based on the reviewed literature, future developments and the impacts of these UAV technologies are projected. This review may inspire the innovation of the combined use of big data analytics and UAV technology, precision agricultural spraying technology, drift reduction technology, swarm UAV cooperative technology, and other supporting technologies for UAV-based aerial spraying for scientific research in the world.
When making an application of any crop protection material such as an herbicide or pesticide, the... more When making an application of any crop protection material such as an herbicide or pesticide, the applicator uses a variety of skills and information to make an application so that the material reaches the target site (i.e., plant). Information critical in this process is the droplet size that a particular spray nozzle, spray pressure, and spray solution combination generates, as droplet size greatly influences product efficacy and how the spray moves through the environment. Researchers and product manufacturers commonly use laser diffraction equipment to measure the spray droplet size in laboratory wind tunnels. The work presented here describes methods used in making spray droplet size measurements with laser diffraction equipment for both ground and aerial application scenarios that can be used to ensure inter-and intra-laboratory precision while minimizing sampling bias associated with laser diffraction systems. Maintaining critical measurement distances and concurrent airflow throughout the testing process is key to this precision. Real time data quality analysis is also critical to preventing excess variation in the data or extraneous inclusion of erroneous data. Some limitations of this method include atypical spray nozzles, spray solutions or application conditions that result in spray streams that do not fully atomize within the measurement distances discussed. Successful adaption of this method can provide a highly efficient method for evaluation of the performance of agrochemical spray application nozzles under a variety of operational settings. Also discussed are potential experimental design considerations that can be included to enhance functionality of the data collected.
International Journal of Precision Agricultural Aviation, 2019
In order to explore the atomization characteristics of the LICHENG series nozzle for manned agric... more In order to explore the atomization characteristics of the LICHENG series nozzle for manned agricultural helicopter under medium and low airflow velocity conditions, droplet size tests on five sizes of nozzles 11002, 11003, 11004, 11006 and 11010 were carried out by laser diffraction device (LDD), based on the high-low speed composite wind tunnel for agricultural aviation designed by the National Center for International Collaboration Research on Precision Agricultural Aviation Pesticides Spraying Technology (NPAAC) of South China Agricultural University (SCAU). The results showed that under the three spray pressures of 30, 40 and 50 psi, the droplet sizes of the five types of nozzles expressed similar trends with the increase of airflow velocity. Among them, the droplet size variation of nozzles 11006 and 11010 with larger orifice size was the most significant, the largest range of DV0.1 was nozzle 11010, and the largest range of DV0.5 and DV0.9 was nozzle 11006. In addition, the changes of spray pressure would directly affect the quality of spray, especially the nozzles 11002, 11003 and 11004 with small orifice sizes were significantly affected. Under the condition of medium and low airflow velocity of 0-27.8 m/s, 89% of spread value (SV) by the five nozzles were in the range of less than 15%, but there were some test nozzles with poor spray stability during the test, which made the measurements of droplet size value larger, resulting in a maximum test deviation of up to 210.9 μm. The result also exposed the limitations exist in wind tunnel droplet size testing by using LDD, and an increase in airflow velocity resulted in a larger measurement droplet size. This phenomenon was particularly significant in the DV0.5 test results of various types of nozzles. This study can provide experimental data guidance for the optimization design and parameter selection of aerial nozzle for manned agricultural helicopter.
Consumer-grade cameras are being increasingly used for remote sensing applications in recent year... more Consumer-grade cameras are being increasingly used for remote sensing applications in recent years. However, the performance of this type of cameras has not been systematically tested and well documented in the literature. The objective of this research was to evaluate the performance of original and resolution-reduced images taken from two consumer-grade cameras, a RGB camera and a modified near-infrared (NIR) camera, for crop identification and leaf area index (LAI) estimation. Airborne RGB and NIR images taken over a 6.5-square-km cropping area were mosaicked and aligned to create a four-band mosaic with a spatial resolution of 0.4 m. The spatial resolution of the mosaic was then reduced to 1, 2, 4, 10, 15 and 30 m for comparison. Six supervised classifiers were applied to the RGB images and the four-band images for crop identification, and 10 vegetation indices (VIs) derived from the images were related to ground-measured LAI. Accuracy assessment showed that maximum likelihood applied to the 0.4-m images achieved an overall accuracy of 83.3% for the RGB image and 90.4% for the four-band image. Regression analysis showed that the 10 VIs explained 58.7% to 83.1% of the variability in LAI. Moreover, spatial resolutions at 0.4, 1, 2 and 4 m achieved better classification results for both crop identification and LAI prediction than the coarser spatial resolutions at 10, 15 and 30 m. The results from this study indicate that imagery from consumer-grade cameras can be a useful data source for crop identification and canopy cover estimation.
The asian citrus psyllid [Diaphorina citri (Sternorrhyncha: Psyllidae)] is a detrimental pest to ... more The asian citrus psyllid [Diaphorina citri (Sternorrhyncha: Psyllidae)] is a detrimental pest to citrus (Citrus spp.) crops when it serves as a vector of the pathogen that causes greening (huanglongbing). Transmission of this disease causes mottling, chlorosis, dieback, and reductions in fruit size and quality. Citrus producers have found that many pesticides, when applied properly, are very effective at suppressing or eliminating asian citrus psyllids in groves. Due to the threat of greening, several pesticides have been granted Special Local Needs registration for use in the state of Florida if the product is sprayed with a volume median diameter of 90 μm or greater. A number of studies involving numerous citrus sprayers and a.i. were conducted to determine the droplet sizes generated by different sprayers operating under user-established settings and the adjustments required to those settings for the sprayers to meet the 90-μm requirement. In the sprayer tests, it was found that ...
International Journal of Precision Agricultural Aviation, 2018
Measurement of droplet size from agricultural spray nozzles can be highly variable and heavily in... more Measurement of droplet size from agricultural spray nozzles can be highly variable and heavily influenced by measurement systems, methods and physical difference in measurement facilities. Past efforts have developed a series of nozzles and operational pressure pairings that are used to define relative droplet size classes across the wide range of sizes typical in agrochemical applications. Until recently, the developed classification standards were only application non-aerial spray technologies, as the paired nozzle and pressures used did not account for the secondary breakup resulting from high airspeed typical to agricultural aircraft. A new standard has addressed this issue, with dedicated nozzle/spray pressure pairs designed to generate similar classification boundaries to current standards while operating in high airspeed conditions. To support the application of this standard, multiple sets of dedicated droplet size matched nozzles were developed.
International Journal of Precision Agricultural Aviation, 2018
In an agricultural setting, laser diffraction is a technique used to measure the size of particle... more In an agricultural setting, laser diffraction is a technique used to measure the size of particles, such as spray droplets or soil particles. Measurement of spray droplets allow users to create a desired droplet size through selection of spray nozzles, operating pressures, and adjuvants to maximize effectiveness of agrochemicals with minimum negative impact on the surrounding environment. The objective of this work is to provide practical guidance to new users of laser diffraction based on years of experience by the authors. The goal will be to highlight and discuss key issues to consider when making laser diffraction measurements, including proper setup and alignment of the laser, obscuration effects, background light scattering and other potential sources of error.
Chemical weed control remains a widely used component of integrated weed management strategies be... more Chemical weed control remains a widely used component of integrated weed management strategies because of its cost-effectiveness and rapid removal of crop pests. Additionally, dicamba-plus-glyphosate mixtures are a commonly recommended herbicide combination to combat herbicide resistance, specifically in recently commercially released dicamba-tolerant soybean and cotton. However, increased spray drift concerns and antagonistic interactions require that the application process be optimized to maximize biological efficacy while minimizing environmental contamination potential. Field research was conducted in 2016, 2017, and 2018 across three locations (Mississippi, Nebraska, and North Dakota) for a total of six site-years. The objectives were to characterize the efficacy of a range of droplet sizes [150 µm (Fine) to 900 µm (Ultra Coarse)] using a dicamba-plus-glyphosate mixture and to create novel weed management recommendations utilizing pulse-width modulation (PWM) sprayer technolog...
Evaluation of spray pattern uniformity using three unique analyses as impacted by nozzle, pressur... more Evaluation of spray pattern uniformity using three unique analyses as impacted by nozzle, pressure, and pulse-widthmodulation duty cycle" (2019).
The honey bee (Apis mellifera L. (Hymenoptera: Apidae)) contributes an essential role in the U.S.... more The honey bee (Apis mellifera L. (Hymenoptera: Apidae)) contributes an essential role in the U.S. economy by pollinating major agricultural crops including almond, which depends entirely on honey bee pollination for successful nut set. Almond orchards are often treated with pesticides to control a variety of pests and pathogens, particularly during bloom. While the effects to honey bee health of some insecticides, particularly neonicotinoids, have received attention recently, the impact of other types of insecticides on honey bee health is less clear. In this study, we examined the effects to honey bee forager survival of three non-neonicotinoid pesticides widely used during the 2014 California almond bloom. We collected foragers from a local apiary and exposed them to three pesticides at the label dose, or at doses ranging from 0.5 to 3 times the label dose rate. The selected pesticides included the insect growth regulators methoxyfenozide and pyriproxyfen, and the acaricide bifena...
To better understand the progression of cotton root rot within the season, time series monitoring... more To better understand the progression of cotton root rot within the season, time series monitoring is required. In this study, an improved spatial and temporal data fusion approach (ISTDFA) was employed to combine 250-m Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) Normalized Different Vegetation Index (NDVI) and 10-m Sentinetl-2 NDVI data to generate a synthetic Sentinel-2 NDVI time series for monitoring this disease. Then, the phenology of healthy cotton and infected cotton was modeled using a logistic model. Finally, several phenology parameters, including the onset day of greenness minimum (OGM), growing season length (GLS), onset of greenness increase (OGI), max NDVI value, and integral area of the phenology curve, were calculated. The results showed that ISTDFA could be used to combine time series MODIS and Sentinel-2 NDVI data with a correlation coefficient of 0.893. The logistic model could describe the phenology curves with R-squared values from 0.791 to 0.969. Moreo...
PPO-inhibiting herbicides in combination with glyphosate for postemergence applications is a comm... more PPO-inhibiting herbicides in combination with glyphosate for postemergence applications is a common approach to manage glyphosate- and ALS-inhibitor-resistant weeds. PPO-inhibitors can reduce glyphosate translocation when applied in tank-mixtures, but adjuvants may be used to overcome this effect. Additionally, optimal droplet size may be affected by tank-mixtures of different herbicides and it can be crucial to herbicide efficacy. Field and greenhouse studies were conducted to investigate the impact of nozzle selection and adjuvants on weed control and interactions when applying PPO-inhibitors (fomesafen or lactofen) alone or in tank-mixture with glyphosate to five weed species using six nozzle types. Ultra-coarse droplets were just as effective as medium droplets regardless of the spray solution, but have a lower likelihood of off-target movement. Tank-mixtures applied were consistently antagonistic to common lambsquarters, horseweed, and Palmer amaranth. Only fomesafen was antago...
The southern green stink bug, Nezara viridula (L.) (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae), is cosmopolitan in ... more The southern green stink bug, Nezara viridula (L.) (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae), is cosmopolitan in distribution and feeds on many cultivated plants. On cotton, it reduces yield and transmits fungal and bacterial pathogens that result in necrosis of the locule and boll rotting. Objectives of this study were to determine the seasonal flight activity and to assess numerical changes in the season-long captures of N. viridula in blacklight traps. Traps were established in a commercial farmscape where cotton and corn were the predominant crops. Minor crops grown in the area were milo, soybean, pecan, and watermelon. Study areas included four to five locations during each year from 2003 to 2011 in Burleson County of Central Texas. Frequency distribution of seasonal counts of N. viridula conformed to a clumped dispersion pattern when analyzed by Taylor’s Power Law and negative binomial distribution as probability models. Counts transformed by a power law function, x 0.165 , adequately uncoupl...
International Journal of Agricultural and Biological Engineering, 2013
Two-spotted spider mites are important pests in many agricultural systems. Spider mites (Acari: T... more Two-spotted spider mites are important pests in many agricultural systems. Spider mites (Acari: Tetranychidae) have been found to cause economic damage in corn, cotton, and sorghum. Adult glass vial bioassays indicate that Temprano? (abamectin) is the most toxic technical miticide for adult two-spotted spider mite. From an aerial application standpoint, additional research is needed to identify aerial application parameters for this miticide. The objective of this study was to investigate spectral response of spider mite-infested cotton plants with different density levels of mites and treated with different rates of miticide. Results showed significantly different spectral signatures of cotton plants infested with different density levels of mites. By treating mite-infested cotton plants with five different Temprano rate treatments (control, one-eighth, one-fourth, one-half, and full rates), spectral reflectance curves were found to be significantly different. Four wavelengths of 5...
Organized mosquito control programs (MCP) in the United States have been protecting public health... more Organized mosquito control programs (MCP) in the United States have been protecting public health since the early 1900s. These programs utilize integrated mosquito management for surveillance and control measures to enhance quality of life and protect the public from mosquito-borne diseases. Because much of the equipment and insecticides are developed for agriculture, MCP are left to innovate and adapt what is available to accomplish their core missions. Unmanned aerial systems (UAS) are one such innovation that are quickly being adopted by MCP. The advantages of UAS are no longer conjectural. In addition to locating mosquito larval habitats, UAS affords MCP real-time imagery, improved accuracy of aerial insecticide applications, mosquito larval detection and sampling. UAS are also leveraged for applying larvicides to water in habitats that range in size from multi-acre wetlands to small containers in urban settings. Employing UAS can reduce staff exposure to hazards and the impact ...
To investigate the spray atomization characteristics of aerial nozzles adapted to manned agricult... more To investigate the spray atomization characteristics of aerial nozzles adapted to manned agricultural helicopters under medium-low airflow velocity (0 to 27.8 m/s) conditions, the droplet size test was carried out in both wind tunnel and field tests. In the wind tunnel test, the laser diffraction device (LDD) was used to test the spray droplet size of CP02, CP03, and CP04 aerial nozzles. A Bell206L4 helicopter was used in the field test. The results in the wind tunnel test showed that due to the nozzles had been used for a long time and the cause of wear, the spray stability of individual nozzles was affected during the test. The limitation of droplet size measurement by using LDD was also found. The field test results showed that the main distribution range of the droplet size measured in the field test was consistent with the results of the wind tunnel test, but the droplet size value was significantly higher and the uniformity of droplet size distribution was poorer than the wind...
International Journal of Agricultural and Biological Engineering, 2021
With changing climate and farmland ecological conditions, pest outbreaks in agricultural landscap... more With changing climate and farmland ecological conditions, pest outbreaks in agricultural landscapes are becoming more frequent, increasing the need for improved crop production tools and methods. UAV-based agricultural spraying is anticipated to be an important new technology for providing efficient and effective applications of crop protection products. This paper reviews and summarizes the status of the current research and progress on UAV application technologies for plant protection, and it discusses the characteristics of atomization by unmanned aircraft application systems with a focus on spray applications of agrichemicals. Additionally, the factors influencing the spraying performance including downwash airflow field and operating parameters are analyzed, and a number of key technologies for reducing drift and enhancing the application efficiency such as remote sensing, variable-rate technologies, and spray drift models are considered. Based on the reviewed literature, future developments and the impacts of these UAV technologies are projected. This review may inspire the innovation of the combined use of big data analytics and UAV technology, precision agricultural spraying technology, drift reduction technology, swarm UAV cooperative technology, and other supporting technologies for UAV-based aerial spraying for scientific research in the world.
When making an application of any crop protection material such as an herbicide or pesticide, the... more When making an application of any crop protection material such as an herbicide or pesticide, the applicator uses a variety of skills and information to make an application so that the material reaches the target site (i.e., plant). Information critical in this process is the droplet size that a particular spray nozzle, spray pressure, and spray solution combination generates, as droplet size greatly influences product efficacy and how the spray moves through the environment. Researchers and product manufacturers commonly use laser diffraction equipment to measure the spray droplet size in laboratory wind tunnels. The work presented here describes methods used in making spray droplet size measurements with laser diffraction equipment for both ground and aerial application scenarios that can be used to ensure inter-and intra-laboratory precision while minimizing sampling bias associated with laser diffraction systems. Maintaining critical measurement distances and concurrent airflow throughout the testing process is key to this precision. Real time data quality analysis is also critical to preventing excess variation in the data or extraneous inclusion of erroneous data. Some limitations of this method include atypical spray nozzles, spray solutions or application conditions that result in spray streams that do not fully atomize within the measurement distances discussed. Successful adaption of this method can provide a highly efficient method for evaluation of the performance of agrochemical spray application nozzles under a variety of operational settings. Also discussed are potential experimental design considerations that can be included to enhance functionality of the data collected.
International Journal of Precision Agricultural Aviation, 2019
In order to explore the atomization characteristics of the LICHENG series nozzle for manned agric... more In order to explore the atomization characteristics of the LICHENG series nozzle for manned agricultural helicopter under medium and low airflow velocity conditions, droplet size tests on five sizes of nozzles 11002, 11003, 11004, 11006 and 11010 were carried out by laser diffraction device (LDD), based on the high-low speed composite wind tunnel for agricultural aviation designed by the National Center for International Collaboration Research on Precision Agricultural Aviation Pesticides Spraying Technology (NPAAC) of South China Agricultural University (SCAU). The results showed that under the three spray pressures of 30, 40 and 50 psi, the droplet sizes of the five types of nozzles expressed similar trends with the increase of airflow velocity. Among them, the droplet size variation of nozzles 11006 and 11010 with larger orifice size was the most significant, the largest range of DV0.1 was nozzle 11010, and the largest range of DV0.5 and DV0.9 was nozzle 11006. In addition, the changes of spray pressure would directly affect the quality of spray, especially the nozzles 11002, 11003 and 11004 with small orifice sizes were significantly affected. Under the condition of medium and low airflow velocity of 0-27.8 m/s, 89% of spread value (SV) by the five nozzles were in the range of less than 15%, but there were some test nozzles with poor spray stability during the test, which made the measurements of droplet size value larger, resulting in a maximum test deviation of up to 210.9 μm. The result also exposed the limitations exist in wind tunnel droplet size testing by using LDD, and an increase in airflow velocity resulted in a larger measurement droplet size. This phenomenon was particularly significant in the DV0.5 test results of various types of nozzles. This study can provide experimental data guidance for the optimization design and parameter selection of aerial nozzle for manned agricultural helicopter.
Consumer-grade cameras are being increasingly used for remote sensing applications in recent year... more Consumer-grade cameras are being increasingly used for remote sensing applications in recent years. However, the performance of this type of cameras has not been systematically tested and well documented in the literature. The objective of this research was to evaluate the performance of original and resolution-reduced images taken from two consumer-grade cameras, a RGB camera and a modified near-infrared (NIR) camera, for crop identification and leaf area index (LAI) estimation. Airborne RGB and NIR images taken over a 6.5-square-km cropping area were mosaicked and aligned to create a four-band mosaic with a spatial resolution of 0.4 m. The spatial resolution of the mosaic was then reduced to 1, 2, 4, 10, 15 and 30 m for comparison. Six supervised classifiers were applied to the RGB images and the four-band images for crop identification, and 10 vegetation indices (VIs) derived from the images were related to ground-measured LAI. Accuracy assessment showed that maximum likelihood applied to the 0.4-m images achieved an overall accuracy of 83.3% for the RGB image and 90.4% for the four-band image. Regression analysis showed that the 10 VIs explained 58.7% to 83.1% of the variability in LAI. Moreover, spatial resolutions at 0.4, 1, 2 and 4 m achieved better classification results for both crop identification and LAI prediction than the coarser spatial resolutions at 10, 15 and 30 m. The results from this study indicate that imagery from consumer-grade cameras can be a useful data source for crop identification and canopy cover estimation.
The asian citrus psyllid [Diaphorina citri (Sternorrhyncha: Psyllidae)] is a detrimental pest to ... more The asian citrus psyllid [Diaphorina citri (Sternorrhyncha: Psyllidae)] is a detrimental pest to citrus (Citrus spp.) crops when it serves as a vector of the pathogen that causes greening (huanglongbing). Transmission of this disease causes mottling, chlorosis, dieback, and reductions in fruit size and quality. Citrus producers have found that many pesticides, when applied properly, are very effective at suppressing or eliminating asian citrus psyllids in groves. Due to the threat of greening, several pesticides have been granted Special Local Needs registration for use in the state of Florida if the product is sprayed with a volume median diameter of 90 μm or greater. A number of studies involving numerous citrus sprayers and a.i. were conducted to determine the droplet sizes generated by different sprayers operating under user-established settings and the adjustments required to those settings for the sprayers to meet the 90-μm requirement. In the sprayer tests, it was found that ...
International Journal of Precision Agricultural Aviation, 2018
Measurement of droplet size from agricultural spray nozzles can be highly variable and heavily in... more Measurement of droplet size from agricultural spray nozzles can be highly variable and heavily influenced by measurement systems, methods and physical difference in measurement facilities. Past efforts have developed a series of nozzles and operational pressure pairings that are used to define relative droplet size classes across the wide range of sizes typical in agrochemical applications. Until recently, the developed classification standards were only application non-aerial spray technologies, as the paired nozzle and pressures used did not account for the secondary breakup resulting from high airspeed typical to agricultural aircraft. A new standard has addressed this issue, with dedicated nozzle/spray pressure pairs designed to generate similar classification boundaries to current standards while operating in high airspeed conditions. To support the application of this standard, multiple sets of dedicated droplet size matched nozzles were developed.
International Journal of Precision Agricultural Aviation, 2018
In an agricultural setting, laser diffraction is a technique used to measure the size of particle... more In an agricultural setting, laser diffraction is a technique used to measure the size of particles, such as spray droplets or soil particles. Measurement of spray droplets allow users to create a desired droplet size through selection of spray nozzles, operating pressures, and adjuvants to maximize effectiveness of agrochemicals with minimum negative impact on the surrounding environment. The objective of this work is to provide practical guidance to new users of laser diffraction based on years of experience by the authors. The goal will be to highlight and discuss key issues to consider when making laser diffraction measurements, including proper setup and alignment of the laser, obscuration effects, background light scattering and other potential sources of error.
Chemical weed control remains a widely used component of integrated weed management strategies be... more Chemical weed control remains a widely used component of integrated weed management strategies because of its cost-effectiveness and rapid removal of crop pests. Additionally, dicamba-plus-glyphosate mixtures are a commonly recommended herbicide combination to combat herbicide resistance, specifically in recently commercially released dicamba-tolerant soybean and cotton. However, increased spray drift concerns and antagonistic interactions require that the application process be optimized to maximize biological efficacy while minimizing environmental contamination potential. Field research was conducted in 2016, 2017, and 2018 across three locations (Mississippi, Nebraska, and North Dakota) for a total of six site-years. The objectives were to characterize the efficacy of a range of droplet sizes [150 µm (Fine) to 900 µm (Ultra Coarse)] using a dicamba-plus-glyphosate mixture and to create novel weed management recommendations utilizing pulse-width modulation (PWM) sprayer technolog...
Evaluation of spray pattern uniformity using three unique analyses as impacted by nozzle, pressur... more Evaluation of spray pattern uniformity using three unique analyses as impacted by nozzle, pressure, and pulse-widthmodulation duty cycle" (2019).
The honey bee (Apis mellifera L. (Hymenoptera: Apidae)) contributes an essential role in the U.S.... more The honey bee (Apis mellifera L. (Hymenoptera: Apidae)) contributes an essential role in the U.S. economy by pollinating major agricultural crops including almond, which depends entirely on honey bee pollination for successful nut set. Almond orchards are often treated with pesticides to control a variety of pests and pathogens, particularly during bloom. While the effects to honey bee health of some insecticides, particularly neonicotinoids, have received attention recently, the impact of other types of insecticides on honey bee health is less clear. In this study, we examined the effects to honey bee forager survival of three non-neonicotinoid pesticides widely used during the 2014 California almond bloom. We collected foragers from a local apiary and exposed them to three pesticides at the label dose, or at doses ranging from 0.5 to 3 times the label dose rate. The selected pesticides included the insect growth regulators methoxyfenozide and pyriproxyfen, and the acaricide bifena...
To better understand the progression of cotton root rot within the season, time series monitoring... more To better understand the progression of cotton root rot within the season, time series monitoring is required. In this study, an improved spatial and temporal data fusion approach (ISTDFA) was employed to combine 250-m Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) Normalized Different Vegetation Index (NDVI) and 10-m Sentinetl-2 NDVI data to generate a synthetic Sentinel-2 NDVI time series for monitoring this disease. Then, the phenology of healthy cotton and infected cotton was modeled using a logistic model. Finally, several phenology parameters, including the onset day of greenness minimum (OGM), growing season length (GLS), onset of greenness increase (OGI), max NDVI value, and integral area of the phenology curve, were calculated. The results showed that ISTDFA could be used to combine time series MODIS and Sentinel-2 NDVI data with a correlation coefficient of 0.893. The logistic model could describe the phenology curves with R-squared values from 0.791 to 0.969. Moreo...
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Papers by Clint Hoffmann