Application of contemporary technical systems in chemical protection of field crops: case study of wheat production in Serbia

Abstract

The application of precision agriculture in chemical plant protection enables the realization of high yields while preserving natural resources. The quality of chemical applications depends on the type of technical system that performs for this job. The task of the technical system is to protect the cultivated crop precisely, economically and while preserving the environment, and all that depends on the precission and the quality of application of the protective liquid. The use of UAV´s in chemical plant protection enables precise application of protective liquid, so their application is increasing in the protection of numerous crops. The same trend has been observed in field production, where the use of UAV´s is on the rise. The paper compares the exploatational and technological characteristics of the field sprayer (FS) and unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) in the chemical protection of wheat. The amount of deposited protective liquid on plants and losses of deposited on the surface of the earth were monitored. Using UAV (T4: V = 3 m·s-1 , H = 1 m), the amount of protective liquid on the plant was determined to be 0.185 mg·l-1 compared to 0.037 mg·l 1 at FS, while the losses were 0.01 mg·l-1 at FS and 0.085 mg·l-1 at UAV. The presence of Fusarium (Fusarium spp.) after chemical protection was analyzed according to the compared technical systems and set treatments. It was recorded for 20% higher efficiency in protection against Fusarium (Fusarium spp.) using UAV (T5: V = 3 m·s-1 , H = 2 m) compared to FS. The values of wheat yield were measured according to the compared technical systems and set treatments, where the highest wheat yield was achieved using UAV (T5) with 10,667.7 kg·ha-1 , while using FS, 14.84% lower yield was achieved. The application of UAV´s in the segment of chemical plant protection enables us to effectively protect crops, economical and optimized production, while preserving the environment in a way that has been completely new and unknown until now.