Methodological Advancements in Testing Agricultural Nozzles and Handling of Drop Size Distribution Data
Plant protection products are necessary to guarantee food security, but their drift into the environment, usually in the form of aerosol, poses a threat to the health of bystanders and surrounding ecosystems. Appropriate testing of plant protection equipment and of its possible configurations is key...
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MDPI AG
2025-05-01
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| Series: | AgriEngineering |
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| author | Giovanna Mazzi Lorenzo Becce Ayesha Ali Mara Bortolini Elena Gregoris Matteo Feltracco Elena Barbaro Andreas Gronauer Andrea Gambaro Fabrizio Mazzetto |
| author_facet | Giovanna Mazzi Lorenzo Becce Ayesha Ali Mara Bortolini Elena Gregoris Matteo Feltracco Elena Barbaro Andreas Gronauer Andrea Gambaro Fabrizio Mazzetto |
| author_sort | Giovanna Mazzi |
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| description | Plant protection products are necessary to guarantee food security, but their drift into the environment, usually in the form of aerosol, poses a threat to the health of bystanders and surrounding ecosystems. Appropriate testing of plant protection equipment and of its possible configurations is key to reducing drift while guaranteeing treatment efficacy. A key role in drift generation and treatment quality is played by the drop size distribution (DSD) of the employed spray nozzles. The DSD of nozzles can and should be tested before being employed by various methods. This paper recounts the recent experience in testing the DSD generated by two types of agricultural nozzles by an Oxford Lasers N60V Particle/Droplet Image Analysis (PDIA) system. The analyses put in place aimed at identifying the optimal instrument settings and adapting the methodology to the relevant ISO 25358:2018 standard. The cumulated DSD of the two nozzle types have then been fitted with a logistic function, with the aim to obtain nozzle performance models. The fitting has proven highly reliable, with correlation coefficients <inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><mrow><msup><mi>R</mi><mn>2</mn></msup><mo>≥</mo><mn>0.98</mn></mrow></semantics></math></inline-formula>. These models are a satisfactory starting point to compare the performance of different PPEs. In perspective, the fitted nozzle models can help bridge the mathematical gap with other aspects of PPE performance, such as aerosol generation and downwind transport. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-eb588e75f85f45a88eb0a9f412b3bebf |
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| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-05-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
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| series | AgriEngineering |
| spelling | doaj-art-eb588e75f85f45a88eb0a9f412b3bebf2025-08-20T01:56:57ZengMDPI AGAgriEngineering2624-74022025-05-017513910.3390/agriengineering7050139Methodological Advancements in Testing Agricultural Nozzles and Handling of Drop Size Distribution DataGiovanna Mazzi0Lorenzo Becce1Ayesha Ali2Mara Bortolini3Elena Gregoris4Matteo Feltracco5Elena Barbaro6Andreas Gronauer7Andrea Gambaro8Fabrizio Mazzetto9Department of Environmental Sciences, Informatics and Statistics, Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, Via Torino 155, 30170 Venezia Mestre, ItalyCompetence Centre for Plant Health, Free University of Bozen-Bolzano, Piazza Università 1, 39100 Bozen-Bolzano, ItalyFaculty of Agricultural, Environmental, Food Sciences, Free University of Bozen-Bolzano (unibz), Piazza Università 1, 39100 Bozen-Bolzano, ItalyDepartment of Environmental Sciences, Informatics and Statistics, Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, Via Torino 155, 30170 Venezia Mestre, ItalyDepartment of Environmental Sciences, Informatics and Statistics, Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, Via Torino 155, 30170 Venezia Mestre, ItalyDepartment of Environmental Sciences, Informatics and Statistics, Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, Via Torino 155, 30170 Venezia Mestre, ItalyDepartment of Environmental Sciences, Informatics and Statistics, Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, Via Torino 155, 30170 Venezia Mestre, ItalyFaculty of Agricultural, Environmental, Food Sciences, Free University of Bozen-Bolzano (unibz), Piazza Università 1, 39100 Bozen-Bolzano, ItalyDepartment of Environmental Sciences, Informatics and Statistics, Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, Via Torino 155, 30170 Venezia Mestre, ItalyCompetence Centre for Plant Health, Free University of Bozen-Bolzano, Piazza Università 1, 39100 Bozen-Bolzano, ItalyPlant protection products are necessary to guarantee food security, but their drift into the environment, usually in the form of aerosol, poses a threat to the health of bystanders and surrounding ecosystems. Appropriate testing of plant protection equipment and of its possible configurations is key to reducing drift while guaranteeing treatment efficacy. A key role in drift generation and treatment quality is played by the drop size distribution (DSD) of the employed spray nozzles. The DSD of nozzles can and should be tested before being employed by various methods. This paper recounts the recent experience in testing the DSD generated by two types of agricultural nozzles by an Oxford Lasers N60V Particle/Droplet Image Analysis (PDIA) system. The analyses put in place aimed at identifying the optimal instrument settings and adapting the methodology to the relevant ISO 25358:2018 standard. The cumulated DSD of the two nozzle types have then been fitted with a logistic function, with the aim to obtain nozzle performance models. The fitting has proven highly reliable, with correlation coefficients <inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><mrow><msup><mi>R</mi><mn>2</mn></msup><mo>≥</mo><mn>0.98</mn></mrow></semantics></math></inline-formula>. These models are a satisfactory starting point to compare the performance of different PPEs. In perspective, the fitted nozzle models can help bridge the mathematical gap with other aspects of PPE performance, such as aerosol generation and downwind transport.https://www.mdpi.com/2624-7402/7/5/139agricultural sprayersplant protectionspray driftspray nozzlesdrop size distributionparticle/droplet image analysis (PDIA) |
| spellingShingle | Giovanna Mazzi Lorenzo Becce Ayesha Ali Mara Bortolini Elena Gregoris Matteo Feltracco Elena Barbaro Andreas Gronauer Andrea Gambaro Fabrizio Mazzetto Methodological Advancements in Testing Agricultural Nozzles and Handling of Drop Size Distribution Data AgriEngineering agricultural sprayers plant protection spray drift spray nozzles drop size distribution particle/droplet image analysis (PDIA) |
| title | Methodological Advancements in Testing Agricultural Nozzles and Handling of Drop Size Distribution Data |
| title_full | Methodological Advancements in Testing Agricultural Nozzles and Handling of Drop Size Distribution Data |
| title_fullStr | Methodological Advancements in Testing Agricultural Nozzles and Handling of Drop Size Distribution Data |
| title_full_unstemmed | Methodological Advancements in Testing Agricultural Nozzles and Handling of Drop Size Distribution Data |
| title_short | Methodological Advancements in Testing Agricultural Nozzles and Handling of Drop Size Distribution Data |
| title_sort | methodological advancements in testing agricultural nozzles and handling of drop size distribution data |
| topic | agricultural sprayers plant protection spray drift spray nozzles drop size distribution particle/droplet image analysis (PDIA) |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2624-7402/7/5/139 |
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