Analysis of Spraying Equipment Performances in Olive Orchards

This paper reports the outcomes of a study dealing with the evaluation of the equipment used to spray plant protection products in olive groves. We performed experimental tests in an intensive olive orchard situated in the province of Reggio Calabria to determine under filed conditions according to machine operating parameters 1) foliar deposition, from both quantitative and qualitative point of view, and 2) ground losses. Hence, we applied a solution of a food dye on olive trees as to simulate a plant protection product mechanical distribution. Spray quantitative analysis was determined according to the colorimetric method using a bench spectrophotometer, while, image analysis of water-sensitive paper allowed qualitative analysis. A significant effect of the trial conditions was found at the p < .05 level on both normalized foliar deposit Dn (μL·cm−2), [F(2,65)=8.58 , p=0.0005119 ***] as well as on ground losses [F(2,25)=3.931 , p=0.00328 *].