Recent Developments in Agricultural Sprays : Review

A brief review of current status in the field of agricultural spray and future research challenges are presented. Researches on the pesticides sprays, pollen sprays, postharvest sprays, and biological control agent sprays among the various applications of agricultural spray were selected and reviewed. In the agrochemical sprays, the techniques to increase the deposition such as electrospray and reduce the drift such as introductions of drift retardants and of mechanical means are reviewed. The introduction of mechanical means includes low drift, air-assisted, air inclusion, shield or shroud assisted and pulse flow nozzles. For flat fan nozzles, the data of breakup length and thickness of liquid sheet are essential to understand the atomization processes and develop the transport model to target In the air-assisted spray technology to reduce drift, further works on the effect of application height on drift and air assistance on droplet size should be followed. In addition, methods for quantifying the included air in the air inclusion techniques are required. The atomization characteristics of biopesticides spray are not being elucidated and the formulations of biopesticides should be taken into account the spray characteristics of existing nozzle and sprayer. A few researches on the droplet size of fallout can be found in the literature. A combined technology with electrostatic method into one of method for the reduction of drift may be an effective strategy for increasing deposition and reducing drift. Only an integrated approach involving all stakeholders such as engineers, chemists, and biologists, etc. can result in improved application of agricultural spray.