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VOL. 8, ISSUE 3 (2026)

Field evaluation and spray deposition analysis of a battery-cum-manually operated boom sprayer on turmeric crop using water-sensitive paper

Authors

Ayush, Arun Kumar, Asif Beg

Abstract

Uniform spray deposition across the crop canopy, and not merely the discharge and pressure delivered at the nozzle, ultimately determines whether a sprayer achieves effective pest and disease control. Following its laboratory characterisation, a battery-cum-manually operated boom sprayer, fitted with four flat-fan nozzles on a 2.0 m adjustable boom, was field-evaluated on a Pant Pitabh turmeric crop (vegetative stage, 240 mm height, 250 mm row spacing) at the Vegetable Research Centre, GBPUAT, Pantnagar. The sprayer was calibrated and operated at three forward speeds (1, 1.5 and 2 km/h) and spray deposition was assessed using water-sensitive paper (WSP) tags placed at the upper, middle and lower canopy positions of four plants per treatment; the exposed tags were scanned at 600 dpi and analysed with DepositScan software for volume median diameter (VMD), percentage coverage, image area, deposit density (no./cm²), deposition (µL/cm²) and droplet count. The theoretical field capacity of the machine ranged from 0.2 to 0.4 ha/h, the actual field capacity from 0.16 to 0.34 ha/h, and field efficiency from 80 to 85.5%. As travel speed increased from 1 to 2 km/h, percentage coverage rose from 56.8 to 60.8% at the upper canopy, 55.6 to 60.8% at the middle canopy, and 58.6 to 65.8% at the lower canopy, while deposition (µL/cm²) declined at all three positions, from about 93-100 µL/cm² at 1 km/h to 78-83 µL/cm² at 2 km/h, reflecting the shorter dwell time of the spray cloud over each plant at higher speeds. On the basis of the combined coverage, deposit density, deposition and droplet-count response, a travel speed of 1.5 km/h is identified as the optimum field operating speed of the developed sprayer for turmeric, balancing adequate canopy coverage against acceptable field capacity and deposition uniformity.

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Pages:102-107

How to cite this article:

Ayush, Arun Kumar, Asif Beg "Field evaluation and spray deposition analysis of a battery-cum-manually operated boom sprayer on turmeric crop using water-sensitive paper". International Journal of Agriculture and Plant Science, Vol 8, Issue 3, 2026, Pages 102-107

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