PHOTONIC-BASED TOOLS FOR A SUSTAINABLE AGRONOMIC MANAGEMENT AND USE OF PESTICIDES IN TREE CROPS IN THE FRAMEWORK OF PRECISION FARMING

Project information
THIS SUBPROJECT IS PART OF A COORDINATED PROJECT WHICH IS FOCUSED ON THE USE OF PHOTONIC-BASED TOOLS TO IMPROVE THE USE OF PLANT PROTECTION PRODUCTS (PPP) IN ORCHARD AND VINEYARDS. THROUGHOUT THE PROPOSED OBJECTIVES AND METHODOLOGY, THIS WORK AIMS TO PROVIDE SIGNIFICANT ADVANCE IN THE FOLLOWING ASPECTS: A) QUANTIFICATION OF PESTICIDE DRIFT LOSSES, PROPOSING NEW MEASUREMENT SYSTEMS , B) CROP-PPP DOSE RELATIONSHIP ALIGNED TO THE PROGRESS ALREADY MADE IN OTHER EU MEMBER STATES ,ESTABLISHING SPECIFIC RELATIONSHIPS FOR ORCHARDS AND VINEYARDS, C) DEVELOPMENT AND IMPROVEMENT OF IT TOOLS FOR CALCULATING PPP APPLICATIONS VOLUMES BASED ON THE PREVIOUS RESEARCH CARRIED OUT BY THIS RESEARCH GROUP, D) DEVELOPMENT OF VARIABLE APPLICATION RATE EQUIPMENTS BASED ON CROP MAPS AND OBJECTIVE DATA OBTAINED FROM FIELD TRIALS, WHICH ALLOW USING THEM IN MODELS CURRENTLY USED FOR ESTABLISHING THE DRIFT RISK DURING THE PESTICIDE APPLICATION IN OUR MEDITERRANEAN CONDITIONS; CURRENTLY USED DATA COMES FROM CENTRAL AND NORTHERN EUROPE WHICH HAS CONSIDERABLY DIFFERENT CONDITIONS. THE PROJECT HAS THE SUPPORT AND EXPRESSED INTEREST OF THE SPANISH PPP MANUFACTURER ASSOCIATION (AEPLA), THE SPANISH MANUFACTURER SECTOR OF AGRICULTURAL MACHINERY (ANSEMAT) AND TWO MAJOR INSTITUTIONS SUCH AS INSTITUT CATALA DE LA VINYA I VI (INCAVI) AND THE ARAGON GOVERNMENT (DIRECCION GENERAL DE ALIMENTACION Y FOMENTO AGROALIMENTARIO). THE MAIN OBJECTIVES OF THIS SUBPROJECT ARE: 1) DEVELOPMENT OF ALTERNATIVE METHODS FOR DRIFT QUANTIFICATION IN ORCHARD AND VINEYARD PESTICIDE APPLICATIONS, 2) PROTOTYPE SET-UP ABLE TO CARRY OUT A VARIABLE APPLICATION RATE BASED ON VEGETATION MAPS , 3) ESTABLISHMENT OF CRITERIA AND/OR METHODOLOGIES FOR DETERMINING THE APPLICATION PPP VOLUME/DOSE BASED ON STRUCTURAL CROP CHARACTERISTICS (LAI , TRV , LWA ), 4) IMPLEMENTING AND IMPROVING SYSTEMS FOR DETERMINING THE OPTIMAL VOLUME/DOSE IN VINEYARD, 5) DEVELOPMENT OF MODELS FOR CLASSIFICATION OF DRIFT RISK AND MITIGATION OF THE WATER CONTAMINATION TO BE USED IN THE FOCUS PLATFORM (FORUM FOR THE COORDINATION OF PESTICIDE FATE MODEL AND THEIR USE). THE SUBPROJECT EXPECTS TO ACHIEVE THE FOLLOWING RESULTS: 1) DEVELOPMENT OF A SPECIFIC METHODOLOGY FOR DRIFT QUANTIFICATION BASED ON PHOTONIC-BASED TOOLS, 2) PROPOSAL OF AN INTERNATIONAL STANDARD FOR DRIFT QUANTIFICATION, WHICH COMPLEMENTS OR REPLACES THE CURRENT ISO 22866, 3) DEVELOPMENT OF A DOSE EXPRESSION METHOD BASED ON CROP CHARACTERISTICS, WHICH CAN BE DIRECTLY APPLIED IN MEDITERRANEAN VINEYARD CONDITIONS, 4) VARIABLE DOSE RATE SPRAYER PROTOTYPE BASED ON THE ESTABLISHED VEGETATION MAPS, 5) RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN CROP CHARACTERISTICS AND SPRAYER AIR SETTINGS, AS A MITIGATION MEASURE TO REDUCE CONTAMINATION, 6) QUANTITATIVE AND CONTRASTED DATA FOR ORCHARDS AND VINEYARDS IN MEDITERRANEAN CONDITIONS, WHICH CAN BE USED DIRECTLY ON PLATFORMS LIKE FOCUS FOR RISK ASSESSMENT OF PESTICIDE APPLICATION.
Project partners: 
UNIVERSITAT POLITECNICA DE CATALUNYA
Project dates: 
January 2014 to December 2016
Contact project
Funding
Funding agency: 
Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad.