Assessment of microbial biocontrol agent (BCA) viability to mechanical and thermal stress by simulating spray application conditions.

Background: In order to improve the biological control agent (BCA) efficacy, stress factors threatening the viability of microorganisms during spray application need to be determined. The effect of spray mixture temperature and exposure time on Trichoderma harzianum T 22 and Bacillus amyloliquefaciens QST713 viability were tested. Concurrently the combined effect of mechanical and thermal stress effect on BCA viability were tested at two initial spray mixture temperatures (14 and 25 °C) by simulating a spray application using airblast sprayers featured by different tank capacity and a spray liquid circuit (without and with hydraulic agitation system).

Characterization of irrigator emitter to be used as solid set canopy delivery system: which is best for which role in the vineyard?

Background: The timely and flexible treatment of solid set canopy delivery systems (SSCDS) is expanding. Laboratory and field trials were conducted to evaluate the performance of three different irrigators (Pulsar™ system and nozzle combination), typically used in anti-frost and irrigation in vineyards/apple orchards, for plant protection product (PPP) delivery in a Guyot-trained trellised vineyard.

Results: Results showed that irrigator setups perform best when matched to the task-flat fan emitters for horizontal spray application (canopy top) and circular emitters for middle and low canopy application.

UAV-spray application in vineyards: Flight modes and spray system adjustment effects on canopy deposit, coverage, and off-target losses.

Improvements in the spray application of plant protection products enhance agricultural sustainability by reducing environmental contamination, but by increasing food quality and human safety. Currently, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) are raising interest in spray applications in 3D crops. However, operational configurations of UAV-spray systems need further investigation to maximise the deposition in the canopy and minimise the off-target losses.

Boom sprayer optimizations for bed-grown carrots at different growth stages based on spray distribution and droplet characteristics.

Background: Pesticide losses and uneven spray distribution should be avoided as much as possible as they reduce the effectiveness of spraying and increase environmental contamination as well as costs. Within the H2020-project OPTIMA the goal is to develop a smart sprayer for bed-grown carrots, including optimizations such as air support and variable nozzle spacing. This paper focuses on selecting the most optimal nozzle types, spacing and height for spraying bed-grown crops, while taking into account different target zone widths depending on the growth stage, based on spray distribution and droplet characterization measurements.

Soil PM emission potential under specific mechanical stress and particles characteristics.

Soil can be resuspended in the atmosphere due to wind or mechanical disturbances, such as agricultural activities (sowing, tilling, etc.), producing fine particulate matter (PM). Agriculture is estimated to be the third PM-emitting sector in Europe, emitting more than the transportation sector.

Evaluation of particulate matter (PM) emissions and its chemical characteristics during rotary harrowing operations at different forward speeds and levelling bar heights.

Particulate matter (PM) is an air pollutant which poses a considerable risk to human health. The agricultural sector is responsible of the 15% of the total anthropogenic emissions of PM (PM fraction with aerodynamic diameter below 10 μm) and soil preparation activities have been recognized as one of the main drivers of this contribution. The emission factors (EF) proposed by European environmental agency (EEA) for tilling operations are based on very few studies, none of which has been made in Italy.

Field assessment of a newly-designed pneumatic spout to contain spray drift in vineyards: evaluation of canopy distribution and off-target losses.

Background: The efficacy and environmental sustainability of pesticide application largely depend on maximizing target coverage, while minimizing off-target losses. Recently, laboratory-based measurements were used to develop new cannon-type spout to increase the droplet size spectra produced by a pneumatic vineyard sprayer. The study described below evaluated the effectiveness of the new device to reduce off-target losses (both in-field and off-field ground losses), and to distribute an adequate canopy spray.

Spray performance assessment of a remote-controlled vehicle prototype for pesticide application in greenhouse tomato crops.

Intensive horticultural production is a sector seeking to provide high-quality foods by means of safe and sustainable procedures in compliance with regulations. This requires improvements in the spraying technologies since currently plant protection products are applied by means of hand-held equipment due to its lower cost and easy maintenance. In order to fulfil these requirements, a remote-controlled vehicle prototype (ROBOT SPRAY) was used.

Toward a new method to classify the airblast sprayers according to their potential drift reduction: comparison of direct and new indirect measurement methods.

Background: Drift is one of the most important issues to consider for realising sustainable pesticide sprays. This study proposes an alternative indirect methodology for comparative measurements of drift reduction potential (DRP) generated by airblast sprayers, aimed at overcoming the practical inconveniences and drawbacks of standardized ISO 22866:2005. A test bench in the absence of target crop and wind was employed to measure drift potential values (DPVs).

Assessing the influence of air speed and liquid flow rate on the droplet size and homogeneity in pneumatic spraying.

Background: The efficacy of treatments in vineyards largely depends on the necessary balance between leaf coverage and spray drift and, therefore, knowledge about droplet size is of major importance, but scarce scientific information is available on pneumatic spraying, often adopted in this crop. The objective of this work was to obtain the relationships between the droplet size spectra characterization parameters and the main affecting factors in pneumatic nozzles.

Results: Three liquid flow rates (LFR) and four air speeds (AS) were combined in laboratory conditions to assess their influence on the droplet size spectra (D10, D50 and D90), homogeneity (Relative Span Factor, RSF) and driftability (V ) in two different air shear nozzles (cannon-type and hand-type nozzles).

Developing strategies to reduce spray drift in pneumatic spraying in vineyards: Assessment of the parameters affecting droplet size in pneumatic spraying.

Pneumatic sprayers are widely used in vineyards due to their very fine droplet size, which makes the drift risk to become an important problem to be considered. The aim of this study was to assess the effect of the spout diameter at the release point on the spray droplet size and uniformity achieved for different liquid flow rates (LFR) and air flow rates (AFR). A test bench was developed to simulate a real pneumatic sprayer under laboratory conditions, and it was empirically adjusted to match the air pressure conditions as closely as possible to real working conditions.

Effect of sprayer settings on spray drift during pesticide application in poplar plantations (Populus spp.).

This study assessed spray drift generated by sprayer settings commonly used for pesticide application in poplar plantations (Populus spp.). Tests were conducted per the ISO 22866 methodology using a mounted air-assisted sprayer (Tifone VRP600) equipped with a swivel-cannon air conveyor (model Cannone 50S).

Dust drift reduction effect of an air conveyor kit (dual-pipe deflector) mounted on different maize pneumatic drills.

Background: All maize drills produce a fine dust due to the seed coating abrasions that occur inside the seeding element. The air stream generated by the fan of pneumatic drills - necessary to create a depression in the sowing element of the machine and to guarantee correct seed deposition - can blow away the solid particles detached from the seeds. In order to reduce this phenomenon, a coated maize seeds company (Syngenta®) has set up an ad hoc dual-pipe deflector kit that easily fits different pneumatic drills (also old drills).

Acidification of pig slurry before separation to improve slurry management on farms.

Pig slurry, rich in plant nutrients such as nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P), is generally applied to soil as organic fertilizer. However, costs related to slurry transport may limit its utilization to fields close to the farm, leading to significant N losses, namely ammonia (NH3) emissions. Slurry acidification, to minimize NH3 emissions, is a potential solution to this problem, while solid-liquid separation leads to a solid fraction (SF) - rich in organic matter (OM) and phosphorus - and a liquid fraction (LF) rich in soluble nutrients.

Potential external contamination of pneumatic seed drills during sowing of dressed maize seeds.

Background: The use of pneumatic drills in maize cultivation causes dispersion in the atmosphere of some harmful substances normally used for dressing maize seeds. Some of the dust particles may be deposited on the machine's body, becoming dangerous for the environment and for operators. The aim of the present study was to analyse the amount of dust deposited on the frame of drills during maize sowing operations.

Batch and continuous biogas production arising from feed varying in rice straw volumes following pre-treatment with extrusion.

This paper studies the synergistic effects on biogas production obtained when different feedstocks are co-digested with varying proportions of rice straw and explores their behavior at the laboratory scale in continuously stirred digesters. Evaluative measures included methane production, volatile solids degradation, ash accumulation, and extrusion effectiveness. The effect of extrusion on the production of energy was also investigated.

Environmentally Optimised Sprayer (EOS)--A software application for comprehensive assessment of environmental safety features of sprayers.

Despite technological progress in pesticide application equipment, chemical crop protection continues to contribute to environmental pollution. Water is at risk of contamination with pesticides from point and diffuse sources and could be reduced to a great extent with a better sprayer design. The sprayer manufacturers and pesticide applicators need to take more responsibility for the prevention of water pollution and therefore they have to make environmentally responsible decisions at different stages, from designing to servicing sprayers.

A floating coverage system for digestate liquid fraction storage.

Anaerobic digestion is booming in the nations of Europe. In fact, Italy alone has approximately 500 plants in operation or in some phase of start-up. Previous studies have made evident the potential that lies in digested manure residual biogas.

Decision support tools for environmentally safe use of pesticides.

Prevention of environmental risk due to pesticide application is demanded by EU legislation regarding water and crop protection issues. The pesticide users are required to take responsibility for the environmental consequences of applications. Therefore they need to make responsible decisions at both strategic and tactical level.

The effect of particle size and thermal pre-treatment on the methane yield of four agricultural by-products.

One way to optimize methane production in anaerobic digestion plants is to substitute ligno-cellulosic by-products for crops traditionally used as energy sources. However, using these by-products requires introduction of a pre-treatment system to minimize energy input and maximize energy output for an improved net energy equation. In this study, four agricultural byproducts (wheat, barley, rice straw and maize stalks) underwent various mechanical and thermal treatments prior to anaerobic digestion including particle size reduction to 5.

Residual biogas potential from the storage tanks of non-separated digestate and digested liquid fraction.

Biogas plants daily produce enormous volumes of digestate that can be handled in its raw form or after mechanical separation. In Italy, effluents are usually stored within aboveground, uncovered tanks, which make them potential emitters of biogas into the atmosphere. The purpose of this study was to estimate the amount of biogas emitted to the atmosphere during the storage phase of non-separated digestate and digested liquid fraction.

The methane yield of digestate: effect of organic loading rate, hydraulic retention time, and plant feeding.

In biogas plants, huge volumes of digestate are produced daily and stored in uncovered tanks, which leak methane into the atmosphere and cause negative environmental impacts. To better understand the effect that different operating parameters of anaerobic digestion plants have on digestate residual methane yield, four digestate samples collected from plants with very different operations were analysed in batch reactors. Their methane yields were very heterogeneous and varied between 2.

Thermal pre-treatment of solid fraction from mechanically-separated raw and digested slurry to increase methane yield.

Anaerobic digestion plants rely on large-capacity storage tanks to manage the agronomic utilisation of the digestate. As a consequence, many Italian A.D.

Evaluation of the biogas productivity potential of some Italian agro-industrial biomasses.

Batch trials were carried out to asses the biogas productivity potential of rice and barley straw, grape stalks, grape marcs, maize drying up residues, tomato skins and seeds, and whey. Trials were carried out in 2l glass digesters kept in a thermostate controlled room at 40 degrees C for 40days. The most productive biomasses, in terms of specific methane yield, were the whey and the maize drying up residues.

Advanced spraying techniques in fruit growing--the ISAFRUIT project--towards safer and better quality of fruit.

In 2006 the project ISAFRUIT (www.isafruit.org)--"Increasing fruit consumption through a trans disciplinary approach leading to high quality produce from environmentally safe, sustainable methods"--was launched within the 6th Framework Program of the EC.