Pesticide dose based on canopy characteristics in apple trees: Reducing environmental risk by reducing the amount of pesticide while maintaining pest and disease control efficacy.

Although many different designed air-assisted sprayers can be used for pesticide application in apple orchards, the lack of adequate adjustments according to specific crop characteristics leads to application inefficiencies and failures. To evaluate the spray coverage and biological efficacy of different application techniques combined with an alternative dosage adjustment based on tree row volume (TRV), field tests with five different techniques were carried out at three crop stages on a commercial apple orchard. The results showed that conventional mist-blower with a high application volume (800 L ha) exhibited an excessive coverage with a high risk of contamination at the early crop stage (BBCH19), whereas other treatments using different application techniques, with a reduced volume rate and pesticide dose of 75%, were equivalent with good uniformity, revealing the great importance of suitable adjustment for the sprayers.

Assessment of Vineyard Canopy Characteristics from Vigour Maps Obtained Using UAV and Satellite Imagery.

Canopy characterisation is a key factor for the success and efficiency of the pesticide application process in vineyards. Canopy measurements to determine the optimal volume rate are currently conducted manually, which is time-consuming and limits the adoption of precise methods for volume rate selection. Therefore, automated methods for canopy characterisation must be established using a rapid and reliable technology capable of providing precise information about crop structure.

Portable Instrument for Hemoglobin Determination Using Room-Temperature Phosphorescent Carbon Dots.

A portable reconfigurable platform for hemoglobin determination based on inner filter quenching of room-temperature phosphorescent carbon dots (CDs) in the presence of HO is described. The electronic setup consists of a light-emitting diode (LED) as the carbon dot optical exciter and a photodiode as a light-to-current converter integrated in the same instrument. The reconfigurable feature provides adaptability to use the platform as an analytical probe for CDs coming from different batches with some variations in luminescence characteristics.