Analysis of spray retention on a 3D black-grass plant model as a function of spray nozzle and formulation using a process-driven approach

The efficiency of spray application of foliar plant protection products can be variable because of the different amount of spray solution intercepted and retained by leaves. On one hand, the spray interception by plants is affected by nozzle kind, size and operating pressure as well as by the plant architecture. On the other hand, the spray retention is affected by application parameters resulting from droplet size and velocity as well as spray mixture physicochemical properties. In this paper, spray retention is tackled with a physical approach at the droplet scale. The methodology deals with high-speed imaging to characterize droplet impacts; adhesion, rebound or shatter on small excised leaf areas and the spray granulometry. The 3D reconstruction of a black-grass plant involves a structured light technique. The overall spray retention was determined by using an interception algorithm combined with a process-driven retention approach as a function of the spray nozzle and formulation used. The interception model allowed determining the spray retention by a single plant and discriminating application parameters by explaining the variability resulting from various droplet size distributions intercepted by single plant. Such a model can be used to increase the understanding of interactions between spray techniques and plant architectures.