Smart Nozzle: Application of phytosanitaries in fruit trees according to tree's electronic analysis

The Uruguay fruit growing activity is predominately done by small-scale producers, where the producer has a single sprayer which he uses for all the applications throughout his orchard. At the same time the broth concentration (water plus plant protection product) applied per hectare is a function of the volume of vegetation of the fruit trees. Since vegetation volume varies within the different quadrants and cultivars in the fruit farm, broth concentration is determined by the worst case; i.e., for the quadrant with greatest vegetative volume. This leads to the application of excessive doses of pesticides to the fruit trees with smaller vegetative mass, which means unnecessary chemical products are applied, which increase the cost of production. Additionally, this over application can potentially pose, serious risks for the environment and/or consumers. As a solution to this problem, a prototype was designed and built, which detects the volume of vegetation and apply the appropriate dose in real time. This prototype can be adapted to any standard sprayer, reducing the cost of implementation. Field test show a reduction of the amount of phytosanitary product used, thereby reducing the environmental risk of contamination. It also lowers farming costs and improves efficiency in the application of pesticides, which increases the quality of the fruits, by reducing the risk of pesticide residues in the final product. The modified sprayer uses an electronic unit equipped with a digital control device to detect the cross sections of tree canopies at different heights and spray a flow proportional to the vegetation volume. The prototype also gives the farmer the means for better planning and control of the spray applications because it determines its position automatically using a GPS and keeps a record of the quantities of plant protection product applied at each site, at a low cost of implementation.