New spraying technology for real-life pest distributions

摘要

With increasing field size and larger sprayers to suit, uniform application over large areas has become the order of the day. However; the field distribution of pests, diseases and weeds is never uniform and can be decidedly patchy due to a combination of physical and biological factors and also factors related to other farm inputs. Weed germination and growth is directly affected by differences in soil structure, moisture and fertility and indirectly by the effect of these differences on crop germination and growth and therefore plant competition. Patchy distribution of weeds may be caused by uneven crop seeding or planting, giving more room for weeds to develop in particular areas, or due to inadequate weed control in the previous crop leaving more weeds with the window of opportunity to flower and seed.