Review of the pesticide precision orchard spraying technologies

Pesticide precision spraying embraces the concept of creating a balanced ecosystem in the orchard with lowest cost and minimum environmental impact. From three aspects this article reviews the technical development on orchard pesticide precision spraying. And the development results and their great efficiency were presented. The pesticide precision spraying in orchard includes two technologies. One is based on map, the other is based on the real time sensor. Various techniques such as ultrasound and infrared sensor, machine vision, global positioning system, geography information system and so on were applied. Sensor-controlled spray systems were composed of sensors, onboard computers and orchard sprayer. With this system the amount of pesticide delivery to individual tree canopies can be tailored. So the quantity of spray materials used without compromising effectiveness and the potential pollution arising from off-target deposition can be greatly decreased. This technology has a lot of recent development and good applications. Some problems and the further study of the orchard pesticide precision spraying in China were briefly recommended.