Resumen de Noves tecnologies per la millora de tractaments fitosanitaris en vinya. Sistema de suport a la decisió, sensors d'ultrasons i sensor lidar
The pesticides application in vineyards is one of the key factors in the outcome of the crop and in the final success of the whole productive process. Its importance lies in productive aspects and on the total expenses of plant protection products (PPP).There are different alternatives to improve the efficacy and efficiency in the PPP application process. Alternatives like: automatic system of dose adjustment, methodologies for sprayer calibration, alternatives to dose expression and dose decision, and the use of new technologies (sensors) for canopy characterization. All of these tools must allow an adequate dose adjustment according canopy dimensions, improving the application process in comparison with traditional volume rate adjustment bases on ground area. The recently published EU Directive 2009/128/CE defines the general trends in order to achieve a safe, efficient and environmentally correct PPP application.According to that, this research work has been structured in different parts with the aim to improve the spray application process in vineyard. Four main aspects/chapters have been defined.The first one was planned with the main objective to improve and validate Dosaviña v.3.0, a Decision Support System (DSS) developed to improve the pesticide application process in vineyard. The first version of this DSS was developed in 2003. The research consists in the comparison of two application procedures: the first one following the grower¿s criteria and the second one following the recommendations generated by Dosaviña. Results indicate that the use of the developed software allows to generate savings of 53 % of PPP, maintaining in all cases a good or even better spray distribution into the canopy and also a good disease control.The second chapter of this research is focused in the evaluation of the capability of ultrasonic sensors and LIDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) for electronic canopy characterization. This part evaluates some parameters with especial importance in the growing season of the vineyard as canopy volume, crop height or leaf area. In all cases the sensor data have been compared with manual measurements procedures. Obtained results with the sensors indicate that the use of electronic devices allows to determine adequately some canopy parameters as canopy volume or leaf area, resulting an interesting technique ready to use.The third part of this research has been focused on LIDAR technology and its application on the georeferenced process of canopy characteristics. For this purpose a GPS receiver has been implemented linked to LIDAR, allowing a complete georeferenced process of vegetation. Obtained data with LIDAR, together with its precise position coordinates allow to develop interesting tools able for further applications other than pesticide application process.The last chapter has been dedicated to improvement and validation of a variable rate technology prototype. The developed sprayer incorporates an electronic system for canopy characterization (canopy volume) based on ultrasonic sensors. The volume application rate is then modified according the information and measurements obtained with ultrasonic sensors. The variable rate application has been compared with the traditional one based on a constant application rate (L/ha). The average saving has been quantified by 58%.Castelldefels14
