Despite efforts to reduce pesticide use in crop production via integrated pest management methods such as sanitation and biological control, pesticide use remains inevitable in most cases. Pesticide spray applications provide critical protection for crops against pest and diseases. However, growers and pesticide applicators continue to grapple with inefficient application (over-application, under-application, drift, etc.) leading to high production cost due to additional material and fuel used for repeat applications. Our research seeks to curb the undesirable economic loss together with the environmental and health risks associated with exposure to pesticides.
Grants
- Development And Validation Of A Novel Mechanistic Airblast Spray Drift Model For Orchard And Vineyard Applications, U.S. Department of Agriculture, National Institute of Food and Agriculture (2024-2027)
- Development of an Automatic Nozzle Selector for Increased Productivity and Reduced Operator Exposure to Pesticides, California DPR (2023-2025).
- Development and Validation of a Mechanistic Orchard and Vineyard Airblast Spray Drift Model – Phase 1, California Department of Food and Agriculture/Coalition for Urban/Rural Environmental Stewardship (2022-2023).
- Efficacy and optimal use of alternatives to chlorpyrifos for aphid and whitefly management in cotton, California DPR (2021-2023).
- Spray Drift Study in Citrus to Support Orchard and Vineyard Airblast Drift Modeling Effort, Citrus Research Board (2020-2022).
- Spray Drift Study in Grapes to Support Orchard and Vineyard Airblast Drift Modeling Effort – Part 3, E & J Gallo Winery Company (2020-2021).
- Spray Drift Study in Grapes to Support Orchard and Vineyard Airblast Drift Modeling Effort – Part 2, Washington State Wine Commission (2020-2021).
- Spray Drift Study in Grapes to Support Orchard and Vineyard Airblast Drift Modeling Effort, California Table Grape Commission (2020-2021).
- Spray Drift Study in Orchard/Vineyard to Support Orchard Airblast Drift Modeling Effort, Almond Board of California (ABC) WATER14 (2020-2021).
- Integrating Almond Data into Ongoing Development of Airblast Spray Deposition and Drift Models, Almond Board of California (ABC)/UC ANR Spray Technology Grants (2019-2021).
- Dissemination and training for citrus spray application expert system adoption in California, Department of Pesticide Regulation (DPR) Pest Management Alliance Program (2019-2022).
Research Updates
Airblast Spray Deposition Data Collection in Citrus 
August 18, 2021
We completed new spray deposition field data collection in a commercial navel orange orchard to assess the effect of different sprayer settings on canopy deposition. The data collected was also intended to be used to validate an existing spray deposition model previously validated with data from both Florida and California.
Airblast Spray Drift Data Collection in Almond
June 30, 2021
We completed new spray drift field data collection in a commercial almond orchard in support of development and validation of a mechanistic model for the regulatory and user community.
Airblast Spray Drift Data Collection in Citrus 
April 20, 2021
We completed new spray drift field data collection in a commercial mandarin orchard in support of development and validation of a mechanistic model for the regulatory and user community.
Airblast Spray Web App Development and Deployment
February 16, 2020
We completed the deployment of two airblast web apps to provide decision support in planning and evaluating spray applications. Airblast Spray Advisor is focused on spray evaluation decision support. Airblast Spray Planner is focused on spray planning including sprayer calibration and spray timing decision support.
Airblast Spray Deposition Data Collection in Citrus 
December 4, 2020
We completed new spray deposition field data collection in a commercial mandarin orchard to assess the effect of different sprayer settings on canopy deposition. The data collected was also intended to be used to validate an existing spray deposition model previously validated with data from Florida.
Spray Expert System Evaluation Survey
November 30, 2020
We concluded an online survey to collect user feedback on the CitrusSprayEx expert system. The feedback is be incorporated in the development of new web-based decision support systems to assist growers and pesticide applicators in planning and evaluating their spray applications.
Airblast Spray Drift Data Collection in Table Grape 
November 20, 2020
We completed new spray drift field data collection in a commercial table grape orchard in support of development and validation of a mechanistic model for the regulatory and user community.
Comparison of Precision Airblast Sprayer Technologies Based on Model Simulations
July 10, 2019
We compared the performance of different precision airblast sprayer technologies in citrus based on simulation of a mechanistic spray deposition model.
Program Themes
2. Development/Evaluation of Spray Application Techniques/Technologies
3. Development/Deployment of spray Application Decision Support Systems
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