In this episode of my series on touring Bayer CropScience during the IFAJ Congress in Germany the focus will continue on application technology. This time specifically on spray nozzles.
Ralph-Burkhardt Toews, Bayer Application Technology Manager, gave a field demonstration using different types of nozzles. In the first part of the demonstration he shows the difference between standard spray nozzles vs drift reduction nozzles that are now widely used in the EU.
In the second part of the demonstration Toews shows a technology that has been developed to help reduce the exposure of pollinators to crop protection products. These is the dropleg spraying device. You can see these in the image included in this post.
Underleaf spraying is a much targeted application method. It improves both the coverage of the leaves and efficacy of application technology for disease and pest control. Many pests and diseases are located underneath of the leaves and droplet applications allow a real targeted application with much better efficacy results. Field trials with fungicides and insecticides carried out by Bayer CropScience have shown that using the dropleg technology results in a significant reduction of drift.
You can listen to the presentation here or watch below: Ralph-Burkhardt Toews Presentation