USDA-ARS researchers now testing commercial version of electrostatic
aerial spray system
Invented and patented by researchers at the USDA-ARS
Agricultural Research Center
at College Station, Texas, the new electrostatic aerial spray system has come full circle.
This
spring, Spectrum Electrostatic Sprayers, Inc., the company that holds marketing
rights to the system, donated a commercial version of the innovative system to the
USDA-ARS Areawide Pest Management Research Unit at College Station.
Dr. Ivan
"Buddy" Kirk, Agricultural Engineer with the USDA-ARS Areawide Pest
Management Research Unit at College Station, and Hal Tom, USDA-ARS Chief Pilot,
are now installing the electrostatic aerial system on an AT 402. Researchers will be
looking at deposition patterns, pest control, and drift management. The researchers also
plan to test the spray system on a Hiller 12-E helicopter.
The USDA-ARS AT 402 is the second
agricultural aircraft in Texas now equipped with the
electrostatic aerial system. Earlier in the season, an aerial applicator in south-central
Texas
mounted the system on an AT 502 to apply herbicides, insecticides and fungicides on fields
of cotton, rice and soybeans. The system has also been used on a Cessna Husky, and is
presently in commercial use on a Turbo Thrush in Costa Rica, where banana growers are
using the electrostatic spray system to control a fungal disease called black sigatoka.
Designed to apply solutions of herbicides,
insecticides and fungicides at the lowest possible
labeled application rates, the electrostatic spray system uses an electrical charge to
attract
spray droplets to the target vegetation. Because the spray droplets are drawn to both the
upper and
lower surfaces of the crop foliage, control of weeds and insect and disease pests has been
shown to be equal to or better than control through conventional spray systems.
Since the system allows applicators to
cover more acres with significantly less spray solution,
the system also allows operators to reduce their operating expenses and increase profits.
"We’re finding that the system
allows aerial applicators to treat up to five times more acreage
with a single tank of spray solution," says Blake Dobbins, president of Spectrum
Electrostatic
Sprayers, Inc. "That poses an economic benefit for applicators who fly turbine
aircraft, and a
huge advantage for those applicators who operate smaller, piston-powered aircraft."
Because the charged spray droplets are
attracted to the crop foliage, says Dobbins, the system
also enhances pest control while lessening the impact on the environment. "Reduced
rates of
application, and less active ingredient per acre, means less pesticide reaches the
environment,"
he adds.
A pioneering leader in the development and
commercialization of electrostatic spray
technology for agriculture, Spectrum Electrostatic Sprayers, Inc. has manufactured and
marketed electrostatic ground sprayers for orchards and field crops for more than a
decade.
Today, thousands of electrostatic ground
sprayers are in use in orchards and field crops
across the nation.