ABSTRACT
Vinegrowers in the north of Parana State grow grapevines in arbor, making pesticide application difficult. Many of them can not afford tractor mounted sprayers. They have chosen to develop stationary equipment home-made. The application is done from bottom to top, without air assistance. The aim of this study was to evaluate the features of this application system using spray coverage evaluation on the leaves. Four treatments and four randomized blocks were used, including different nozzles, pressures, droplet sizes and application rates, applying a mixture of fungicide and fluorescent tracer. The spray coverage was evaluated on the upper and lower surfaces of the leaves by using an ultraviolet light. The results showed that the use of smaller droplets has not offered higher spray coverage. There has been significant interaction among application conditions, position and leaf faces. The spray coverage was higher on the bottom of the arbor and on the lower faces of the leaves. The results obtained showed that the equipment is not appropriate, which suggests the need of development of new techniques of spraying and plant growing. The applied methodology was proved to be appropiate to the aims of this work.
Key words:
spraying; coverage; grapevine