DJI AGRAS T30 Kills 98% of Pests on a Thai Durian Orchard with Once Spraying

You may have heard about well-known Thai durian varieties such as Monthong, Kradumthong and Puang Manee. But you may not know that there are 234 durian varieties in Thailand.

 

With rich varieties, Thai durian is also high-yield. According to official statistics in Thailand, the yield of durian in Thailand amounted to 1,288,600 tons in 2021.

 

However, it is not an easy job to manage durian orchards. As durian trees are usually tall and luxuriant, manual agrochemical spraying for pest and disease control is inefficient and cannot cover the top of the trees. Besides, the COVID-19 pandemic and shortage of operators in recent years have also caused concerns for orchard owners.

One T30 for a durian orchard with an area of 30 rais

 

Aroon owns a durian orchard with an area of 30 rais (one rai is approximately equal to 2.4 mu) in Pathio, Chumphon Province, Thailand. In the past two years, he has been using the DJI agricultural drone for operations on durian trees. In April this year, we arrived at his durian orchard to learn operation experience from him and test the  operation effectiveness of the drone.

 

 

   

Land Background
Date	April 20, 2022
Location	Pathio, Chumphon Province, Thailand
Land Type	Flat
Weather	Sunny
Wind Speed	1-2 m/s
Temperature	33℃

 

 

 

In this test, real drugs were used together with agrochemicals for disease control, desinsection and growth regulation.

 

Since the local durian trees are tall (about 7 to 8 meters high) and luxuriant, slow speed and large volume are often used for operations to ensure effectiveness. After tests and adjustments for many times, Aroon finally decided to set the height to 3 meters, speed to 1.2 m/s, and volume per mu to 10 L, so as to ensure thorough penetration of trees.

 

 

Operation Parameters
Drone Model	T30
Operation	Fruit tree mode - continuous spraying
Flight Altitude	3m
Flight Speed	1.2m/s
Volume per Mu	10L
Nozzle Type	sX11001VS

 

 

Killing 98% of pests with once spraying

 

To make the test results more intuitive, we randomly selected 3 trees and placed water-sensitive papers (often used to measure the spraying effect, which turns blue after contact with water) on them before operation. Besides, we selected branches with many pests as comparisons of the number of living pests before and after operation to test the effect.

  

 

Drug Information
Drug	คอนแพร	โพทอมิค 20-05-30	Amino Acid	ยากำจัดเชื้อราพืช	ฟีโนบูคาร์บ	พรีมาตรอน
Effect	Improve plant absorption	Promote fruit development	Promote fruit growth	Fungicide for Trichoderma	Pesticide	Defoliant
Volu	100cc/200L	1kg/200L	400cc/200L	400cc/200L	1000cc/200L	100cc/200L

L  ocal drugs, for reference only 

 

 

After the operation, we found that the leaves were soaked through but became dried up in less than one minute due to high temperature on the day. We checked the water-sensitive papers placed on the trees before the operation, and found that each water-sensitive paper was covered with small blue dots, showing good spraying effects.

 

 

 

 

Finally, we found the branches selected before the operation. There were 202 pests on these branches before the operation, but only 3 pests survived after the operation, showing good insecticidal effect.

 

 

Leaves full of pests before operation

 

After operation

 

 

Summary of experience

 

This operation faces two challenges: large spacing between fruit trees and large crown width.

 

To avoid waste of drugs due to the large spacing between fruit trees, Aroon chose the fruit tree mode - continuous spraying based on manual planning during flight route planning, making the drone directly operate over each line of trees, thus avoiding open space.

 

Due to large crown width, a single route cannot achieve full coverage. To solve this problem, Aroon adopted two routes for coverage, to ensure thorough penetration and best spraying effect.

 

 

 

 

Parameters also need to be adjusted based on actual situation. To ensure the reach of droplets to the bottom of the canopy, the thicker the canopy, the larger the volume per mu. To ensure penetration, the flight speed should be slow, and the operation height should be as low as possible while ensuring safety.

 

Finally, in this operation environment, wind speed is critical to the operation of the drone. It is generally recommended to operate when it is windless, and not to operate if there is a wind above level 3.

 

 

Manual spraying

 

 

Compared with manual spraying, drone-based spraying is more efficient, economical, and safe. Taking Aroon’s durian orchard for example, a person could only complete an operation area of 5 rais per day in the past, but a drone can complete an operation area of 40 rais per day.

 

What’s more, for manual operations on a durian orchard with an area of 30 rais, 6 tanks (1,000 L/tank) of drugs are required, with labor cost of 6000 baht. If people spray 50 times a year, it will cost 300,000 baht. However, drone-based operations can save the labor cost.

 

Besides, with drones, operators can stay away from spraying and only need to fill drugs and replace battery in situ, greatly reducing the risk of pesticide poisoning.

 

 

 

 

DJI crop protection drones have bright prospects in Thailand

 

Entering the Thai market in 2018, DJI crop protection drones have become the most popular agricultural drones in Thailand. The sales volume of DJI crop protection drones in Thailand increased by 227% in 2021 from 2020.

 

In addition to durians, DJI crop protection drones have been effectively applied for rice, sunflowers, oil palms, and other crops in Thailand.

 

Based on user trust and service orientation, DJI Agriculture will invest in more technology and resources in combination with local characteristics, in a bid to help more foreign countries develop agricultural mechanization and boost the development of smart agriculture.