Cotton Pest Control & Defoliant Operation with DJI Agras Drones in Turkey

DJI AGRAS T30DJI AGRAS T10

 

Cottons grown in sandy soil with little nutrients, cotton easily suffers from malnutrition, causing fragile stem during growth period which will increase the risk of pest attacks. Prior to the harvest date, cotton producers usually apply defoliant to cotton to improve the harvesting efficiency with machineries.

 

In September, 2022 we went on to two cotton fields in Turkey with local plant protection team to see how different DJI Agras drones solve problems that cottons would encounter during different growing phase. The operation parameters as well as the chemical category and dosage were documented.

 

Growing phase troubleshooting: stem strengthening & pest control

 

https://www1.djicdn.com/cms/uploads/423f1abf32adc03564649f67c5f5abd3.jpg

Credit to SZR Tarım Drone Spraying

 

The first operation took place on September 28, 2022 in the cotton field of Küçükçıldırın Village in the city of Adana of Turkey.

 

When arriving at the cotton field, the plant protection team found that the cotton straws were weak and fragile due to lack of potassium. Some pests were also observed on the plants, including helicoverpa armigera (green worm) and gelechia gossypiella (pink bollworm) and Aphid.

 

Operation Parameters

 

Type of Drone

DJI Agras T30

Firmware Version

v.509

Operation mode

Route Op. Mode

Operation Speed

 6.3 m/s

Operation height (from the top of the crop)

3 Meters

Line spacing/ width

8 Meters

Liquid amount sprayed per hectare (or per MU)

10 Liters

Nozzle type

XR TEEJET

11001V8

 

Chemicals used

 

Credit to SZR Tarım Drone Spraying

 

Chemical commercial name

Formulation

Active ingredient and the percentage

Chemical amount (g or ml) used per hectare

Ekvator

20 SL Fluent Concentrate Suspension Concentrate

88 g/l Mepiquat

Chloride + 22 g/l Cyclanilide

400 ml

Liberator

10 EC Emulsion Concentrate

100g/1 Pyriproxyfen

10 L water and

500 cc chemical

Arrivo

20 EL Emulsion

200 g/l Cypermethrin

10 L water and

1000 cc chemical

Corragen

20 SL Fluent Concentrate Suspension Concentrate

200 g/l Chlorantraniliprole

10 L water and

200 cc chemical

Flash Kali

Emulsion Concentrate

Potassium Oxide

10 L water and

1500 cc chemical

 

After the operation, pests were eliminated from the plants and the cotton stems have become stronger because of the added potassium. There were no damage on the cotton caused by tractor. As the client saw the effect of the spraying in time, he agreed on the effectiveness of drone spraying.

 

Mature Period: Bolls Started to Open 7 Days After Defoliant Application

 

The other operation took place on September 10, 2022 upon a client's request. The defoliant application was scheduled 14 days prior to harvest, so that the cotton plant flowers would be opened totally and be ready for harvesting.

 

There were no damages observed on the plants. This defoliant application is made for drying the plant and opening the cottons' bolls. The bolls on the field were observed to be open about 70% and this defoliant application is made for opening of the remaining bolls.

 

https://www1.djicdn.com/cms/uploads/321679099311555f7bd8511d7ea9d901.png

Before the defoliant application, credit to Çukurova Gübre Tarımcılık

 

Normal tractor spraying causes damages on the plant and reduces the amount as well as the quality of the harvest. So our client agreed to make this application from the air by drone.

 

Operation Result

 

After 7 days from the defoliant application, all the bolls were observed to be opened, leaves were dried and fell down so as a result all plants were ready for harvesting.

 

https://www1.djicdn.com/cms/uploads/c3c2b12071a0ccc5b00b600dd1b3feb8.png

Day 7, credit to Çukurova Gübre Tarımcılık

 

Operation Parameters

 

Type of Drone

DJI Agras T10

Firmware Version

v.01.00.509

Operation mode

Route Op. Mode

Operation Speed

4.5 m/s

Operation height(from the top of the crop)

2 Meters

Line spacing/ width

4,25 Meters

Liquid amount sprayed per hectare (or per MU)

14 Liters

Nozzle type

XR TEEJET

11001V8

 

Info of Chemicals

 

https://www1.djicdn.com/cms/uploads/d78013359a560d1388fc37700f03218e.png

Credit to Çukurova Gübre Tarımcılık

 

Chemical commercial name

Formulation

Active ingredient and the percentage

Chemical amount (g or ml) used per hectare

Baystar

Defoliating Agent 10-14 before harvest

Thidiazuron + Diuron

119.75 + 59.88 g/l

600 ml

Extang

Boll Opener14 before harvest

Ethephol

720 g/l

2000 ml

 

Operation Take-away:

 

We observed a better effect on the plants when spraying at a lower speed and with less concentration of the defoliant per hectare. These operation parameters used were 100% effective on site and on day 14, the client was able to harvest at great convenience.

 

https://www1.djicdn.com/cms/uploads/eab20955f045d4305717242a56921701.jpg

 

Case studies were provided by the following plant protection teams:

SZR Tarım Drone Spraying, which conducted the pest control operation, is a family business with lots of knowledge about crops. They have managed to spray about 400ha land in the past two months with DJI Agras T30. The team consists of one pilot, one assistant and one agricultural engineer, and has performed spraying on corn, eggplant, cotton, bean, white cabbage, black cabbage, pepper and lettuce.

Contact person:Ramazan BULUT

Contact info : +90 531 710 60 02

 

Çukurova Gübre Tarımcılık

Gizem EKINCI – Lezgin EKINCI works as a consulting agency since 2016 in Adana, Çukurova region. The agency has been giving consultancy about Global GAP certifications, quality control management systems, minerals and fertilizers retails and solar power installations. They started spraying applications by drones in 2021. The team is formed by all agriculutural engineers and sprayed 350 ha of fields of corn, cotton and soya from May to October, 2022.

Contact person:Gizem EKINCI – Lezgin EKINCI

Contact info : +90 553 013 99 40

 

Contact us
Conact Information

First Name

Last Name

Email

Continent

Country/Region

City

I agree to the DJI Privacy Policy and the Terms of Use

Related Articles

Click to explore more

Italian Vineyard Operations Elevated by DJI Agras T10

Soybean Farming with DJI Agriculture Drone Solutions

Unlocking Sugarcane Cultivation Potential: How Agriculture Drone Empower South African Smallholder Farmers