Determination of the effectiveness of some unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) at different application volumes in herbicide control for wheat cultivation.

Abstract

In this study, the spraying performance of two unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), the DJI T10 and the DJI T30, was evaluated for herbicide application in wheat cultivation under different application volumes. The UAVs were tested at application volumes of 10, 20 and 30 L ha^-1, and their performance was evaluated based on spray coverage rate, deposition, and distribution uniformity. Field experiments were conducted in Adana, Türkiye, using Water Sensitive Paper (WSP) to collect data from 15 sampling points per plot. The T30 UAV achieved the highest coverage rate (39.69%) and deposition value (0.194 µL cm^-2) at 30 L ha^-1, demonstrating a more uniform spray distribution across all sampling points, including the edge areas. In contrast, the T10 UAV showed a maximum of 32.22% coverage rate and a deposition of 0.175 µL cm^-2, with a higher concentration at the central points and a lower uniformity at the edges. These findings suggested that the T30 UAV provided superior performance in higher application volumes, while the T10 would be more suitable for targeted or small-scale applications.