On-Farm Evaluation of Nozzle Types for Peanut Pest Management Using Commercial Sprayers

Growers have rapidly adopted auxin-resistant cotton and soybean technologies. In Georgia, growers who plant auxin-resistant cotton/soybean are required to utilize nozzles that produce larger (coarser) droplets when spraying auxin herbicides to minimize potential off-target movement of pesticides. Consequently, these nozzles are also used in peanut (an important rotational crop with cotton) since changing nozzles between crops is uncommon for growers. However, larger droplets can result in reduced spray coverage which may lead to less effective pest control. Therefore, seven on-farm trials were conducted in commercial peanut fields using commercial sprayers from 2018 to 2020 across four different locations in Georgia to compare the spray performance of air-induction (AI) nozzles that produce very coarse to ultra coarse droplets (VMD50 ≥ 404 microns) with non-AI (conventional flat fan) nozzles that produce medium to coarse droplets (403≥VMD50≥236 microns) for pest management in peanuts. For each trial, test treatments were implemented in large replicated strips where each strip represented a nozzle type. For nozzle comparison, XR and XRC represented non-AI nozzles while TADF, TDXL, TTI, and TTI60 represented the commonly used AI nozzles in these trials. Spray deposition data for each nozzle along with disease ratings, weed and insect control ratings were collected in all on-farm trials. Peanut yield was collected at harvest. Results indicated that the AI nozzles produced larger droplets than the non-AI nozzles in all nozzle tests; however, the spray coverage varied among the nozzle types. Nozzle type did not influence pest (weed, disease and insect) control, or peanut yield (p≤0.10) in any of the on-farm trials. These results suggested that peanut growers can utilize these coarser droplet nozzles for pest management in fields with low to average pest pressure during the season. Future research on nozzle evaluation needs to investigate the influence of droplet size, carrier volume, and pressure on coverage and canopy penetration.