Assessment of the sprayer inspection results in Catalonia

Abstract

The objective of the sprayer inspection is to reduce the risk for the environment and bystanders, since it is said that sprayers with malfunctions cause a reduction of the sprayer application efficiency. In order to know the condition of the sprayers before the inspection, the results of 11712 sprayers, inspected between 2014 and 2016 in Catalonia, were assessed. The average rate of unfavourable inspections was 38%.
The most frequent defect find in the inspections was a wrong pressure gauge, mainly because its error was greater than the requirements of the inspection standard. Other common malfunctions were related with safety aspects, like missing or deteriorated guards in power transmission and other moving parts. In air-assisted sprayers, worn or clogged nozzles were also responsible for many unfavourable inspections, whereas in boom sprayers missing filters was a frequent cause for them.
Since an important number of faults and malfunctions are corrected during the inspection, it can be stated that the inspection of sprayers in use improve the efficiency of the spray application, both reducing the risk for the environment and allowing a good control of pests and diseases with the minimum pesticide input.