PIVOS project

Overview

Pesticide application in specialty crops, such as vineyard and olive grovesin the Mediterranean area, represents one of the most critical operations directly influencing on the final success. New developments and the latest advances in technologies regarding spray application, have resulted in low impact when compared with the information readily available for commodity crops; as a result, high amount of pesticides, high risk of contamination (drift and run-off) and extra operational costs are the main aspects characterizing cropprotection in these high value crops. 

The starting hypothesis for this proposal is that the development of new technologies will offer a great opportunity to improve the whole process by deploying a novel smart spraying managementsystems ready-to-use for the key Mediterranean crops. These advances will increase the skills and training level of the final users after an elaborated extension program. 

Project objectives

The overall aim of this project is to prove the benefits of smart spraying for a sustainable pesticide use in vineyards and olive groves, by maintaining the spraying efficacy while reducing both environmental and economic costs.Results will promote the implementation of Best Management Practices through the use of new technologies for data acquisition, processing and communication.

The following specific objectives have been identified:

1. Establishment of the most suitable procedure for a smart canopy characterization (ground and aerial-based sensors) in vines and olive groves.

2. Development of a standard protocol to build prescription maps of volume rate.

3. Development of a standard protocol to build prescription maps of air assistance needs.

4. Smart actuation of conventional sprayers according to prescription maps of spraying rate. 

5. Field validation of state-of-the-art variable-rate smart sprayers.

6. Quantification of potential environmental and economic benefits.