Determination of drift potential of different flat fan nozzles on a boom sprayer using a test bench

•A drift test bench for spray drift measurement with boom sprayers is assessed.•The test bench allows obtaining objective information about drift potential risk from different nozzles.•Venturi flat fan nozzles present a great drift reduction compared to conventional ones.•Larger nozzle size produced lower spray drift than smaller ones.

This study's objective was to evaluate the functionality of an ad hoc test bench for spray drift measurement with boom sprayers, using it for evaluating different nozzles according to drift risk. The repeatability of results was evaluated by conducting similar tests at two different laboratories. Drift potential values (DPV) obtained showed an interesting effect of Venturi flat fan nozzles on drift reduction, in comparison with conventional flat fan nozzles (reference nozzle was XR 11003). Newly designed flat fan nozzles reduced the risk of drift. Reasonably relations between 10th-percentile, D[v,0.1], 50th-percentile or Volume Median Diameter, D[v,0.5], 90th-percentile, D[v,0.9], V100 and DPV were observed in all cases, with R2 values of 0.58, 0.65, 0.66 and 0.72, respectively. The lowest drift values were achieved with TTI and TD Spray Max nozzles; they were significantly lower than those obtained for IDK and AIXR ones. Results indicated that the drift test bench can be used as an alternative to the official standard procedure for drift measurements on boom sprayers (e.g. ISO 22866), as it is able to discriminate the influence of different boom settings (especially nozzle types) on drift. Further studies could be useful in order to prove that the classification of nozzles according to drift risk obtained using the test bench is comparable to the nozzle classifications obtained applying the ISO 22866 test method.