Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Application of Multi-rotor Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Application in Management of Stem Borer (Lepidoptera) in Sugarcane

  • Short Communication
  • Published:
Sugar Tech Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Stem borer (Lepidoptera) is a key pest and causes significant damage in commercial sugarcane production. Unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) is an unpiloted and automatic aircraft that is being used for precision agriculture. The impact of multi-rotor UAV (four-rotor electronic UAV, 3WWDZ-10A) application on controlling the stem borer in sugarcane variety GT46 was explored with aerial spray of 1.5% abamectin (liquid) and 2% lufenuron (microemulsion) at seedling stage of sugarcane crop. The knapsack electric sprayer (KES) without pesticide (NP) treatments were used as the controls. The droplet deposition, spray efficiency and rate of dead larvae for UAV and KES treatments were compared after spraying. The rate of dead larvae counts for UAV spray was found 40.0%, which was higher compared to KES (30.0%) and NP (0.0%) treatments. Besides, the spray efficiency of UAV treatment was recorded 14.37 times more than that of KES treatment, and the pesticide requirement was lowered as much as 90.65% as compared to KES. The droplet coverage and deposition were also recorded lower, accounting for 9.5% and 0.7% of KES, respectively. Our results suggest the high potential use of UAV spray of insecticides for the management of sugarcane borer in commercial crop production in China.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4

References

  • Bae, Y., and Y.M. Koo. 2013. Flight attitudes and spray patterns of a roll-balanced agricultural unmanned helicopter. Applied Engineering in Agriculture 29(5): 675–682.

    Google Scholar 

  • Basnayake, J., P. Lakshmanan, P. Jackson, S. Chapman, and S. Natarajan. 2016. Canopy temperature: A predictor of sugarcane yield for irrigated and rainfed conditions. Proceeding of International Society of Sugar Cane Technologists 29: 50–57.

    Google Scholar 

  • Daroub, S.H., T.A. Lang, O.A. Diaz, and S. Grunwald. 2009. Long-term water quality trends after implementing best management practices in south Florida. Journal of Environmental Quality 38(4): 1683–1693.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • de Souza, C.H.W., R.A.C. Lamparelli, J.V. Rocha, and P.S.G. Magalhães. 2017. Mapping skips in sugarcane fields using object-based analysis of unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) images. Computers and Electronics in Agriculture 143: 49–56.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Faiçal, B.S., F.G. Costa, G. Pessin, J. Ueyama, H. Freitas, A. Colombo, and T. Braun. 2014. The use of unmanned aerial vehicles and wireless sensor networks for spraying pesticides. Journal of Systems Architecture 60(4): 393–404.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Franke, A.C., C. Kempenaar, H.J. Holterman, and J.C.V.D. Zande. 2010. Spray drift from knapsack sprayers: A study conducted within the framework of the Sino-Dutch Pesticide Environmental Risk Assessment Project PERAP. Drug Metabolism & Disposition the Biological Fate of Chemicals 40(10): 2021–2025.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gebregiorgis, F. 2012. Increasing the efficiency of knapsack sprayers by modifying a single nozzle sprayer into a low cost multi nozzle sprayer. Ethiopian Journal of Health Development 5: 28–42.

    Google Scholar 

  • Goebel, F.R., E. Achadian, and P. Mcguire. 2014. The economic impact of sugarcane moth borers in Indonesia. Sugar Tech 16(4): 405–410.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Huang, Y.K., and W.F. Li. 2011. Contemporary atlas of sugarcane disease, insect and weed, 206. Beijing: China Agriculture Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kaufman, W.R., S.G. Ungarian, and A.E. Noga. 1986. The effect of avermectins on feeding, salivary fluid secretion, and fecundity in some ixodid ticks. Experimental and Applied Acarology 2(1): 1–18.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Lan, Y.B., S.D. Chen, and B.K. Fritz. 2017. Current status and future trends of precision agricultural aviation technologies. International Journal of Agricultural and Biological Engineering 10(3): 1–17.

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Larsen, N.A., G.S. Nuessly, and R.H. Cherry. 2016. Efficacy of pyrethroid and neonicotinoid insecticides for Melanotus communis (Gyll.) (Coleoptera: Elateridae) control in Florida sugarcane (Saccharum spp.). Journal of Applied Entomology 140(7): 517–526.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Li, Y.R., and L.T. Yang. 2015. Sugarcane agriculture and sugar industry in China. Sugar Tech 17(1): 1–8.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Primicerio, J., S.F. Di Gennaro, E. Fiorillo, L. Genesio, E. Lugato, A. Matese, and F.P. Vaccari. 2012. A flexible unmanned aerial vehicle for precision agriculture. Precision Agriculture 13(4): 517–523.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Qin, W.C., B.J. Qiu, X.Y. Xue, C. Chen, Z.F. Xu, and Q.Q. Zhou. 2016. Droplet deposition and control effect of insecticides sprayed with an unmanned aerial vehicle against plant hoppers. Crop Protection 85: 79–88.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Qin, W.C., X.Y. Xue, L.X. Zhou, S.C. Zhang, Z. Sun, W. Kong, and B.K. Wang. 2014. Effects of spraying parameters of unmanned aerial vehicle on droplets deposition distribution of maize canopies. Transactions of the Chinese Society of Agricultural Engineering 30(5): 50–56.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rahman, K.M.A. 2017. Embryonic development disrupted in the desert locust Schistocerca gregaria forskal (Orthoptera: Acrididae) due to lufenuron application. Efflatounia 17: 1–8.

    Google Scholar 

  • Saari, H., I. Pellikka, L. Pesonen, S. Tuominen, J. Heikkilä, C. Holmlund, and T. Antila. 2011. Unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) operated spectral camera system for forest and agriculture applications. In Remote sensing for agriculture, ecosys, and hydrology XIII, vol. 8174, 81740H. International Society for Optics and Photonics.

  • Sanches, G.M., D.G. Duft, O.T. Kölln, A.C.D.S. Luciano, S.G.Q. De Castro, F.M. Okuno, and H.C.J. Franco. 2018. The potential for RGB images obtained using unmanned aerial vehicle to assess and predict yield in sugarcane fields. International Journal of Remote Sensing 39(15–16): 5402–5414.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Torres-Sánchez, J., F. López-Granados, A.I. De Castro, and J.M. Peña-Barragán. 2013. Configuration and specifications of an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) for early site specific weed management. PLoS ONE 8(3): e58210.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Wilson, B.E., M.T. Vanweelden, J.M. Beuzelin, T.E. Reagan, and J.A. Prado. 2017. Efficacy of insect growth regulators and diamide insecticides for control of borers (Lepidoptera: Crambidae) in sugarcane. Journal of Economic Entomology 110(2): 1–11.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Xue, X.Y., J. Liang, and X.M. Fu. 2008. Prospect of aviation plant protection in China. Chinese Agricultural Mechanization 5: 72–74.

    Google Scholar 

  • Yano, I.H., J.R. Alves, W.E. Santiago, and B.J. Mederos. 2016. Identification of weeds in sugarcane fields through images taken by UAV and random forest classifier. IFAC-Papers On Line 49(16): 415–420.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhu, H.P., M. Salyani, and R.D. Fox. 2011. A portable scanning system for evaluation of spray deposit distribution. Computers and Electronics in Agriculture 76(1): 38–43.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

This study was funded by Guangxi Science and Technology Base and Talents Special Project (Guike AD17195100), Fund for Guangxi Innovation Teams of Modern Agriculture Technology (nycytxgxcxtd-03-01), Guangxi Natural Science Foundation (2015GXNSFBA139060).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Sugarcane Research Institute, Guangxi Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Sugarcane Research Center, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Key Laboratory of Sugarcane Biotechnology and Genetic Improvement (Guangxi), Ministry of Agriculture, Guangxi Key Laboratory of Sugarcane Genetic Improvement, Nanning, 530007, China

    Xiao-Qiu Zhang, Zhen-Qiang Qin, De-Wei Li, Chun-Yan Wei, Jin-Ju Wei, Yang-Rui Li & Xiu-Peng Song

  2. XAIRCRAFT Technologies Co., Ltd., Guangzhou, 510000, China

    Yong-Jian Liang

Authors
  1. Xiao-Qiu Zhang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Yong-Jian Liang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Zhen-Qiang Qin
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. De-Wei Li
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Chun-Yan Wei
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Jin-Ju Wei
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. Yang-Rui Li
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  8. Xiu-Peng Song
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Yang-Rui Li or Xiu-Peng Song.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Zhang, XQ., Liang, YJ., Qin, ZQ. et al. Application of Multi-rotor Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Application in Management of Stem Borer (Lepidoptera) in Sugarcane. Sugar Tech 21, 847–852 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12355-018-0695-y

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12355-018-0695-y

Keywords

Search

Navigation