Vol. 9, Special Issue 4, Part H (2025)

Chemical weed management in agriculture has gained popularity due to its simplicity, efficiency, and effectiveness in weed control. Herbicides are typically applied using low-pressure agricultural sprayers in crop fields. The nozzle plays a crucial role in achieving proper spray atomization. Selecting the right nozzle is critical to ensure the development of the desired spray pattern. Droplets smaller than 150 microns present a significant risk of drift. Choosing the correct nozzle not only helps achieve the desired spray pattern but also minimizes spray drift. Optimal spray uniformity is achieved with 50 to 100% overlapping of the nozzle spacing. Standard flat fan nozzles are recommended for broadcast application, while even flat fan nozzles are ideal for band application. In testing, N1-Hollow cone (HCN/PB), N2- Flat fan (XLCC/900), N3 - Flood type (XLP/WP40), N4- Flat fan (F 110/16/3) nozzles were tested on patternator and spraytec laser droplet analyzer at three different pressures (2, 3 and 4 kg/cm²) and three different heights (250, 350 and 450 mm). It was found that the flat fan type nozzles N2 and N4 were suitable for pre-emergence application of herbicide. They have produces medium to coarse droplets depending on the working pressure, type and height. But at treatment N2H3P2, it produces droplet size of 360.99 μm and uniformity coefficient as 6.9 which is less than N4 i.e. 7.1. A wide range of pressure and height settings would have created a distribution that would have been considered acceptable (i.e., CV < 10%) for the N2 nozzle at height H3 and pressure P2 with spray angle of 81.42° and swath width 60.57 cm.