System for the application of pesticides

• US 20040034459A1
• Filed: 04/11/2003
• Published: 02/19/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 10/14/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Syngenta Crop Protection Incorporated (China National Chemical Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Syngenta Crop Protection Incorporated (China National Chemical Corporation)
• Inventors: Hoelscher, Ingo, Gutbrod, Karl
• Granted Patent: US 6,907,319 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/50
• CPC Class Codes: A01M 7/0089 Regulating or controlling systems the delivery being related to the movement of a vehicle B05B9/06
• CPC Class Codes: Y02P 60/21 Dinitrogen oxide [N2O], e.g. using aquaponics, hydroponics or efficiency measures

Abstract

A system for the variable rate application of pesticides is provides, comprising a) a vehicle capable of traversing an agricultural production area; b) at least one sensor for attachment to said vehicle for direct sensing plant and/or condition data on said agricultural production area, said sensor being capable of transmitting said directly sensed data to computing means; c) computing means for processing the data output of said sensor; d) at least one tank mounted on or attached to said vehicle carrying pesticidal formulations; e) pesticide delivery means mounted on or attached to said vehicle capable of receiving delivery instructions from said computing means and of delivering pesticides from said tank in compliance with said instructions; characterized in that f) said computing means is capable of reading and processing data from a computer-readable medium having stored thereon a plurality of data, said plurality of data including data relating to the functional relationship between the amounts of individual pesticides and the biological effects achievable with said amounts on the plants or their environment, optionally under consideration of the soil conditions and climatic conditions.

Claims

1. A system for the variable rate application of pesticides, comprising

a) a vehicle capable of traversing an agricultural production area;

b) at least one sensor for attachment to said vehicle for direct sensing plant and/or condition data on said agricultural production area, said sensor being capable of transmitting said directly sensed data to computing means;

c) computing means for processing the data output of said sensor;

d) at least one tank mounted on or attached to said vehicle carrying pesticidal formulations;

e) pesticide delivery means mounted on or attached to said vehicle capable of receiving delivery instructions from said computing means and of delivering pesticides from said tank in compliance with said instructions;

characterized in that

f) said computing means is capable of reading and processing data from a computer-readable medium having stored thereon a plurality of data, said plurality of data including data relating to a standardized functional relationship between the amounts of individual pesticides and the biological effects achievable with said amounts on said plants or their environment.

2. A system according to claim 1, characterized in that said functional relationship considers soil conditions and/or climatic conditions.

3. A system according to claim 2, characterized in that at least one parameter selected from soil conditions and climatic conditions is directly sensed.

4. A system according to claim 1, characterized in that said functional relationship comprises a dose-response curve.

5. A system according to claim 1, characterized in that said functional relationship comprises a dose-response curve which contains data defining the minimum and maximum pesticidally effective dose relating to the treated plants or their environment.

6. A system according to claim 2, characterized in that said climatic condition is the air temperature at the location of said agricultural production area.

7. A system according to claim 2, characterized in that said climatic condition is the moisture content of the plant leaves at the location of said agricultural production area.

8. A system according to claim 1, characterized in that said functional relationship considers the elapsed time after the emergence of the culture crops.

9. A system according to claim 1, characterized in that said computing means is attached to said vehicle.

10. A system according to claim 1, characterized in that said at least one sensor is a light reflectance sensor measuring the chlorophyll content in the plant.

11. A system according to claim 1, characterized in that said at least one sensor is a moisture sensor measuring the moisture content of the soil.

14. A computer-readable medium having stored thereon a plurality of data, said plurality of data including data relating to the functional relationship between the amounts of individual pesticides and the biological effects achievable with said amounts on the plants or their environment which, when executed by computing means, cause said computing means to correlate said data with data obtained from at least one sensor according to the system of claim 1.

15. Computer-readable medium according to claim 14, characterized in that said functional relationship considers the soil conditions and climatic conditions.

12. A method for the variable rate application of pesticides comprising the steps of

a) directly sensing plant and/or condition data on an agricultural production area with at least one sensor attached to a vehicle capable of traversing said agricultural production area,

b) transmitting the directly sensed data from said sensor to computing means;

c) providing a computer-readable medium having stored thereon a plurality of data, said plurality of data including data relating to the functional relationship between the amounts of individual pesticides and the biological effects achievable with said amounts on the plants or their environment,

d) calculating with said computing means pesticide application rates online during movement of said vehicle on or over the agricultural production area by correlating said directly sensed data with said plurality of data relating to said functional relationship stored on said computer-readable medium,

d) sending the calculated pesticide application rates as delivery instructions from said computing means to pesticide delivery means mounted on or attached to said vehicle and capable of delivering pesticides from least one tank mounted on or attached to said vehicle; and

e) treating said agricultural production area with the calculated amount of the so delivered pesticides.

13. A method according to claim 12, characterized in that said functional relationship considers soil conditions and/or climatic conditions.

16. A pesticide packaging system containing at least one specific pesticidal composition, characterized in that the packaging system contains at least one computer-readable medium having stored thereon a plurality of data, said plurality of data including data relating to the functional relationship between the amounts of said specific pesticidal composition and the biological effects achievable with said amounts on the plants or their environment.

17. Pesticide packaging system according to claim 16, characterized in that said functional relationship considers the soil conditions and climatic conditions.

18. A process for ordering pesticides, characterized by the steps of

a) receiving instructions from the customer to deliver at least one pesticide;

b) delivering said pesticide to the customer; and

c) delivering to the customer by electronic transmission via internet or on a computer-readable medium data relating to the functional relationship between the amount of said pesticide and the biological effects achievable with said amount on the plants or their environment, said data being in a form which allows processing with said computing means.

19. A process according to claim 18, characterized in that said functional relationship considers the soil conditions and climatic conditions.

20. A process according to claim 18, characterized in that said data are provided on a computer-readable medium.