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Sustainability
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Sustainable Use of Chemicals and Materials in Agriculture Practice
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Sustainable Use of Chemicals and Materials in Agriculture Practice

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Sustainable Agriculture".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 August 2022) | Viewed by 2888

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Hao Chen

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Agriculture, School of Agriculture, Fisheries and Human Sciences, University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff, 1200 North University Drive, Pine Bluff, AR 71601, USA
Interests: soil chemistry; adsorption; carbon materials; nanoparticles
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear colleagues,

Agricultural intensification is inevitable for many countries due to rapid population growth. Large-scale agricultural chemicals and material applications are required for intensified agriculture to maximize productivity and economic returns. As a result, agricultural chemicals and materials can accumulate in farmland over time and cause environmental degradation. Sustainable use of chemicals and materials in agriculture practice is a comprehensive farming practice that integrates biological, chemical, and ecological sciences to meet food demand and prevent environmental degradation. These practices include promoting ecofriendly biofertilizers or biopesticides, developing agrochemicals with high dose efficiency such as nanoenabled agrochemicals, establishing a precision agriculture system to reduce chemical input, and applying biodegradable plastic for soil mulching. Despite the progress in developing sustainable agriculture, there are many open questions and challenges regarding farming cost, biological and chemical effectiveness, and long-term safety. This Special Issue aims to cover the recent developments in technical advances in the sustainable use of chemicals and materials, such as sustainable management or green agricultural chemical technologies. Original research articles and review papers are welcome. Research areas may include (but not be limited to) precision agriculture chemical, sustainable nutrient management, nanoenabled agrochemical, biofertilizer, biopesticides, compostable or degradable agricultural materials. We look forward to receiving your contribution.

Dr. Hao Chen
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • sustainable agriculture
  • precision agriculture chemical
  • slow/controlled release
  • sustainable nutrient management
  • nanofertilizers
  • nanopesticides
  • biofertilizer
  • biopesticides
  • bioplastic
  • compostable or degradable agricultural materials

Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

22 pages, 4862 KiB  
Article
Development and Evaluation of a Prototype Self-Propelled Crop Sprayer for Agricultural Sustainability in Small Farms
by Abdul Ghafoor, Fraz Ahmad Khan, Farzaneh Khorsandi, Muhammad Azam Khan, Hafiz Muhammad Nauman and Muhammad Usman Farid
Sustainability 2022, 14(15), 9204; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su14159204 - 27 Jul 2022
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2054
Abstract
In most Asian countries, farmers have smallholdings ranging from one to two hectares. The tractor-mounted boom sprayers cannot practically be used in small size farms with divided plots and complex terrain. To cope with these issues, a prototype self-propelled crop sprayer was developed, [...] Read more.
In most Asian countries, farmers have smallholdings ranging from one to two hectares. The tractor-mounted boom sprayers cannot practically be used in small size farms with divided plots and complex terrain. To cope with these issues, a prototype self-propelled crop sprayer was developed, including a 20-hp engine, 300 L liquid tank, and hydraulically-controlled spray boom with eight hollow cone nozzles. The spray symmetry of the hollow cone nozzle was evaluated under four pressures (2.5, 3, 3.5, and 4 bar) in the laboratory. The operating parameters of the sprayer, such as forward speed (4, 6, and 8 km h−1), spray height (40, 55, and 70 cm), and pressure (3, 5, and 7 bar) were optimized by measuring three spray characteristics including droplet density, coverage percentage, and Volume Median Diameter (VMD) in the cotton field. The results revealed that the nozzle spray was symmetrical at 2.5 and 3 bar pressure as the R2 value was higher than 0.96. The field test result showed that in all treatments, treatments T14 (6 km h−1, 55 cm, 5 bar) and T22 (8 km h−1, 55 cm, 3 bar) were suitable for spraying medium-to-low concentration solution (post-emergence herbicides and fungicides) and high concentration solution (insecticides and pre-emergence herbicides), respectively. The spray characteristics at treatments T14 and T22 were 64.7 droplets cm−2, 26.7%, 230 µm, and 39 droplets cm−2, 14.9%, and 219.8 µm respectively. The field efficiency of the sprayer was 61%. The spraying cost per unit area was 55–64% less compared to manual labor cost. In conclusion, a prototype self-propelled crop sprayer is an efficient and environment-friendly technology for small farms. Operating the sprayer at the optimal parameters also saves operational costs and time. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Use of Chemicals and Materials in Agriculture Practice)
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