Evaluación de la tecnología de aplicación con drones en el control de malezas

Technological advances in agriculture have enabled the development of new tools that seek to optimize pesticide applications and improve the efficiency of weed control. Among these, the incorporation of agricultural drones represents a recent innovation that offers operational advantages over traditional ground and aerial equipment, such as the ability to work in limited soils, reduced infrastructure requirements, and greater application precision. The objective of this study was to evaluate different drone application technologies for weed control efficiency in herbicide application situations in fallow land and in a wheat crop. To this end, two experiments were conducted at the Mario A. Cassinoni Experimental Station (EEMAC) of the Faculty of Agronomy. The treatments consisted of a combination of two application volumes (10 and 20 L/ha) and two droplet sizes (350 and 500 μm), applied with a DJI Agras T40 drone. In each experiment, four treatments were evaluated, analyzing application quality parameters using water-sensitive cards and controlling efficacy against different weed species. The results showed that, under favorable weather conditions, no significant differences in weed control efficacy were observed between treatments, with excellent levels of control achieved for all species evaluated in fallow land. In wheat, although droplet volume and size did not generally determine efficacy, differential responses were observed in Raphanus raphanistrum and Coronopus didymus. Differential performance was observed in R. raphanistrum for the 10 L/ha and 500 μm treatments, while in C. didymus only the 20 L/ha treatments achieved excellent levels. Regarding droplet deposition, treatments with 350 μm droplets achieved higher impact densities and better coverage, albeit with greater variability, while 500 μm droplets showed more uniform distribution but lower coverage. Overall, the results indicate that drone-assisted herbicide application achieves high levels of weed control efficacy with reduced volumes, representing an efficient and sustainable alternative for weed management.