Three commercial air-assisted sprayers were tested in a hedgerow viney
ard, at full vegetative development (end of July; leaf area index = 1.
94), using a water-soluble food dye as a tracer. The spraying equipmen
t used was (1) a high-volume (1355 l ha(-1)) axial-fan sprayer; (2) a
low-volume (246 l ha(-1)) compressed-air sprayer (3) a sprayer fitted
with deflectable ail outlets, allowing an adjustment of the output ang
le, relative to the row direction, from 90 degrees to 118 degrees. All
application techniques appeared to be capable of delivering more than
64% of the sprayed material onto the leaves and grapes. The high-volu
me sprayer provided the most uniform distribution over the foliage. Th
e change of the output angle from 90 degrees to 118 degrees did not si
gnificantly affect total leaf deposition, but increased the overall va
riability of the deposits. Copyright (C) 1996 Elsevier Science Ltd.