CHAPTER-FIVE

FERTILIZER & CHEMICAL

APPLICATORS

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5.1 Fertilizer and Chemical applicators
 Fertilizers are applied to the soil to increase the available supply of
plant nutrients (principally nitrogen, phosphorous, and potassium)
and thus promote greater yields or better crop quality. 
 Plant protection chemical applicators are designed to apply
specific amount of chemical at a specific location.
 Chemicals like pesticides, insecticides etc, are applied to the soil to kill or
destroy unnecessary insects (pests) and weeds from the field of crops.
 

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 Fertilizers can be :
 organic fertilizer
 inorganic fertilizers.

 Organic fertilizers -include farmyard manures, which are applied in

large quantities.
 Organic fertilizers include naturally occurring organic materials, (e.g.
manure, worm castings, compost and so on.)

 inorganic fertilizers -inorganic fertilizers composed of synthetic

chemicals and minerals which produces ammonia as the end
product.

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 Inorganic or commercial fertilizers include urea, DAP and supper
phosphates, which are applied in smaller predetermined quantities
relative to the organic ones.
 The fertilizer equipment needed will, therefore, be selected
depending on the type of fertilizer and the form of application.
 All types of fertilizer equipment have:
 Storage unit, Metering mechanism, Carrying frame

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 Fertilizers can be applied to the soil in several forms, such
as:
1. Barnyard manure

2. Granular or pellets of fertilizers of various formula

3. Fertilizers in the form of liquid and gaseous form

 Special equipment is, therefore, required for the handling of

these types of fertilizers, which are applied to the soil and crop
in various ways at different stages of culture.

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 1. Barnyard manure applicators
• Barnyard manure may be applied in liquid (slurry) and
solid form.
• The liquid slurry application involves the same working
principle as liquid fertilizer applicator.
• Slurry is the composition of organic fertilizer (manure)
and water.

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Dry manure application
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 2. Granular or dry Fertilizer Applicators
 Dry, granular fertilizers have for many years been the most common
types of fertilizers used by farmers. 
 Their applicators can be designed as attachments with planters so as to permit
dual operations in connection.  

 Some of the application methods for granular fertilizers are:

 Broadcasting before plowing.

 Deep placement with chisel-type cultivator.

 Broadcasted after plowing and before planting.

 Applied during the planting operation.

 Side-dressing applications on growing row crops or broadcasted top-dressing on solid-
planted crops.
 Drilled into established pastures and other sods with special equipment.
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 location of fertilizer in relation to the seed:-
Localized placement of fertilizer bands near the seeds at the time of planting
(rather than distribution over the entire area) favors early stimulations of the
seedlings and results in more effective utilization of plant nutrients.
However, excessive concentrations of soluble nutrients in contact with the seeds
or small roots may seriously injure the initial roots or even impair germination.
Best results with row crops have been obtained when the bands were 2.3 to
7.5cm below the level of the seed and placed 4 to 10cm laterally from the row
on one or both sides.

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 3. liquid fertilizer applicators
 When nitrogen, phosphorus, and potash are applied as a complete fertilizer, the
combination is near chemical neutrality and is termed a non pressure liquid
fertilizer.
 It can be sprayed out by: gravity flow, pump, or air pressure.

 It can be sprayed either with ground equipment or by aircraft.  

 Non-pressure liquid fertilizer attachments are available for many planters,
usually with one fiberglass tank provided for each two rows.  
 And Furrow openers and band locations are the same as for dry fertilizers,
except that the openers have small tubes which discharge the liquid close to the
furrow bottom.

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liquid fertilizer applicators 11
 The simplest metering arrangement for liquid fertilizers is gravity
flow through fixed nozzle.
 Row crop attachments employing this system have metering units that
contain a sediment bowl, a filter, one or two nozzle sizes, and a quick-shut
off valve.

 Flow rate per area will vary appreciably with:

• pressure or head change
• nozzle diameter

• Forward speed of tractor

• With a given nozzle size and pressure, the application rate per
hector is inversely proportional to the forward speed.

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liquid fertilizer applicators 13
 5.2 Plant Protection Methods
 Currently there are five categories of plant protection methods:
 namely chemical, biological, agronomical, mechanical and biophysical.

1. Chemical method – is based on the use of substances that are toxic to harmful
organisms. such as insecticide, herbicide and pesticide.
2. Biological method – is based on the use of predatory and parasitic insects,
predatory mites, microorganisms, nematodes, birds, mammals, and so forth to
reduce the numbers of harmful organisms.
3. Agronomical method – consists of the use of all ranges of agronomical
measures such as crop protection, soil cultivation, optimum sowing time,
selection of pest and disease resistant variety that are improving the soil
condition and provide favorable condition for growth of crop, but unfavorable
condition for harmful organisms. 
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4. Mechanical method –consists the use of barrier and trap ditches, sticky strips,
various devices to catch pests and so on.
5. Bio-Physical Method – this method is very expensive and based on the use of such
physical agents as:
 radioactive and gamma radiation -to sterilize the insects,
 ultrasound and various sources of light –to trap insects and signal their
appearance in nature.
 Toxic Chemicals and Their Method of Application
 Crop quality and yields have been improved and the use of chemical herbicides
has greatly reduced labor requirements for weed control.
 But the wide spread use of pesticides has resulted in some serious environmental

and health problems.

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 Types of chemicals applied are:
 Pesticides - to protect pests
 Herbicides - to protect weeds
 Fungicides - to protect fungi disease
 Bactericide - to protect bacterial disease

 Method of application is dependent upon:

• Area of infestation, State of plant and Type of crop

 Depending on these factors one of the following methods is adapted:

 Spraying – fine liquid droplet
 Dusting – fine powder
 Fumigation – vapor gas
 Seed dressing – on surface and tissue of seed
 Poison baits – coating by poison
 Chemo-therapy – applying internally acting chemicals that are preventing
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extra cell division which is harming the plant.
1. SPRAYERS
• Field sprayers are primarily designed for applying weed and insect control
materials for field crops.
• In some cases the material is applied directly to the soil, as is done when
applying insecticides, fungicides, and post-emergence weed control materials.

 Function of sprayers: 
 To break the liquid into droplets of required size and distribute them
uniformly over the surface or space to be protected.
 To regulate the amount of insecticide or pesticide to avoid excessive

application that might prove harmful or wasteful. 

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 Classification of sprayer:
1. Manually operated e.g. KNAPSACK sprayer
2. Carried manually but power operated
3. Tractor operated (Boom sprayers)
4. Aircraft sprayers 

 Sprayer components:
 Tank: made of non-corrosive material (Plastic or fiberglass)
 Pump: imparts the correct pressure to the liquid carrier.
 Nozzle - discharge the chemical at the correct size in droplets.
 Additional components which comprises one or more of the following;
 pressure relief valve, pressure gage, boom lance, control valve or cut-off device,
filters, agitators, air chamber and strainer.

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Carried manually but power operated Manually operated

Tractor operated Aircraft sprayers

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 Controlling the spray application
 The volume per area applied on a field will depend on:
• the forward speed of the sprayer
• the number of nozzles and their rate of discharge.

 If the forward speed is suddenly doubled, then the nozzles will have
only half the time to deliver their spray in traveling a given distance,
and the amount applied in that distance will be cut in half. 
 Assuming a fixed number of nozzles on a sprayer, the rate of
discharge can be changed by increasing or decreasing the sprayer
pressure with in certain limits or by replacing the nozzles or nozzle
tips with similar units of a higher or lower capacity.
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2. Dusters
 A duster is equipment used to apply a crop protection material
(chemical) in powder form.
 A duster is a simpler, less troublesome machine than a sprayer and
no water is needed, but the weather must be calm for dusting. 
 A duster will usually have the following components:
a hopper
an agitator,(assist the free motion of dust particles)
metering mechanism (usually an adjustable orifice)
a delivery blower (creates air steam used to carry the powder
to the target)
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 A duster can be manually operated or powered.

 The manually operated one can be shoulder mounted .

 Dusters can also be ground ridge duster and aircraft duster.

 While dusting is in operation the prevailing wind direction should be used to

carry the dust to the target.

aircraft duster manually operated duster

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 Calibration of Sprayers 
 Having thoroughly checked the sprayer to see that it is operating
satisfactorily, it now remains to see if it will apply the amount of liquid per
hector that it is supposed to apply.
 To do this we must “calibrate” the sprayer.

 Before you begin you will need to make sure your sprayer is operating
properly, with no leaks, plugged filters, kinked lines or other problems.
 The output of any sprayer remains constant for a given nozzle size and
pressure setting.
 The output of the sprayer, then, can be varied by:
 Changing nozzle size

 Altering the working pressure

 Varying the forward speed 24

 The e nd
y o u fo r
Thank
atten ti o ns ! !
your

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