The study aimed to evaluate the pulverization characteristics of the hydraulic nozzles and rotary-disk atomizer with different spraying rates on wheat crops, and their operational capacity. For this reason were installed two experiments, on the harvest years of 2009 and 2010. In first year was used the cultivar Fundacep 30, and in the second year the cultivars Pampeano and Nova Era. The experiments evaluating the pulverization with flat nozzles and hollow cone spray nozzle, both with the pulverization rate of 120 L ha-1, and rotary-disk atomizer with 24 and 34 L ha-1 in low volume in oil. The evaluated parameters were the droplet density and the medium volumetric diameter on the upper, mid and lower third throughout the analysis of water sensible cards. Also, was calculated the operational capacity of the traits. The results showed that the rotary-disk atomizer with 24L ha-¹ showed a higher droplet density on the upper third, however, there was no difference among the mid and lower thirds treatments. The rotary-disk atomizer presented droplets of smaller medium volumetric diameter compared to the hydraulic nozzles that presented high droplet heterogeneity. The higher operational capacity was achieved with the atomizers, due the lower spray volume used by this equipment.
Application technology; droplet density; medium volumetric diameter; operational capacity
