The vegetation that remains in the soil after harvest benefits the physical and chemical properties of soil. However, the straw becomes a barrier to the application of pre-emergence herbicides, preventing it from reaching the target. In these cases, the choice of spray tip and droplet size is essential for successful aplication. Thus, the objective of this work was to evaluate the efficiency of penetration of the spray applied, depending on the size of the droplets produced by several types of spray nozzles on oat straw. The study was conducted in Maringá-PR, using gerbox-type boxes as collection units, covered by different amounts of oat straw. The experimental design was completely randomized in a factorial scheme 8x7, with eight spray nozzles (fan and cone) and 7 increasing amounts of oat straw. The product retained on the collection unit surface was collected and the absorbance was measured. Data were subjected to analysis of variance and averages compared by means of the Skott-Knott grouping, at 5% probability. It could be concluded that droplet size is extremely important in the implementation of oat straw. Very fine and very coarse droplets fail to efficiently transpose the barrier formed by the straw. Spray nozzles that produce average size droplets (CV-IA 02 and ST-02) present a greater transposition volume than the others, being recommended for applications of pre-emergence herbicides in direct-sowing, up to 4tha-1 mulch.
spray nozzles; straw; herbicide droplet diameter; weed
