Herbicide application using unmanned aerial vehicle in groundnut

A field experiment was conducted during Rabi, 2024-25 at S.V. Agricultural College Farm, Tirupati campus of Acharya N.G. Ranga Agricultural University, Andhra Pradesh to evaluate and compare the efficacy of pre- and post-emergence herbicides applied through unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) and knapsack sprayer for weed management in Rabi groundnut. Among different weed management treatments tested, pre-emergence application (PE) of pendimethalin 1kg/ha with UAV at 50 L/ha of spray fluid significantly reduced total weed density and biomass with higher weed control efficiency and resulted in increased groundnut yield attributes and yield. It was statistically comparable with same herbicide application with knapsack sprayer at 500 L/ha. The highest benefit-cost ratio was observed with pendimethalin 1.0 kg/ha PE with UAV using 50 L/ha of spray fluid indicating that usage of unmanned aerial vehicle for herbicide spraying has potential as an alternative to conventional knapsack sprayer for herbicide application in groundnut.