Aerial treatments in forest protection – research methodology

Treatment effectiveness in forest protection against harmful insects depends not only on pesticide efficacy of the product applied, but also on a number of other factors including assurance that a given insecticide reaches the pest living in the canopy. In the treatments with the use of aerial equipment (silva-aerial) it is advisable to consider species and age diversity of protected tree stands. The paper presents research methodology on the assessment of spray structure and density, penetration of spray droplets into the canopy as well as a degree of coverage and incorporation in tree crowns. The methodology proposed takes into account characteristics of the forest area studied and its surroundings, as well as the parameters and equipment of the measurement line. There were determined: operation requirements for the aircraft and its test and registration equipment as well as demands on pilot qualifications, flight performance on the measurement line and weather conditions allowing for conducting test trials. In the paper, there are presented a set of values and mathematical formulas needed for the analyses. Taking into account ecological threats, there were included the methods on evaluation of spray drift of the liquid distributed over the forest.