The best venue to assess the latest sprayers and accessories will be at the Spray & Sprayers section at next week’s British Cereals 2014 event. There will be more than 40 exhibitors in the specialist Sprays & Sprayers section, most of whom will have either new machines or fittings on view.

One of the noticeable features of the sprayer market is the increase in the numbers of self-propelled machines now available. While new self-propelled sprayer numbers may be small on the Irish market, there is a steady flow of good, secondhand machines coming here from across Europe.

There are different market requirements with regard to technical issues for self-propelled sprayers, such as forward speed rating on the public road. Machines have to be homologated separately when they offer a forward road speed over 25km/hr. Most now offer 40km/hr machines at the top end.

Many of these machines now have the capacity to operate at a road speed of 50km/hr due to the fact that they are fitted with suspension axles. There are issues about their safe use at this speed, especially when fully loaded with in excess of 4,000 litres of water. Germany will demand air brakes for all machines as fitted to the Amazone brand, while other countries seem satisfied with hydraulic brakes for machines that operate at road speeds up to 40km/hr.

Higher speed machines tend to have lower capacity. This high-speed concept is more popular in North America, while European farmers will often choose capacity over road speed, as distances from the yard to the field tend to be shorter.

At this year’s Cereals event, the Amazone Pantera 4502 self-propelled sprayer (above) will be demonstrated for the first time. It claims to offer increased output and driver comfort with Category IV cab filtration to keep even aerosol-sized particles out of the cab.

It is fitted with a larger 4,800-litre tank and the new 218hp, emissions-friendly Deutz engine is claimed to offer increased performance. It offers self-steering, and cleaning, filling, washing and mixing is simplified or automated using electronics. Data transfer for documentation, field boundaries and variable rate application is via ISO-XML files to a USB stick.

John Deere’s new mid-specification M-Series trailed sprayer range will also be in action in the Sprays & Sprayers arena.

M700 sprayers have 2400, 3200 or 4,000-litre tanks, and are equipped with a triple-folding 30m boom, to match 6m seeders or drills.

The larger M900 sprayers share many features with the range-topping R900i trailed machines, including high-capacity filling performance using the PowrFill chemical inductor, 5,200 or 6,200-litre tank capacities and steel booms from 24m to 40m.

Both the M700i and M900i sprayers are ISOBUS ready and include automatic boom height and tilt control and documentation software. Automatic tractor steering and GPS boom section control are available.

Dutch company Agrifac will have a new Condor Endurance sprayer, which is a bigger version of the company’s self-propelled Condor, using the same StabiloPlus chassis for vehicle and spray boom stability. This system allows higher speeds, which together with its 8,000-litre tank and a boom width of up to 51m aims to deliver high capacity. It is fitted with a powerful 320hp engine and has hydraulic track width adjustment.

Another Agrifac newcomer is the Condor Mountain Master Plus sprayer. The ground clearance on this sprayer can be adjusted between 140cm and 200cm from the cab and the machine can be levelled on slopes up to 20%.

Two special edition trailed sprayers will be on the Vicon stand.

The iXtrack Comfort 2800 is a 24m wide boom sprayer with a 2,800-litre tank that includes Autotrac axle steering, parallelogram boom suspension with slope correction and electro-hydraulic sprayer controls.

The iXtrack i-Spray 3600 has 24m wide aluminium boom and 3,600-litre capacity tank. It includes Isomatch Tellus ISO terminal, boom section control and in-line driving guidance display, as well as auto height control.

Berthoud will be rolling out its EC Tronic controls to its trailed 3,200-litre Tracker and mounted Elyte ranges. The control panel displays key information on a large backlit colour screen to ensure efficient spray application.

EC Tronic also incorporates boom control and sprayer set-up and stores key data for total traceability. Auto guidance and GPS controlled auto-boom shut-off are options.

The two Hardi Navigator sprayers provide the option of either 5,000 or 6,000-litre water capacity, according to Irish importer IAM Agricultural Machinery. This is claimed to give up to 40ha spray capacity in one go with 150 l/ha. The bigger tanks are supplemented by bigger booms. The boom options include the Eagle boom from 24m to 30m, the Delta boom from 24m to 28m and Force booms from 24m to 36m.

The sprayers are fitted with the DynamicFluid4 system that was introduced in 2011.

Hardi claims that the advantage of the system is faster reaction in the application control both when fast accelerating/braking with the CVT/PowerShift transmissions, and when sections are turned on and off using GPS AutoSectionControl. The unit is fitted with four sensors which are supporting each other in case of errors on one or more sensors.

The Sprays & Sprayers event provides an opportunity to showcase new nozzle systems. Pentair Hypro will be showing its new pneumatic twin-valve nozzle body to fit new crop sprayers. Called Duo React, the system combines a single outlet and a four-way turret in one compact unit.

It is claimed to allow easy in-cab nozzle switching for different spray characteristics or application rates. This, says the company, provides the simplicity of a single spray line with the versatility of twin-spray lines.

Lechler will be presenting its latest nozzle, the ID3. It uses the Venturi injector principle like the ID and IDN series, optimizing droplet spectrum and the nozzle can be used from two to eight-bar. Output can be doubled with little change in droplet size, allowing changes in application rate and/or speed without changing nozzles.

Lechler will also show its PRE 130-05 pre-emergence nozzle. This is the first nozzle listed at German JKI with the newly established 95% drift reduction classification for field spraying.

The transformation of the approval from Syngenta 130-05 to Lechler PRE 130-05 is already requested at JKI. The new nozzle has been developed especially for loss reduced pre-emergence application of herbicides. In the range from 1.5 to 5.0-bar, the nozzle goes for 95%, up to six-bar with 90 % drift reduction.

This is a wide pressure range for application close to water courses or other sensitive areas as well as for the whole field.

With the new nozzle, forward speed as well as litre/ha rate can be adjusted more flexibly in accordance to the restrictions of the label of the chemical.

The risk of drift to adjacent crops and sensitive areas is claimed to be minimised by reducing the fine droplets to an absolute minimum, even in unfavorable conditions.

TeeJet Technologies has a new Aeros 9040 field computer. This is designed to integrate a host of data, including precision guidance, auto-steering, mapping, variable rate application and automatic boom section control, into a single package.

It features an 8.4” colour touchscreen and accepts input from up to eight RealView cameras. The system also features a new droplet size monitoring function, ISOBUS UT capability and wireless data transfer. The new droplet size monitoring function is claimed to provide real-time display of droplet size during spraying operations.

TeeJet has a new DynaJet Flex 7120 control system, which is designed to provide in-cab droplet size control and allow for a wider operating speed range with a single spray tip. By combining pulse width modulation (PWM) technology with solenoid operated tip shutoffs, this system is claimed to enhance spraying productivity and performance. The DynaJet Flex 7120 works in conjunction with the sprayer’s existing rate control system.

The touchscreen display is mounted in the cab. The e-ChemSaver solenoid-operated tip shutoffs mounted at each nozzle body along the boom control liquid flow based on commands that modulate the “on” vs “off” time of each nozzle. The nozzle switches on and off 10 times each second, meaning fast reaction times and even spray coverage of the target.

By varying the duty cycle of the e-ChemSaver, Teekjet has claimed that the flow rates can be varied without changing system pressure. This aims to deliver a consistent droplet size across a wide range of ground speeds and application rates. Conversely, this system also allows the operator to vary droplet size as needed from the cab while maintaining a fixed application rate.

Hardi has a new Isobus HC 8500 controller. The HC 8500 has an 8.4” colour touchscreen display with a screen resolution of 800 x 600 pixels and offers compatibility with the ISO 11783 (Isobus) virtual terminal standard.

The operation is identical with the known bigger Hardi 9500 terminal. As well as the AutoWash, the HC8500 controller provides growers with a precision farming tool for guidance, data logging, automated steering and more.

Leeb’s novel Boom Control Pro system is available for the Horsch sprayer range. The hydraulically-proportional control system is claimed to offer smooth and exact positioning, keeping the boom close to the target area, even at high speeds and on hilly terrain.

The new Trimble TMX-2050 display includes an intuitive user interface built on the Android operating system. To provide farmers with the level of accuracy that is right for their operation, Trimble now offers a portfolio of correction options which are claimed to be the most versatile and accurate in the industry.

Trimble has a new Trimble Field-IQ crop input control system, which provides variable rate application control. It can monitor and apply up to six different materials simultaneously. It features automatic section control to avoid double coverage and eliminating wasted inputs.

Müller-Elektronik has a new automatic steering system, called TRACK-Leader AUTO eSteer. This consists of an electric wheel motor, which can be installed on any machine quickly and easily. The steering computer includes the indispensable six-axis gyroscope, which facilitates the assembly and, more importantly, it is responsible for the outstanding result of the steering.

The gyroscope detects all movements of the machine, roll, pitch and yaw; regardless of the driven path it compensates perfectly for uneven hilly terrain.

The biggest advantage is the simple and quick installation of the steering wheel motor. It can be retrofitted and can be easily moved from machine to machine, to ensures maximum utilisation.