A master's thesis in the Department of Agricultural Machinery and Equipment/College of Agriculture, University of Basra, investigated improving the performance of battery-powered knapsack sprayers and studied their performance in the laboratory and field under various operating conditions.

The thesis, presented by graduate student Abbas Arkhees Jalib and supervised by Professor Dr. Majid Hazem Rashk, aimed to reduce drift and increase deposition of pesticide spraying by improving spraying operations using assisted air velocities.

The thesis included two experiments: the first to measure the laboratory characteristics of spray droplets, and the second to control whiteflies on tomato crops in greenhouses and aphids on sorghum crops in the field.

The study found that the best combination of nozzle size 06 with an air velocity of 6.5 m/s significantly improved the performance of spray droplets and insect control efficiency in both fields with an air velocity of 9.5 m/s.