Frequently Asked Questions About UV-C

UV-C radiation works by damaging the DNA of fungal pathogens, inhibiting their growth and spread. The treatment is most effective when done during night time, as fungal pathogens lose their self-repair capability without sunlight; they are “killed” permanently.

Traditional chemical treatment increases the humidity of the environment, leading to higher chances of fungal diseases. The movement of the spay can increase harm on the plants and also spread the fungus spores to some degree. Chemical Resistance is also increasing. Harvest is usually stopped several days after spray.

UV-C is a non-chemical way of treatment without such problems. It is also significantly better for the plants health to not be coated, and/or blown about/brushed about. This also helps you to meet more and more stringent restriction of chemical usages.

Its effectiveness depends on direct exposure, as the radiation intensity decreases with distance and UV-C may not adequately reach leaves or fruit concealed within the crop canopy.

To address this challenge, our U303 robot features adjustable irradiation angles, enabling treatment from different directions, including the front and rear of the crop canopy.

Our technology is designed to deliver an appropriate UV-C dose based on three key factors: treatment frequency, exposure time and distance from the target. These parameters are carefully controlled to help achieve effective treatment.

The treatment is best when the farm deleafs and has good husbandry as the UV-C can penetrate better in these conditions.

Our approach focuses primarily on prevention, we typically start treatment soon after baby strawberries planted. Consequently, fruit infections are relatively uncommon in crops treated using our technology.

Our experiments have also demonstrated that direct UV-C treatment of infected fruit over seven consecutive days can eliminate visible powdery mildew symptoms and prevent further spread under the conditions tested.

Under our recommended operating conditions, UV-C treatment has shown no discernible adverse effects on flowering. The robot exposes each target area for only a few seconds at a time, with exposure duration and intensity carefully controlled to deliver an appropriate dose while minimizing potential adverse effects on the crop.

The UV-C lamps emit radiation continuously while the robot is operating. As the robot moves along the crop rows, it travels slowly past each plant or target area to deliver the required exposure.

To ensure an appropriate UV-C dose, we have established recommended operating parameters, including treatment frequency, robot travel speed and UV-C wavelength.

UV-C treatment can be effective against certain fungal diseases, with strawberry powdery mildew being our primary target and a key area in which we have demonstrated efficacy. (for example in Driscoll’s cases, powdery mildew control on strawberry up to 95%, yield increase up to 30% and some farms even higher)

However, efficacy varies depending on the fungal species, crop conditions and treatment parameters. We therefore focus on validating our technology against specific pathogens rather than claiming universal effectiveness against all fungal diseases.

Strawberries are currently our primary recommended crop. Our UV-C technology has been widely deployed in strawberry farms, where we have established practical application extensive experience.

We are also testing and validating the technology for other crops, including blueberries and grapes. We believe the UV-C treatment could be applied to a wide range of crops.

The area coverage is related to the movement speed of the robot during treatment. Based on our practice in strawberry farms, one robot of U303 can cover 1-2 hectares ( depending on the tunnel layout and ground conditions and dose requirement).

The high performance U501/U502 for ground strawberries can cover larger areas.

Antobot’s experts will determine the best dosage for the actual usage scenario with customers, to ensure the radiation is not exceeding the safety level. Besides, the robot has a safety mechanism: if the robot stops for over 3 seconds, the UV-C light will be off instantly.