# Reduction of Pesticide Use in Fresh-Cut Salad Production through Artificial Intelligence
## 1 Introduction
### Fresh-Cut Salad Sector in Italy  
The agricultural area devoted to the production of fresh-cut vegetables in Italy is about 6500 ha. Production takes place mainly in plastic tunnels (in northern Italy), which are called \"Bergamasca\", or multitunnels (in southern Italy) [11]. The most common structure adopted is plastic tunnels of semicircular shape, with a width of 8-10 m, a length of 50-100 m and a height of 4 m. Usually, the greenhouse is divided into four rows of crops, with a typical inter-row of 1.5 m, separated by small nuts of about 0.2 m of width, being the paths for the tractor wheels.  
In 2015, Italy produced 110,000 t of fresh-cut vegetables, with a value of 6 744 million. Of the total value, lettuce comprised 75.4%, followed by wild rocket (9.5%), spinach (4.5%), and Swiss chard (1.3%) [10].  
Normally, the Italian ready-to-eat salad producers cultivate various types of salads, such as lettuce (_Latuca sativa_ L.), wild rocket (_Dipidaxis teuifolia_ L.), spinach (_Spinacia oleracea_ L.), lamb's lettuce (_Valerianella ulioria_ L.), some subspecies of chicory (_Cichorium titybus_ L. subspecies), and many others. These salads are grown in five to six cycles per year in the same greenhouse, with a duration of the production cycle that may vary from 20 to 90 days, according to the season. These plants grow under high crop density, with a lack of adequate crop rotation, and require a high number of pesticides treatments to avoid severe product losses.  
Pesticide treatments are typically performed two times during each life cycle of the plants; therefore, the number of treatments is estimated at 10 to 12 every 12 months, and the quantity of volume sprayed currently used is 1000 L/ha. For the treatment, machines designed for open fields are typically used, instead of machine optimized for greenhouses. These are constituted of a tank (usually from 300 to 1100 L capacity) where the pesticide mixed in water is contained, a hydraulic circuit which distributes the liquid up to the set of nozzles in charge of the spraying, and, sometimes, a fan that uses air to move the vegetation and partially avoid the drift effect of the droplets (movement of spray particles away from the target area). Usually, the spraying is performed through a simple boom, with no particular setup parameters, attached to the tank, and driven by a small tractor.  
Plant protection products are sold in liquid form or in soluble powder; to be used, they must be carefully mixed with water in the doses reported on the product label. Doses describe the amount of product per quantity of water (g/L) and the recommended quantity of PPPs per lactate (kg/ha); the last item of data, which is redundant, shows separately the water amount to be added in the mixture per unit area (L/ha). Regulators require that the quantity prescribed on the product label be used, so farmers cannot define an optimal amount of spray in different ways, as it is legally forbidden in Italy.  
It has been established that for the pesticides acting by contact, the correct dose to be used should not be referred to the field area, but rather to the overall surface of the leaves. However, during the growing period, the overall surface of a crop changes remarkably. Taking into account these dynamics, the scope of this work is to develop an artificial vision system supported by artificial intelligence, able to define optimal levels of mixture (PPP + water) related to different growth stages, to assure the highest protection effect, minimizing waste at the same time.