Abstract

The development of the primary sector by expansion of cultivation areas and the raise of productive indexes promotes a larger use of agrotoxics, causing problems related to the inefficiency of applications, which becomes an issue to be studied, especially regarding the quality of sprayers and the precision of spraying. The goal of the present paper is to determine the condition and conservation of agricultural sprayers used in the West border and the Central region of Rio Grande do Sul state (RS), in southern Brazil, as well as identifying the most recurring problems, and assessing the applicability of ISO 16122 in the country’s reality. The execution of this work originated the Projeto de Inspeção de Pulverizadores Agrícolas (PIPA) [Agricultural Sprayer Inspection Project], which was undertaken in two regions of RS, inspecting 56 sprayers. The inspections were carried out by using the technical kit for agricultural sprayer inspection, according to requirements in the methodology described in ISO 16122 (2015). After evaluations were conducted, the data collected were submitted to exploratory analysis by descriptive statistics with the use of percentage frequency. Based on the results obtained, it was possible to conclude that there is need for agricultural sprayer inspection to become mandatory in Brazil. Considering the most frequent application problems, it was possible to verify that, in 64.29% of the evaluations, the precision of the manometer was considered as seriously flawed; in 73.21%, the transverse distribution of the spray wand was also seriously flawed, which is related principally to errors in the space among spray nozzles, and to their wear, affecting 76.79% of the cases in terms of application volume. Besides these, it was also observed that, in 69.64% of the inspected sprayers, the PTO rotation was below recommendation. In relation to the applicability of ISO 16122, it was concluded that there is need for it to be updated, developing specific methodologies for the inspection of self-propelled sprayers. In this sense, in case it be transcribed as ABNT NBR ISO 16122, the latter must specify new parameters so it be unanimously and appropriately used in accordance to Brazilian reality.

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