Abstract

Considering the need to reduce environmental contamination and uplift the effectiveness and quality of pesticide application, this work had the goal to determine the conditions of use and conservation of agricultural sprayers used in the Central and Western border of the state of Rio Grande do Sul, and to identify the most frequent problems in agricultural sprayers. Fifty-six sprayers connected to a three-point hydraulic system and the tractor drawbar were inspected, evaluating the safety and operation items using the methodology described in the Standard ISO 16122. After the evaluations, the collected data were submitted to an exploratory analysis by using descriptive statistics with the use of percentage frequency. Based on the obtained results, it is possible to observe that the most serious problems are mainly related to the safety of the operator and the environment, since 41.07% of the sprayers did not have the protection of the cardan transmission and 33.93% did not have the protection of straps and pulleys. In addition, static leaks were present in 46.43% of the samples and 87.50% presented dynamic leaks. In 71.43% of the cases, there was no presence of a clean water reservoir to wash the rigid packagings. Therefore, it is possible to conclude that the state of use and conservation of the inspected sprayers is serious, justifying the need for inspections on agricultural sprayers to become mandatory in Brazil, also requiring government policies for the renewal of these equipments, as well as, the homologation of research centers to conduct tests on agricultural machinery and implements before their commercialization. In addition is also necessary to invest in training of operators by conducting technical courses about the importance of equipment knowledge, available technologies and necessary maintenance, as the level of knowledge is low about the basics of operational safety, maintenance and use of the sprayers which contributes to the high percentages of nonconformity with ISO 16122.

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