Development of equipment for mechanical control of aquatic plants at the Americana reservoir in Brazil

Abstract

The aim of this work was to develop and evaluate the operational capacity of a device for aquatic plant control, as well to establish procedures to improve plant control at the Americana reservoir in Brazil. Basically, the equipment consists of a shore conveyor (3.0 m wide x 10.0 m long) for collecting and carrying the plants to a cutter (that breaks the plants before transportation, facilitating their decomposition and transport. The analysis showed that the operational capacity of the equipment was approximately 7.73 m³ h-1. Considering the lowest growth index observed in the reservoir description, 2.27%, the system should remove approximately 28 m³ h-1. This equipment can act as a support for aquatic plant control, without providing an effective control when used alone.

weed; reservoir; management