The Use of Laser- induced Fluorescence for Studying the Effect of Leaf Reflectivity on Water Hyacinth Growth

Abstract

Studies in the water hyacinth field revealed that, it causes crises in the national economy ( navigation, power generation, irrigation and fishering resource). This study aimed to develop a simple and cheap method for combating water hyacinth. The main idea is to increase the reflectivity of the leaf by covering it by paint. This is because the light plays an important role in the photosynthesis process. The increase of reflectivity results in reducing the transmission of light to the chlorophyll molecules. The fluorescence peaks were measured, using laser-induced fluorescence technique. It has been noticed that, there is a decrease in the peaks ratios when the paint thickness is increased. When sufficient paint was applied, the plant died within 24 hours.