Articles
Continuous over-the-row harvesting for Prunus domestica in central Italy
Article number
1450_15
Pages
111 – 116
Language
English
Abstract
To date, the lack of labor availability for many agricultural practices is an increasing problem in Europe and especially in Italy.
Moreover, the manual execution for some operations is becoming too expensive and time-consuming.
Fruit harvesting is one of the most expensive practices requiring a huge amount of labor so that mechanical harvesting is becoming very common for many fruit crops.
The objective of this study was to evaluate the efficiency of an over-the-row harvesting machine New Holland Braud mod.
VL 6090 on Prunus domestica ‘Stanley’ trained as a continuous row in central Italy.
Mechanical harvesting was compared with manual harvesting on a pedonal palmette system with a 4×2 m planting distances in the 3rd year.
Some parameters were measured in the field as the harvesting time of the machine and the manual operator.
This includes the harvest efficiency in terms of total fruit collected from the tree, the loss of fruits that fell on the ground and the external damage on the fruit induced by the mechanical harvesting.
The harvested fruit were also evaluated by the drying processing company which supplied the percentage of healthy and damaged fruit (waste). The results are very encouraging, both in terms of harvest time and final quality of the harvested fruit which resulted very similar in both harvesting systems.
In conclusion the mechanical harvesting of ‘Stanley’ plums in medium-small scale farms using over-the-row straddle harvesters supplied by service companies represents a promising solution to several contemporary agricultural challenges.
Moreover, the manual execution for some operations is becoming too expensive and time-consuming.
Fruit harvesting is one of the most expensive practices requiring a huge amount of labor so that mechanical harvesting is becoming very common for many fruit crops.
The objective of this study was to evaluate the efficiency of an over-the-row harvesting machine New Holland Braud mod.
VL 6090 on Prunus domestica ‘Stanley’ trained as a continuous row in central Italy.
Mechanical harvesting was compared with manual harvesting on a pedonal palmette system with a 4×2 m planting distances in the 3rd year.
Some parameters were measured in the field as the harvesting time of the machine and the manual operator.
This includes the harvest efficiency in terms of total fruit collected from the tree, the loss of fruits that fell on the ground and the external damage on the fruit induced by the mechanical harvesting.
The harvested fruit were also evaluated by the drying processing company which supplied the percentage of healthy and damaged fruit (waste). The results are very encouraging, both in terms of harvest time and final quality of the harvested fruit which resulted very similar in both harvesting systems.
In conclusion the mechanical harvesting of ‘Stanley’ plums in medium-small scale farms using over-the-row straddle harvesters supplied by service companies represents a promising solution to several contemporary agricultural challenges.
Publication
Authors
E.M. Lodolini, S. Crescenzi, G. Murri, V. Giorgi, D. Neri
Keywords
labor availability, mechanical harvest, harvesting efficiency, healthy fruits, ‘Stanley’
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