Articles
OVERALL MECHANIZATION OF HAZELNUT ORCHARDS IN SOUTHERN ITALY
Article number
845_65
Pages
419 – 424
Language
English
Abstract
The mechanization of agricultural practices is not sufficiently widespread in hazelnut orchards of Southern Italy, due to limiting agronomical and technical conditions.
The present research studied the following operations: maintenance of a grass-covered ground; fruit removal from under the trees; harvesting with vacuum and with pickup machines.
The maintenance of the grass-cover can be done with a standard flail mower or with a combined mower collector.
The best picking surface is obtained by mowing the grass and at the same time removing the clippings and other residual materials.
The flail mower collector has half the working capacity of the standard flail mower, in which a side rotary disk, with swing arm linkage, can be used for working on the row between the trees.
Fruits accumulated around the trunk must be removed by hand raking and sweeping, or using back-carried blowers or a special tractor-mounted turbine blower.
Hand tools for fruit removal are labour-intensive and slow.
The back-carried blower is speedy but can be tiring for workers.
The turbine blower has a high working speed and fruit removal is automatically accomplished during the harvest.
The best harvest performance is obtained with self-propelled vacuum harvesters.
Pick-up harvesters are efficient on wet ground and on turf, but they are slow and need a clean field.
Vacuum machines raise a lot of dust, even if equipped with cyclone separators.
The present research studied the following operations: maintenance of a grass-covered ground; fruit removal from under the trees; harvesting with vacuum and with pickup machines.
The maintenance of the grass-cover can be done with a standard flail mower or with a combined mower collector.
The best picking surface is obtained by mowing the grass and at the same time removing the clippings and other residual materials.
The flail mower collector has half the working capacity of the standard flail mower, in which a side rotary disk, with swing arm linkage, can be used for working on the row between the trees.
Fruits accumulated around the trunk must be removed by hand raking and sweeping, or using back-carried blowers or a special tractor-mounted turbine blower.
Hand tools for fruit removal are labour-intensive and slow.
The back-carried blower is speedy but can be tiring for workers.
The turbine blower has a high working speed and fruit removal is automatically accomplished during the harvest.
The best harvest performance is obtained with self-propelled vacuum harvesters.
Pick-up harvesters are efficient on wet ground and on turf, but they are slow and need a clean field.
Vacuum machines raise a lot of dust, even if equipped with cyclone separators.
Publication
Authors
G. Colorio, R. Tomasone, C. Cedrola, M. Pagano
Keywords
shell fruits, agricultural practices, harvesting machines
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