Document Type : Original Article

Abstract

A major problem in olive production is picking the fruit from the trees. The cost of traditional harvesting of olives forms over half the cost of production. Selection of the appropriate method of olive harvesting depends on the planting system, orchard topography, labor, social, and economic factors, as well as the variety and size of trees. The present study compared mechanical harvesting of the Zard variety in Qazvin province and Local variety in Guilan province using four types of harvesting machine. These were the tractor mounted branch shaker, hand-held branch shaker, hand-held pneumatic comb, and electrical rotating comb. Two maturity indices (MI) were tested (3.5 = early time and 4.5 = suitable time). Machine performance parameters were percentage of fruit removed, mechanical and hand harvesting time, worker productivity, and damage to trees by mechanical harvester. The results showed that the effect of MI on the percentage of fruit removed for the Zard variety was significant (probably level = 1%), but not for the Local variety. Machine type had a significant effect (probably level = 1%) on all performance parameters. Worker productivity for harvesting of the Zard variety was 130.72 kg/h for the tractor-mounted branch shaker, 93.36 kg/h for the hand-held branch shaker, 50.73 kg/h for the pneumatic vibrating comb, 40.57 kg/h for the electrical rotating comb, and 22.15 kg/h for the traditional method. The corresponding values for the Local variety were 96.28, 57.97, 22.43, 23.24, 12.5 kg/h, respectively.

Keywords

Abdeen, M., Jibara, G., Dubla, E., Dragotta, A., and Famiani, F. 2006. Use of hand-held machines for olive harvesting of cultivars Sorani and Zeiti in Syria. Proceeding Olivebioteq 2006, 2nd International Seminar, Biotechnology and Quality of Olive Tree Products around the Mediterranean Basin. 5-10 Nov. Marsala-Mazara del Vallo, Italy. 2, 185-188.
 
Anon. 2001. Olive. Extension and Public Participation Administrator ship and Agriculture and Horticulture. Administrator ship of Qazvin Province Pub. Tehran. (in Persian)
 
Bentaher, H. and Rouina, B. B. 2002. Mechanical harvesting of ‘‘Chemlalı de Sfax’’ olive trees. 4th International ISHS Symposium on Olive Growing. Acta Hort. 586, 365-368.
 
Erdogan, D., Guner, M., Dursun, E., and Gezer, I. 2003. Mechanical harvesting of apricots. Biosys. Eng. 85, 19–28.
 
Kececioglu, G. 1975. Atalet kuvvet tipli sarsici ile zeytin hasati imkanlari uzerinde bir arastirma [Research on olive harvesting possibilities with an inertia for tree shaker]. Department of Agricultural Machinery, Agriculture Faculty, Ege University, Izmir, Turkey.
 
Loghavi, M. and Rahimi, H. 2007. Effects of shaking amplitude and frequency on nut and cluster detachment of two varieties of pistachio. Sci. Tech. Agric. Nat. Res. 11(40): 109-122. (in Persian)
 
Luzrt, R. and Bruce, Zh. 1997. Olive. Translated by Darvishiyan, M. Agric. Edu. Pub. Karaj. Iran. (in Persian)
 
Mobli, H., Tavakoli hashjin, T. and Rostami, M. A. 1999. Determination of percentage of removal of nut and cluster from tree in ten cultivar pistachio nut with a mechanical shaker. Iranian J. Agric. Sci. 30(1): 19-24. (in Persian)
 
Polat, R., Gezer, I., Guner, M., Dursun, E., Erdogan, D. and Bilim, H. C. 2007a. Mechanical harvesting of pistachio nuts. J. Food Eng. 79, 1131-1135.
 
Polat, R., Guner, M., Dursun, E., Erdogan, D., Gezer, I. and Bilim, H. C. 2007b. Mechanical harvesting of almond with an inertia type limb shaker. Asian J. Plant Sci. 6(3): 528-532.
 
Sadeghi, H. 2002. Planting and harvesting olives. Agric. Edu. Pub. Karaj. Iran (in Persian)
 
Sessiz, A. and Ozcan, M. T. 2006. Olive removal with pneumatic branch shaker and abscission chemical. J. Food Eng. 76, 148-153.
 
Yousefi, Z. 2011. Different harvesting systems of olive and their effect on production and product quality (with an emphasis on economic factors). Ph. D. Dissertation on Agricultural Mechanization, Islamic Azad University, Science and Research Branch, Tehran, Iran. (in Persian)
 
Yousefi, Z. and Gholiyan, A. 2013. A study of olive harvesting methods in Iran from an economic perspective. Tech. J. Eng. App. Sci. 3(12): 1005-1015.
 
Yousefi, Z., Almassi, M., Zeinanloo, A. A., Moghadasi, R. and Khorshidi, M. B. 2010. A comparative study of olive removal techniques and their effects on harvest productivity. J. Food Agric. Environ. 8(1): 133-135.
 
Zeinanloo, A. A. 2009. Olive Strategy Program. Agricultural Research, Education and Extension Organization, Seed and Plant Improvement Institute Pub. (in Persian)
 
Zeinanloo, A. A. and Nosrati, S. 2001. Olive: Introduced varieties and the best time to harvest. Extension and Public Participation Administrator ship, Jehad-e Agriculture of Zanjan Province. (in Persian)