ISHS Acta Horticulturae 474: III International Symposium on Olive Growing
SOME ASPECTS OF OLIVES MECHANICAL HARVESTING IN TUNISIA |
| Authors: | B. Ben Rouina, M. Yousfi, M. Mlaouah |
| Keywords: | Olive, mechanical harvesting, shaker |
| Abstract:
To increase the yield of mechanical harvesting of olives, many attempts have been made in Tunisia to try the machineries and to optimize their utilization in the orchard conditions. Unfortunately, the mechanical harvesting yields were very weak, varying from 40 to 70% of the trees crop and complementary manual harvesting was necessary to collect the whole tree yields. Furthermore, the results show that the yield from mechanical harvesting of olives is affected by the characteristics of the plant: fruit removal force, maturity stage, plant dimensions and tree load. Despite the use of an efficient shaker, the elimination of the hanging branches which did not respond to the vibration and shaking trees by main branches, the yield was not improved mainly because southern Tunisian olive groves were not ideal for mechanical harvesting. | |
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