ISHS Acta Horticulturae 505: VII International Symposium on Rubus and Ribes
THE EFFECT OF PRUNING AND TRAINING ON MACHINE HARVEST EFFICIENCY OF ‘MEEKER’ RED RASPBERRY |
| Authors: | B. Strik, H. Cahn |
| Keywords: | Rubus idaeus, topping, arc cane training, looping, hedgerow, hill system, machine harvest losses, cane density |
| Abstract:
Cane density (5, 10 or 15 canes/hill) in a hill system with canes topped at 2 m or the entire cane length retained and looped was compared to a 15 cm and 30 cm wide hedgerow (canes topped at 2 m) in ‘Meeker’ red raspberry from 1995–97. Plots were harvested with a Littau rotary machine. Looped canes had 0.9 m longer canes on average than those topped. Within the hill system, total yield increased with cane density in all years. Looped treatments produced a higher yield/plot than topped treatments in all years except 1996 when looped canes had greater winter injury than topped canes resulting in a nonsignificant yield difference. Berry mass was from 5.4 to 9.7% smaller on looped than on topped canes. Hedgerow systems had a lower yield than hill systems in 1996, but a higher yield in 1997. Losses to machine harvest were not affected by pruning (cane density or topping) or production system (hill system or hedgerow). Losses were 16.2% of total yield in 1997 with 35% of the losses occurring between harvests that were on 2-day intervals. | |
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