ISHS Acta Horticulturae 586: IV International Symposium on Olive Growing
MECHANICAL PRUNING OF OLIVE TREES AS AN ALTERNATIVE TO MANUAL PRUNING |
| Authors: | J.O. Peça, A.B. Dias, A.C. Pinheiro, L. Santos, N. Morais, A.G. Pereira, D. Reynolds de Souza |
| Keywords: | olive trees cultivation; mechanical pruning |
| Abstract:
In olive farming, pruning is a crucial practice to maintain olive productivity. Presently, in Portugal, olive farmers are lengthening the pruning intervals due to the lack of specialised labour available and each year´s increasing costs. With financial support provided by project PAMAF 6037, the authors are studying mechanical pruning as an alternative to manual pruning. The main objective of this paper is to identify the different treatments used and the more relevant aspects found on field experiments. Three treatments are being compared: T1 - manual pruning; T2 - mechanical pruning; T3 - mechanical pruning followed by a manual pruning complement. Chain-saws are used to perform manual pruning. Mechanical pruning is performed using a cutting bar with 6 hydraulic- driven circular disc-saws mounted on a front loader of a four wheel drive tractor. This equipment can make different cuts according to the position of the bar. In this study only "topping" (the bar was placed parallel to the soil surface) was used. In 1997, the olive orchards used on the trials were of Galega and Blanqueta cultivars, both varieties very common in southern Portugal. In 1998, the tests were performed in the same cultivars, but in irrigated orchards. In the harvest seasons of 1997,1998 and 1999 olives were collected using a multidirectional shaker from samples of trees in the different olive orchards tested. Mechanical pruning makes very high work rates possible, which justifies the lower operating costs in comparison with manual pruning. After three years of experiments, and in terms of cumulative production, mechanical pruning shows values of production similar and even higher than those obtained with the other two treatments, particularly with manual pruning. | |
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