Investigate and Determine the Appropriate Amount of the Abscission Material on Mechanized Citrus Harvesting

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1 Austrlin Journl of Bsic nd Applied Sciences, 5(12): , 2011 ISSN Investigte nd Determine the Approprite Amount of the Ascission Mteril on Mechnized Citrus Hrvesting Mohmmd Mehrnzdeh, Mortez Almsi, Rez Moghdsi nd Seid Minee Deprtment of Agriculturl Mechniztion, Science nd Reserch Brnch, Islmic Azd University, Tehrn, Irn. Astrc: The ornge fruit hrvesting in Irn is crried out mnully due to unvilility of the mechniztion systems which increses the production costs. Systemtic investigtion of the fctors which could led to higher productivity in the gro-inputs nd sustinility of the production system ecomes prmount. The im of this study is investigte nd determine the pproprite mount of the scission mteril on mechnized hrvesting citrus in the form of fctoril test on complete rndomized design with tree replictions. The methodology involved two spryers consist of the Mist Blower nd one hundred liter spryer with lnce types nd scission mteril t three levels of 400 ppm, 800ppm nd 1000ppm. Dependnt vriles consisted of the spryer type nd the mount of scission mteril used in the study wheres the independent vriles consisted of the efficiency of hrvest, the percentge of hrvest, the fruit detchment force. Results of the vrince nlysis show no significnt reltion etween the type of spryer used nd the percentge of mechnized hrvesting. However, there ws significnt difference (one percentge level) etween the percentge of hrvesting nd the use of scission mteril. Results indicted the scission mteril t 1000ppm, 800 ppm nd 400 ppm hs hrvested 90.38%, 81.23% nd 76.88% respectively. The vrince nlysis of the hrvesting efficiency shows no significnt difference etween the spryer types nd scission mteril nd their interctive effects. Anlysis of the detchment forces indicted tht the Mist Blower spryer with n verge of 22.5 (N) required greter force for detching the fruit from the trees reltive to n verge of 9.6 (N) thn the one hundred liter spryer with lnce types required. It cn e oserved tht the one hundred liters spryer hs more superior performnce qulity for fruit detchment thn the Mist Blower type. It cn e deducted tht tht the Ascission mteril sorption nd its concentrtion over the fruits in the one-hundred liters spryer is much greter thn its Mist Blower type. Furthermore, for optimum performnce 800 ppm is required for the one hundred liter spryer with lnce types wheres efficient performnce of the Mist Blower type would necessitte much more volume of Ascission mteril recommended to e 1000ppm. Key words: Ascission mteril, spryer, fruit detchment force, hrvest efficiency, hrvesting percentge. INTRODUCTION The fruit products in Irnin orchrds re hrvested y the use of trditionl wooden tools known loclly s Glk. This is not only expensive in terms of lor force requirements ut lso undermines the product nd its qulity s well s the rnches of the trees. Trditionl crop hrvesting method lso increses the costs up to 40% of the totl costs, reducing the profit mrgin nd rendering them uncompetitive in the internl nd export mrkets.the trditionl methods furthermore re more lorious nd time-consuming which mke the time mngement very difficult. The length of time requires for the hrvest limits the opertionl flexiility prticulrly over the time mngement which could incur considerle dmges to the crop yield nd qulity y the occurrence of erly frosts. One of the mechnisms which on one hnd regulte the hrvest time nd fcilitte esy fruit detchment fter ppliction of the scission mteril is mechnized hrvesting method. This would not only increse the opertionl efficiency ut lso decreses the potentilly physicl dmge to the tree rnches s recommended y the experts (Brown, G.K., 2001). The ppliction of these methods which use the scission mteril to increse the fruit detchment force while incresing the crop hrvest efficiency complemented y decresing potentil crop dmge (Slyni, M. et l., 1999). One of the resons for such performnce chrcteristic is the uniformity in sprying of the scission mteril over the crops, the effectiveness of which is reported to e more when it is spryed on the crown of the trees (Kender, W.J. nd U. Hrtmond, 1999). In this respect, the efficiency of the spryer opertions depends lso on the type of the spryer used (Koo, Y.M. et l., 1999; Koo, Y.M. et l., 2000). Given the ove considertions the ppliction of the currently used Mist Blower nd one hundred-liters types re investigted in order to ssess its performnce prmeters such s hrvest efficiency, hrvest percentge nd detchment force needed to hrvest the fruits from the tree rnches. Corresponding Author: Mohmmd Mehrnzdeh, Deprtment of Agriculturl Mechniztion, Science nd Reserch Brnch, Islmic Azd University, Tehrn, Irn. E-mil: mmehrnzdeh@gmil.com; Tel: ,

2 Aust. J. Bsic & Appl. Sci., 5(12): , 2011 MATERIALS AND METHOD The experiments were crried out in the citrus fruit orchrds of the Shhid Beheshti Agro-industril in the Dezful region, southwestern Irn during the The test specifictions including the nme of orchrd, vriety, ge nd distnce etween the trees on one hnd nd etween the rows on the other were recorded nd were tested in the form of fctoril on complete rndomized design with three replictions. The detils of the tretments re shown in tle 1. The independent vriles in this experiment consisted of the type of spryer, the mount of scission mteril nd the dependent vriles consist of hrvesting efficiency, hrvest percentge, detchment force required to hrvest the fruits from the trees. the locl vriety known s Sivrz nd equipped with pneumtic hed hving n ility to shke the trees with reciprocl movement of out 7-8 Hz ws used for the purpose of this experiment. The scission mteril under the trde nme Etephon with three levels of 400, 800 nd 1000 ppm were used. The mesurement of the detchment force required to hrvest the crops from the trees were tken y the digitl Lutron guge model FG Field Mesurements: Hrvest Percentge: The mount of hrvested fruits for ech tretment ws weighed nd mesured. After mechnized hrvesting the remining fruits on the trees were mnully collected nd then weighed using the formul s follows (Sessiz, A. nd M.T. Ozcn, 2005): Where Mechnized hrvest percentge = B B+A X 100 A: is the weight of remining fruits on the trees. B: the weight of the hrvested fruits y the mechnized method. Hrvest Efficiency: In order to estimte the hrvest efficiency for ech plot the time tken for the hrvest nd the totl crop yield from ech tretment ws systemticlly weighed nd recorded. The following formul ws used to clculte the hrvest efficiency (Adeen, M. et l., 2006). Mechnized hrvest efficiency (kg/hr) = The weight of hrvested fruity the mechnized method (kg) The time tken to hrvest the fruits y the mechnized method (hr) Detchment Force Needed to Hrvest the Fruits: After the ppliction of scission mteril 3 fruits from ech plot were picked up on rndom sis nd using the digitl guge, the detchment forces were mesures in Newton. The MSTATC softwre ws used for dt nlysis nd Duncn Tests were crried out to compre the verge tretments. Tle 1: Tretments. mount of scission mteril(ppm) 400 C1 800 C C3 400 C1 800 C C3 Spryer type one hundred liters spryer B1 one hundred liters spryer B1 one hundred liters spryer B1 Hrvest method code B1C1 B1C2 B1C3 B2C1 B2C2 B2C3 No Tle 2: Vrince nlysis of tretments. S.O.V d.f Type of spryer 1 Amount of scission mteril 2 Interction 2 Error 12 Totl 17 C.v % * =Difference etween tretments t level 5% **=Difference etween tretments t level 1% Non significnce =n.s Fruits hrvester % 6.722n.s ** 6.804n.s Efficiency hrvested (Kg/hr) n.s n.s n.s (N) Force detchment fruit 90** 26** 8**

3 Aust. J. Bsic & Appl. Sci., 5(12): , 2011 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Anlysis of Hrvesting Percentge: Vrince nlysis results showed there is no significnt difference etween hrvesting fruit percentge nd type of spryers, ut there is significnt difference on mount of scission nd hrvested fruits percentge t 1% nd no interction etween mounts of scission mteril nd spryer type ws seen. It mens two type spryers hve resonle efficiency, considering significnt differences on scission mount, to find out etter deference, Duncn's multiple test ws crried out, digrm No -1 shows scission mounts difference, it shows scission mteril t 1000 ppm of concentrtion is in first nd 800 ppm nd 400 ppm re t the ltter clss nd percent of fruit with 1000 ppm nd percent of fruit with 800 ppm nd percent of fruit with 400 ppm were hrvested. Other reserchers dmitted the sme results t the sme condition nd concluded pplying scission mteril on vrious mounts reduce fruit detchment force (Frooq, M. et l., 2005). In reserch tht cnopy nd Ethephone scission were used in olive hrvesting, results indicted tht fruits hrvested in not scission used were 50% less thn those used scission mteril nd used of Etephone in vrious concentrtion, incresed hrvesting percentge from 46% to 100% nd reduced fruit detchment force (Sessiz, A. nd M.T. Ozcn, 2005). Anlysis of Hrvesting Efficiency: Vrince nlysis showed there is not significnt difference mong type of spryers nd mount of scission mteril nd their interction, nd other studies results showed tht use of plnt regultors reducing fruit detchment hve incresed citrus hrvesting efficiency from 17 to 26 % in mechnized system (Slyni, M. et l., 1999). In reserch compression hrvested mnul nd mechnized tree in n hour, were 4, 12.3 respectively (Polt, R. et l., 2007). In other study in mechnized citrus hrvesting results showed hrvest efficiency ws different 256 till 434 l/min nd mount of hrvest percentge ws 80% till 97% in different condition (Gnesh, C. nd R. Bor, 2006). In mechnized hrvesting use of scission mteril is needed, it reduces fruit detchment force nd increses hrvest efficiency (Slyni, M. et l., 1999; Hedden, S.L. et l., 1988; Whitney, J.D. et l., 2000 nd Frooq, M. et l., 2005). Fruit Detchment Force Anlysis: Vrince nlysis showed there is significnt difference etween Detchment fruit force nd type of spryers t 1% level. As well s significnt difference etween mount of scission mteril nd their interction ws seen, to compression mens digrms No 2 nd No 3 on Duncn's multiple rnge test re shown. the mens show tht one hundred liter spryer with lnce 9.6 (N) force hs more efficiency thn Mist Blower spryer needs 22.5 (N) force to detch fruits from trees. In reserch evluted two type spryers nd vrious mounts of Etephone concluded scission mteril reduced fruit detchment force nd incresed hrvest efficiency (Burns, K.J. et l., 2008). Digrm No- 2 shows tht detchment force with 400 ppm scission is on first nd 800 ppm nd 1000 ppm re t lter clss, it mens 800 ppm nd 1000 ppm of scission mteril hd etter effect in loosing fruit from trees rnches. In reserch suggested the fruit detchment force ws reducing 50% on trees treted with scission mteril, the mount of fruit loosing depends on concentrtion scission (Roert, C. et l., 2010). In nother study reserchers indicted one of the dvntges of using scission mteril in fruits hrvesting is low frequency mchine needed (Roert, C. et l., 2009). Ascission mteril is effective in mechnized hrvest (Cstillo-Linque, F. nd H.F. Rpoport, 2009). Reserchers in other studies, suggested ll scission concentrtion treted on mechnized hrvesting nd hd positive effect (Ozguven, A.L. et l., 2007). Digrm No-3 shows tht the most detchment force is elong to Mist Blower spryer with 400 nd 800 ppm nd re t sme level nd the other tretments re on lter level, it mens the Mist Blower spryer with 400 nd 800 ppm is worse nd the one hundred liter spryer with 1000 ppm is etter thn others tretments re shown with () letter re cceptle. In other study reserchers concluded the type of spryer is more effective in evenly scission spry on fruits nd indicted low volume spryers ccumulte more scission mteril on fruits thn high volume spryers, on two type of spryers, detchment force reduced nd in mechnized hrvesting, scission efficiency depends on its density (Koo, Y.M. et l., 1999; Koo, Y.M. et l., 2000). In other studies, reserchers concluded tht solution should e evenly spryed on the trees nd contct on fruits nd scission efficiency in mechnized hrvesting up to its concentrtion (Kender, W.J. et l., 1999). Results shows one hundred liter spryer with lnce sor more scission mteril thn Mist Blower spryer nd with 400 nd 800 ppm scission cn e recommended. 570

4 Aust. J. Bsic & Appl. Sci., 5(12): , 2011 Hrvest percentge C3 C2 C1 scission mteril Digrm No. 1: Comprison mens scission mteril nd hrvesting percentge t Duncn's multiple rng test. fruit detechment force (N) C3 C2 C1 scission mteril Digrm No. 2: comprison fctor 2 mens t Duncn's multiple rnge test for FDF. fruit detechment force (N) B2C1 B2C2 B1C1 B2C3 B1C2 B1C3 compre tretments Digrm No. 3: Comprison fctors 2 &3 mens t Duncn's multiple rnge test for FDF. REFERENCE Adeen, M., G. Jir, E. Dul, A. Drgott nd F. Fmini, Use of hnd - held mchines for olive hrvesting of cultivrs sorni nd zeiti in Syri Olive. Brown, G.K., Mechnicl hrvesting systems for processed Florid citrus. Proc. Of the 6th intern. Symp. On fruit, Nut nd vegetle production Eng.inst. for Agree technique Burning, Germny, pp: Burns, K.J., L. Ferguson, K. Glozer, H.W. Krueger nd C.R. Rosecrnce, Screening fruit loosening gents for lck ripe processed tle olives. Hort Science, 43(5): Cstillo-Linque, F. nd H.F. Rpoport, Identifying the loction of olive fruit scission. Scienti Horticulture, 120 : Frooq, M., M. Slyni nd J.D. Whitney, comprision scission spry ppliction prctices for mechnicl hrvesting of ornges. Journl of ASTM Interntionl., 2(4). 571

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