Analysis of Different Mechanical Pruning Strategies on the Production of 'Clemenules' Mandarin and its Costs

Spain is the sixth citrus producer in the world and the first exporter for fresh consumption. However, the profitability of citriculture is going down due to the increasing production costs and the low prices perceived by farmers. Between farming operations, pruning is done manually, which represen...

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Autores principales: Mateu, Guillermo, Torregrosa, Antonio, Chueca, Patricia
Otros Autores: Groot Koerkamp, Peter
Formato: conferenceObject
Lenguaje:Inglés
Publicado: Wageningen University & Research 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11939/7571
https://edepot.wur.nl/471679#page=851
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author Mateu, Guillermo
Torregrosa, Antonio
Chueca, Patricia
author2 Groot Koerkamp, Peter
author_browse Chueca, Patricia
Groot Koerkamp, Peter
Mateu, Guillermo
Torregrosa, Antonio
author_facet Groot Koerkamp, Peter
Mateu, Guillermo
Torregrosa, Antonio
Chueca, Patricia
author_sort Mateu, Guillermo
collection ReDivia
description Spain is the sixth citrus producer in the world and the first exporter for fresh consumption. However, the profitability of citriculture is going down due to the increasing production costs and the low prices perceived by farmers. Between farming operations, pruning is done manually, which represent around 12.5% of the total production costs. The objective of this study was to analyse the effect of different mechanical pruning strategies on the production of mandarins variety 'Clemenules' comparing them with manual pruning, and to determine their costs. A trial with a random blocks experimental design with 5 repetitions was carried out in a commercial Clemenules orchard located in Chiva (Valencia). During season 2017, eight pruning strategies were assessed: C (control, no pruning); M (manual pruning, with hand saw and pruning shears); and six mechanical pruning with disc pruner: TEW (Topping, Hedging both sides, East and West), TR (Topping, Manual follow-up), TER (Topping, Hedging Est side, Manual follow-up), TE (Topping, Hedging Est side), EW (Hedging both sides) and E (Hedging Est side). The results of trials showed differences in production and costs between the pruning strategies. C was significantly the most productive with 157 kg/tree; the following more productive were M, EW and E ranging between 128 and 132 kg/tree with no differences between them; and in a third level were all treatments where Topping was carried out (TEW, TE, TER and TR) that oscillate between 72 and 85 kg/tree without significant differences between them. Costs were higher for treatments with manual pruning. Cost for M was 441 €/ha and for the treatments with manual follow-up pruning they oscillated between 459 and 293 €/ha. However, the cost for mechanical pruning ranged between 25 to 110 €/ha depending on the number of machine passes. To get more consistent conclusions, more seasons comparing pruning strategies must be performed.
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institution Instituto Valenciano de Investigaciones Agrarias (IVIA)
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spelling ReDivia75712025-04-25T14:52:00Z Analysis of Different Mechanical Pruning Strategies on the Production of 'Clemenules' Mandarin and its Costs Mateu, Guillermo Torregrosa, Antonio Chueca, Patricia Groot Koerkamp, Peter Disc pruner N20 Agricultural machinery and equipment N01 Agricultural engineering F01 Crop husbandry Mechanization Work capacity Citrus Pruning Mechanical pruning Spain is the sixth citrus producer in the world and the first exporter for fresh consumption. However, the profitability of citriculture is going down due to the increasing production costs and the low prices perceived by farmers. Between farming operations, pruning is done manually, which represent around 12.5% of the total production costs. The objective of this study was to analyse the effect of different mechanical pruning strategies on the production of mandarins variety 'Clemenules' comparing them with manual pruning, and to determine their costs. A trial with a random blocks experimental design with 5 repetitions was carried out in a commercial Clemenules orchard located in Chiva (Valencia). During season 2017, eight pruning strategies were assessed: C (control, no pruning); M (manual pruning, with hand saw and pruning shears); and six mechanical pruning with disc pruner: TEW (Topping, Hedging both sides, East and West), TR (Topping, Manual follow-up), TER (Topping, Hedging Est side, Manual follow-up), TE (Topping, Hedging Est side), EW (Hedging both sides) and E (Hedging Est side). The results of trials showed differences in production and costs between the pruning strategies. C was significantly the most productive with 157 kg/tree; the following more productive were M, EW and E ranging between 128 and 132 kg/tree with no differences between them; and in a third level were all treatments where Topping was carried out (TEW, TE, TER and TR) that oscillate between 72 and 85 kg/tree without significant differences between them. Costs were higher for treatments with manual pruning. Cost for M was 441 €/ha and for the treatments with manual follow-up pruning they oscillated between 459 and 293 €/ha. However, the cost for mechanical pruning ranged between 25 to 110 €/ha depending on the number of machine passes. To get more consistent conclusions, more seasons comparing pruning strategies must be performed. 2021-08-25T15:47:23Z 2021-08-25T15:47:23Z 2018 conferenceObject Mateu, G., Torregrosa, A. & Chueca, P. (2018). Analysis of Different Mechanical Pruning Strategies on the Production of 'Clemenules' Mandarin and its Costs. Proceedings of the European Conference on Agricultural Engineering (AgEng2018), 851-856. http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11939/7571 10.18174/471679 https://edepot.wur.nl/471679#page=851 en 2018-07 European Conference on Agricultural Engineering (AgEng2018) Wageningen, the Netherlands This study has been conducted within the project “Application of new technologies for a comprehensive strategy of mechanized citrus harvesting (CITRUSREC)” funded by the Spanish National Institute for Agriculture and Food Research and Technology (INIA) and the Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness of Spain (project RTA2014-00025-C05-00) and co-funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). Atribución-NoComercial-SinDerivadas 3.0 España http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/es/ openAccess Wageningen University & Research electronico
spellingShingle Disc pruner
N20 Agricultural machinery and equipment
N01 Agricultural engineering
F01 Crop husbandry
Mechanization
Work capacity
Citrus
Pruning
Mechanical pruning
Mateu, Guillermo
Torregrosa, Antonio
Chueca, Patricia
Analysis of Different Mechanical Pruning Strategies on the Production of 'Clemenules' Mandarin and its Costs
title Analysis of Different Mechanical Pruning Strategies on the Production of 'Clemenules' Mandarin and its Costs
title_full Analysis of Different Mechanical Pruning Strategies on the Production of 'Clemenules' Mandarin and its Costs
title_fullStr Analysis of Different Mechanical Pruning Strategies on the Production of 'Clemenules' Mandarin and its Costs
title_full_unstemmed Analysis of Different Mechanical Pruning Strategies on the Production of 'Clemenules' Mandarin and its Costs
title_short Analysis of Different Mechanical Pruning Strategies on the Production of 'Clemenules' Mandarin and its Costs
title_sort analysis of different mechanical pruning strategies on the production of clemenules mandarin and its costs
topic Disc pruner
N20 Agricultural machinery and equipment
N01 Agricultural engineering
F01 Crop husbandry
Mechanization
Work capacity
Citrus
Pruning
Mechanical pruning
url http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11939/7571
https://edepot.wur.nl/471679#page=851
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