Abstract
This paper, based on a short critical analysis of agricultural mechanization in wine-producing countries, focuses on the current need for precise, thorough and high-quality systems for mechanical winter grape vine pruning, which are also economically feasible for growers. To this end, a simple pruning mechanism is proposed that selects the canes to be cut according to their diameter and operates in the immediate vicinity of the obstacles along the vine rows (vine trunks and support stakes). A description of the machine is accompanied by a discussion of the main criteria adopted for its design and by a presentation of the first results of testing in the field. Also presented, is a photographic technique which was developed to enable measurements to be made in the field to determine cane-size parameters for selective cutting. The tests performed on the prototype presented here have fully confirmed the expectations: at a speed of about 1·8–2·0 km/h the cutting efficiency of the machine reaches 99% in Tuscan spur cordon, requiring only minimal supplementary manual labour.
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