Effect of Soil Management Practices on the Sweeping Operation during Coffee Harvest

Abstract

Core Ideas The harvest performance can be affected by plant phenological behavior, non‐uniform fruit ripening, late harvest, pests and diseases, rods vibration intensity, displacement velocity and, finally, slope. After harvesting, the approximately 10–20% of coffee cherries that fall on the ground are known as the sweeping coffee and require a gathering operation. The mechanical sweeping and gathering allow higher operational capacity (working greater areas in shorter times), thus increasing profitability and reducing operational costs, however, these machines are sensitive to oscillation and/or soil topography. In addition to this limiting factor, one of the main obstacles to mechanical picking of sweeping coffee is the subsoiling operation that consists of unpacking the soil by moving the soil surface of the coffee interlines, where the coffee berries are to be harvested later . In this context, assuming that the subsoiling operation could affect the losses during the mechanical picking of sweeping coffee, this study aimed at using the SPC tools to monitor the ability of management processes to reduce losses in the sweeping and mechanical picking of fallen coffee for four soil managements. The mechanical sweeping and picking of coffee berries are necessary to recover berries that naturally fall on the soil during the mechanical harvesting process. The soil characteristics and the materials that are collected affect these two operations; in addition, there are reports that suggest that mechanical sweeping and picking are hampered by subsoiling. In this regard, the current study evaluated losses during the mechanical sweeping and picking of coffee cultivated under four soil management treatments in Presidente Olegário, MG, Brazil. The four treatments consisted of the following soil management practices: subsoiling and crushing; subsoiling and harrowing; subsoiling followed by harrowing and crushing; and the control, with no soil management. The soil was prepared in 2014, while the coffee sweeping and picking occurred in 2015 and 2016. The experimental design followed the assumptions of statistical process control, and fifteen points were evaluated per treatment in accordance with the statistical process control guidelines. The lowest loss rates were obtained for the subsoiling and crushing soil management treatment, whereas harrowing after subsoiling led to the highest losses and the lowest process quality.