Evaluation of Over-The-Row Harvester Damage in a Super-High-Density Olive Orchard Using On-Board Sensing Techniques.

Jorge Martínez-Guanter,Ana Morales-Sillero,Laura Casanova,M. Suárez,M. Jiménez,Pilar Rallo,Constantino Valero,Manuel Pérez-Ruiz,Miguel Garrido-Izard

doi:10.3390/s18041242

Jorge Martínez-Guanter, Ana Morales-Sillero

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/s18041242

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Abstract

New super-high-density (SHD) olive orchards designed for mechanical harvesting using over-the-row harvesters are becoming increasingly common around the world. Some studies regarding olive SHD harvesting have focused on the effective removal of the olive fruits; however, the energy applied to the canopy by the harvesting machine that can result in fruit damage, structural damage or extra stress on the trees has been little studied. Using conventional analyses, this study investigates the effects of different nominal speeds and beating frequencies on the removal efficiency and the potential for fruit damage, and it uses remote sensing to determine changes in the plant structures of two varieties of olive trees (‘Manzanilla Cacereña’ and ‘Manzanilla de Sevilla’) planted in SHD orchards harvested by an over-the-row harvester. ‘Manzanilla de Sevilla’ fruit was the least tolerant to damage, and for this variety, harvesting at the highest nominal speed led to the greatest percentage of fruits with cuts. Different vibration patterns were applied to the olive trees and were evaluated using triaxial accelerometers. The use of two light detection and ranging (LiDAR) sensing devices allowed us to evaluate structural changes in the studied olive trees. Before- and after-harvest measurements revealed significant differences in the LiDAR data analysis, particularly at the highest nominal speed. The results of this work show that the operating conditions of the harvester are key to minimising fruit damage and that a rapid estimate of the damage produced by an over-the-row harvester with contactless sensing could provide useful information for automatically adjusting the machine parameters in individual olive groves in the future.

Highlights

The olive tree crop occupies 11.5 × 106 ha worldwide and is found from the Mediterranean Basin, where it was first introduced into cultivation more than 3000 years ago, to countries as far away as Australia, the United States, Chile and Argentina [1]
The efficiency of fruit removal by over-the-row harvesters in SHD olive orchards is high, reaching approximately 100%, with most fruit intercepted by the machine moving at approximately two hours per hectare
Advancing at a controlled nominal speed is useful for minimising the proportion of fruits with cuts, at least for the harvesters currently available on the market

Summary

Introduction

The olive tree crop occupies 11.5 × 106 ha worldwide and is found from the Mediterranean Basin, where it was first introduced into cultivation more than 3000 years ago, to countries as far away as Australia, the United States, Chile and Argentina [1]. Traditional olive orchards, with an average density of fewer than 100 trees ha−1 , were designed when manual work was the only known system used to perform the necessary crop operations. Trunk shakers were the first machines used for harvesting traditional olive groves. They are still being used, despite problems associated with separation of the cambium (stripping bark) at the attachment point of the clamp to the trunk, and/or dislodging of roots, both of which may reduce tree longevity [2]. Olive trees are cultivated in high-density hedgerows, at

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