This news article was originally written in Spanish. It has been automatically translated for your convenience. Reasonable efforts have been made to provide an accurate translation, however, no automated translation is perfect nor is it intended to replace a human translator. The original article in Spanish can be viewed at Desarrollan una maquinaria que reduce hasta un 90% el tiempo de aclareo en melocotoneros
They develop a machine that reduces up to 90% the time of clearing in peach trees
09/11/2010
November 9, 2010
Members of the group design, automation and control of irrigation in greenhouses of the PUST, have developed a machine capable of reducing up to 90% the time required for clearing of the peach trees. This technological advancement also reduces the cost by two thirds by tree. The project was developed jointly with researchers from the Universidad Politécnica de Valencia (UPV) and the Murciano Institute of food and agricultural development and research (IMIDE).
Clearing is a technique which is to withdraw some of the flowers or newly rich fruit to allow the rest of fruits have a good commercial caliber, according to the investigator, Bernardo Martin Górriz, of the Department of engineering of food and agricultural equipment.
The purpose of the project is to use mechanical equipment to perform clearing more quickly and with less need of labour, according to Professor. Martín Górriz clarifies that the time needed to do the traditional clearing of a tree by hand ranges between 20 and 30 minutes, "while when using a mechanical equipment, followed by a review by hand either dispensing with him"", is performed the same work between three to ten minutes per tree", adds.
Mechanical thinning.
The task of the aclareo supposes 32% of the hand of necessary work in the crop, whereas the recolección represents 45% and the poda the 22 % remaining. The professor clears that so that the commercial peaches have a good calibrate and fatten the sufficient is necessary to remove between the 50 and 60% of flowers of the tree.
The machinery developed in this research gets reduced to 50-90% the time of clearing of each tree, depending on whether applies only the mechanical thinning or also a revision is done by hand later. Developed progress is both usable in organic farming as conventional.
Developed machinery allows the clearing of three trees in the same time you can do one hand. Thus, "If a person charged six euros per hour for performing the work of clearing, payable three euros for tree when this work is done by hand, while the use of mechanical equipment reduces the cost to a euro per tree"says the researcher.
Therefore, the cost of this work using developed machinery is a euro, against the three euros that is to do the work using the traditional technique.
This research project, which began five years ago, is funded by the Carm. The progress of this research have been presented in the technical days of Fruit Attraction 2010, celebrated in Madrid last 22nd.
