Fruit abscission pattern of ‘Valencia’ orange with canopy shaker system
Autor
Aragón-Rodríguez, Fernando
Castro García, Sergio
Sola Guirado, Rafael Rubén
Gil Ribes, Jesús
Fecha
2019Materia
Valencia orangeCanopy shaker system
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Fruit detachment can occur due to natural causes or be mechanically performed by a
combination of mechanical stresses that cause tissue breakage in the plant. Forced abscission
should not coincide with natural abscission zones (AZ). Abscission zones are very important in
citrus harvesting both in terms of the destination market and of the possible damage caused to
the tree or fruit. The objective of this study is to determine the abscission pattern of sweet
oranges with a canopy shaker and compare it with other detachment systems. Five plots of
Valencia oranges were tested during the 2017 and 2018 harvesting seasons, using a commercial
tractor-drawn canopy shaker. The diameter, weight and breakage type were evaluated in the
cases of natural fall, snap method, mechanical harvesting with canopy shaker, and pull test.
Breakage type AZ-C predominated in natural fall (89.0%) and the snap method (79.5%). Similarly,
AZ-A predominated for the canopy shaker (58.8%) and pull test (45.3%). Mechanical action on
the fruit produced peel tear by breaking the flavedo, which reached highest frequency in the
snap method (7.6%). Peel tear breakage required a mean fruit detachment force value of 99.3
N, higher than the average abscission values for AZ-C (88.7 N) and AZ-A (66.6 N). The fruit that
remained on the tree after canopy shaker harvesting showed lower mean values of fruit
detachment force (16.3%) than the pre-harvest fruit. The frequency of fruit with calyx with the
canopy shaker and snap methods was similar, with a mean value of 36%.