Sustainable Management of the Mechanization of Works for Horticultural Crops

A special issue of Horticulturae (ISSN 2311-7524). This special issue belongs to the section "Protected Culture".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 20 February 2025 | Viewed by 764

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Department of Pedotechnics, "Ion Ionescu de la Brad" University of Life Sciences from Iasi, 700490 Iasi, Romania
Interests: machinery and equipment for food industry; agricultural machinery; tribology with applications in machines and installations for agriculture and food
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

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Guest Editor
Development for Machines and Installations Designed to Agriculture and Food Industry-INMA, National Institute of Research, Bucharest, Romania
Interests: agricultural machinery

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Horticulture is launching a multidisciplinary Special Issue on "Sustainable Management of the Mechanization of Works for Horticultural Crops", inviting researchers, experts, and specialists from research institutions, universities, professional organizations, and enterprises to publish their scientific and original achievements. The aim is to generate a conducive framework and an academic community able to contribute to the increased performance of machinery systems used to carry out agricultural works under scientific conditions.

It is unanimously recognized that today's horticultural technological processes are energy-intensive and significantly damage the environment, leading to a search for technical solutions and alternative working methods which allow energy consumption optimization and a reduction in the negative impact on natural resources (water, soil, and air), at the same time diminishing the impact of climate change, which, in recent times, has affected the hydrological cycle’s intensity. This is why manufacturers of agricultural machinery are investing heavily in research and development to develop new products, equipped with hydraulic, electro-technical, electronic, and, more recently, computers and process software capable of implementing "Precision Farming", "Smart Farming", and "Agriculture 4.0", among others.

Prof. Dr. Ioan Ţenu
Dr. Nicolae Valentin Vlăduţ
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • mechanization of horticultural works
  • machinery
  • equipment sustainable management
  • operation
  • horticultural crops
  • precision agriculture
  • conservative and sustainable horticulture

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

14 pages, 6235 KiB  
Article
Physical Ripening Indices Improve the Assessment of Mechanical Harvesting Time for Olive Cultivars Resistant to Xylella fastidiosa subsp. pauca
by Simone Pietro Garofalo, Francesco Maldera, Francesco Nicolì, Gaetano Alessandro Vivaldi and Salvatore Camposeo
Horticulturae 2024, 10(10), 1108; https://doi.org/10.3390/horticulturae10101108 - 18 Oct 2024
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Abstract
Xylella fastidiosa subsp. pauca (Xfp) is a significant threat to Mediterranean agriculture, particularly impacting olive trees in southern Italy, causing Olive Quick Decline Syndrome. Resistant olive cultivars, such as ‘Leccino’ and ‘Fs-17’, have been identified as alternatives to restore the oliviculture [...] Read more.
Xylella fastidiosa subsp. pauca (Xfp) is a significant threat to Mediterranean agriculture, particularly impacting olive trees in southern Italy, causing Olive Quick Decline Syndrome. Resistant olive cultivars, such as ‘Leccino’ and ‘Fs-17’, have been identified as alternatives to restore the oliviculture within the infected areas. ‘Frantoio’ and ‘Cipressino’ are included in ongoing studies on genetic resistance to Xfp. The mechanization of olive harvesting is essential for reducing production costs in the olive oil sector. Two systems, trunk shakers and over-the-row machines, are used depending on the tree density and canopy structure, with super-high-density systems offering advantages in terms of cost and efficiency. This study investigates the feasibility of using simple and non-destructive indices to assess the optimal mechanical harvesting time. Different physical ripening indices, including detachment force, fresh weight, pigmentation, and firmness, were measured on four olive cultivars (‘Fs-17’, ‘Leccino’, ‘Frantoio’, ‘Cipressino’) in southern Italy over two years. The study found that the pigmentation index had a strong relationship with the detachment index, particularly for ‘Fs-17’, and ‘Leccino’, providing a reliable non-destructive measure for optimal harvesting time. The results indicate that the optimal harvesting times for mechanical harvesting are early September for ‘Cipressino’, early October for ‘Fs-17’, and mid-October for ‘Frantoio’ and ‘Leccino’. Full article
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