1

Réduction des coûts de main-d’oeuvre et d’intrants

chimiques grâce à la mécanisation

Alberto Dorigoni, spécialiste en

physiologie des pommiers,

Centre de transfert technologique,

Fondation Edmund Mach, Italie

alberto.dorigoni@fmach.it

NARROW CANOPY

- Mechanical pruning

- Mechanical thinning

- Mech. weed control

- Less spraying volume

Light interception /

penetration

(no distinction between

inside and outside)

- Hand pruning

- Harvest

- No limb bending

AGRONOMIC

ADVANTAGES

ECOLOGICAL

ADVANTAGES (physical/mech. tools)

MANAGEMENT

ADVANTAGES

(Economic

sustainability)

Cultural practices improved by a narrow canopy

- Hand thinning

- Reduced drift

- Mech. harvest aids

- Faster leaf drying

- Tunnel sprayers

- Multi-task nets

- Solid Set Canopy

Delivery system

- Branch renewal

- Less growth regulators

2

Any kind of mechanization requires accurate trellys sytem and

vertically trained trees

Year 1-32860 spindle trees

(=2860 leaders)

2560 Bibaum trees

(=5120 leaders)

1850 3-axes trees

(=5550 leaders

1820 4-axes trees

(=7280 leaders

Tree spacing 3,5 x 1,0 m 3,25 x 1,2 3,0 x 1,8 m 2,75 x 2,0

N. of wires 4 5 5 4

Binding of leaders 95 213 231 243

Limb bending 105 0 0 0

Summer pruning 0 0 60 60

Total (3 years) 200 213 291 303

Adult trees2860 spindle trees

(=2860 leaders)

2560 Bibaum trees

(=5120 leaders)

1850 3-axes trees

(=5550 leaders

1820 4-axes trees

(=7280 leaders

Pruning 95 80 80 80

Hand thinning 140 110 90 80

Harvest (70 tons) 614 560 516 483

849 750 686 643

pre-formed trees completed in the field trees

Hand labour needed to fill the allotted space (year 1-3) and

to manage the trees when fully grown

-16%

-43%

-21%

-24%

3

Pruning pedestrian ML fruit walls of Gala compared to standard

Pedestrian (2.5 x 1.6 m)

Date Intervention hours/ha %

22/05/2015 mech. Pruning 3

22/05/2015 hand pruning 15

30/06/2015 hand pruning 12 68 summer

07/09/2015 mech. Pruning 3

07/09/2015 hand pruning 11

25/01/2016 hand pruning 21 32 winter

Total 65

Standard (3.5 x 1 m)

Date Intervention hours/ha

22/01/2016 hand pruning 85 100 winter

Total 85

Harvest hourly output with long and short pruning

S. Giusto farm - Friuli

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

160

kg

harv

este

d / h

ou

r

2005 long pruning 104 118 134

2008 conversion 113 113 125

2011 short pruning 125 150 148

August September October

4

Training systems and cultural practices

N.

leaders

Dist btw.

Rows (m)

1 3,50

2 3,25

3 3,00

4 2,75

6 2,50

8 2,25

12 2,00

Mech.

Thinning

Mech.

Pruning

"Summer"

pruning

AltCarpò/

thinning

nets

Mech.

weed

control

Harvest

aids

Shelters

for trees

D D D D D P D

P P D P P P D

P P P P P P P

P P P P P P P

P P P P P P P

P P P P P P P

P P P P P P P

I Impossible arrow points to better suitability

D Difficult

P Possible

N.

leaders

Dist btw.

Rows (m)

Anti-rain

nets

Tunnel

sprayers

Multi-task

fixed

spraying

Pedestrian

orchard

Precision

agriculture

Robotic

harvesting

Double

rows

1 3,50 I I I I I I I

2 3,25 D D I I D D I

3 3,00 D P D I D D I

4 2,75 P P D D D P D

6 2,50 P P P D D P D

8 2,25 P P P P P P P

12 2,00 P P P P P P P

Make use of mechanical pruning

to shape trees

5

Mechanical pruning in the ’60-80

M.P. was performed on vigorous apple and pear trees in winter

Result: excessive regrowth and poor fruit quality

A simplified version of the Lorette pruning at the end of Spring, at 10-

14 new leaves, can help in shaping a thin fruit wall.

6

Fuji mechanically pruned for 4 years (Friuli, 2011)

Fuji mechanically pruned for 4 years (Friuli, 2011)

7

WINDOW PRUNING MACHINE

Window pruning machine: Previously covered by PCT Patent Cooperation and confirmed in

EU, U.S.A. and Canada N. VI2012A000010 del 13.01.2013 as

“Apparato di cimatura per filari” of F. Mach

Cutting units

of 36 cm each

8

Flexibility of WPM

By changing over the years the height of the windows it is

possible to induce a cycle of new shoots

The number of cutting units can range from 1-2 (pre-

pruning) to 3-4 (almost full pruning).

The distance from the trunk of each cutting unit can range

from 10 to 50 cm

The proper setting for each orchard can be reached by

varying the angles of the outside and inside cutting bars.

WPM can effectively operate also in post-harvest.

By removing the inside cutting units WPM becomes a

traditional PM for summer pruning.

CUTS

REGROWTH

Regrowth of branches 2 years after WPM of a Gala branch

Flower buds

9

An apple 35mm

(1.4 inches)

diameter branch

cut by WPM

A 3 leader orchard well vertically trained and pruned by Window

Pruning Machine (November 2014, Mollerussa, Catalunya)

3 windows

10

Regrowth of a branch of Golden pruned by Window Pruning

Machine or by hand

By machine

(WPM)

By hand

The Window Pruning

Machine operates at

best only on well

vertically trained trees

“Windows”

11

The Window Pruning Machine at work in Belgium

Hand pruning time in winter (Golden Delicious)

Pruning type

hours/ha

2011

hours/ha

2012

hours/ha

2013

total

hours

% time

saved

Standard

Hand pruning85 78 75 238

WMP +

Hand pruning0 52 45 97 59%

Yield/tree (kg) Fruit weight (g)

Year 2012 2013 2012 2013

Hand pruning 17 b 20 a 294 a 230 c

Fruit wall 18 b 12 b 270 ab 265 a

WPM 25 a 18 a 252 b 244 ab

Yield of Golden Delicious with different pruning systems

12

Gala WPM in post-harvest (September 2013)

unpruned WM pruned

2012 2013 2014 2015 2016

manual 87 76 78 77 74

WPM + manual 87 82 86 82 80

bb b

b

aa

aa

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

Fru

it o

verc

olo

ur

(%)

Fruit overcolour of Gala pruned manually alone or by WPM + manually

13

2012 2013 2014 2015 2016

manual 53 70 39 41 90

WPM + manual 61 73 37 56 93

b

b

a

a

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

To

ns

/ h

aYield of Gala pruned manually alone or by WPM and

manually

MECHANICAL THINNING OF

FLOWERS

14

Any kind of thinning (ch., mech, man.) is difficult when trees

have complex secondary structure like in «taille long»

Excessive fruit set of untreated Gala

15

Ideal branches for mechanical thinning with Darwin

60 cm

Mechanical thinning efficacy depends on tree training

A few clusters after mechanical thinning (6 km/h, 250 rpm)

16

•More consistent over the years;

•“Quantitative”: efficacy can be increased by changing rpm;

• Visibile: most of the effect can be seen, allowing corrections;

• Indipendent from meteo, cultivar (and species), but also from

PGR’s availability and from the market;

• Cheap, easy and fast to learn;

• Integrated if needed with chemicals (BA e NAA);

Advantages of mechanical thinnning versus chemical

Sustainabile environmentally and economically

Gala bi-axes (2415 trees/ha - val d'Adige 2009)

c

a

a

a

b

bab

b

a

bb

c

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

UNTREATED 87 34 309 109

MEC. TH.. 220rpm, 6 km/h 39 27 168 164

MEC. TH. 220rpm -> NAA+BA 34 22 116 198

fruit set (%) kg/tree N. fruits Fruit weight (g)

optimal crop load

P<0.001

P=0.007

P<0.001

P<0.001

adequate size

Thinning trial on Gala in Adige valley (2009)

17

UNTREATED MECH. THINN. 220 rpm

Gala trained bi-axes 2009 improve Darwin performance (V. Adige)

Return bloom of Fuji

Val di Non, Spring 2009return bloom index:

1=no flower clusters;

9=only flower clusters on >2 year old wood

D

B

C

A

0,0

1,0

2,0

3,0

4,0

5,0

6,0

7,0

8,0

Untreated 2xATS->NAA+BA Mec. Thin 280 rpm Mec. Th. 280 rpm ->

NAA+BA

retu

rn b

loo

m i

nd

ex

P<0.01

18

IASMA trials 2009: efficacy of mechanical/integrated thinning*

*Efficacy and increase in weight are both related to UTC as %

Note: Darwin with old set of brush

Cv / Location

Targeted

thinning

efficacy

Thinning

efficacy

mechanic

Thinning

efficacy

mech.+ chem.

increase in

fruit size

mechanic

increase in fruit

size mech. +

chem.

Fuji / v. Adige 57 45 58 39 55

Golden / v. Adige 44 55 73 36 52

Gala / v. Adige 51 46 62 50 82

Red / v. Adige 34 34 45 34 47

Pink Lady / v. Adige 48 37 62 14 38

Braeburn / v. Adige 31 26 --- 14 ---

Fuji / v. Non 53 61 71 89 124

Golden / v. Non 64 52 65 63 105

Average 48 45 62 42 72

optimal thinning

sligtht overthinning

overthinning

Legenda:

Trials with mechanical + chemical thinning 2010-2011 of Iasma

Light thinning

Optimal thinnig

Overthinning

Trials 2011

Cv / Location

Targeted

thinning

efficacy

Thinning

efficacy

mechanic

Thinning

efficacy

mech.+ BA

Increase in

fruit size

mechanic

Increase in

fruit size

mech. + BA

Fuji / v. Adige 59 21 31 18 28

Golden / v. Adige 40 28 34 19 27

Gala / v. Adige 52 15 29 9 24

Red / v. Adige 37 26 23 18 18

Fuji / v. Non 66 48 53 59 64

Golden / v. Non 53 21 48 32 73

Average 51 27 36 26 39

Trials 2010

Cv / Location

Targeted

thinning

efficacy

Thinning

efficacy

mechanic

Thinning

efficacy

mech.+ BA

Increase in

fruit size

mechanic

Increase in

fruit size

mech. + BA

Fuji / v. Adige 56 22 52 18 66

Golden / v. Adige 51 27 49 26 58

Gala / v. Adige 54 44 53 34 39

Red / v. Adige 46 30 29 6 28

Pink Lady / v. Adige 49 42 43 21 31

Modì 48 67 70 49 55

Fuji / v. Non 57 31 38 34 32

Golden / v. Non 47 39 36 33 30

Average 51 38 46 28 42

Note: Darwin with new set of brush

19

The drawbacks of mechanical thinning

• Risk of late frost (with aggressive rpm)

• Need for slender trees and suitable branches

• Not selective in terms of king flower

• Some damage on spur leaves and some shock on the whole tree

• Despite the early timing (bloom) and 15 years of observation without

a single case in Europe, some concern remains of fire blight

transmission in infected areas

• Psycological barrier for many growers/technicians

TUNNEL SPRAYING with and without nets reduce drift and save

30-40% of chemicals

20

MULTI-TASK SINGLE ROW NETS

The potential of nets is wide:

• Protection against hail, some insects (codling moth, stink

bug, etc.), birds, sunburn

• Thinning by early closure in bloom

• Reducing drift and facilitate mist fixed spraying

• Helping release of beneficial insects

• Controlling microcimate (anti-rain nets)

Multi-task single-row nets

Single-row nets require slender

canopies and short trees

21

The fruit wall is suitable to both tunnel sprayers and MT nets

Nets try to find a compromise between these 2 opposite goals:

•foster pollination by bees to have good yield and quality

• thin excessive crop by PGR’s

King flowers are free to be pollinised, while side flowers and

secondary blooming are at least in part excluded.

Shading by net also indirectely affects fruit set, causing

starvation of weaker fruitlets

Crop load control and MT nets

22

Azienda Coccinella in val di Chiana (Arezzo, IT) under MT nets

MT nets in an organic farm (Maso Ertis, Oscar Ioris - Povo, 2012)

23

Net closure at pink bud Net closure 5 days later

Thinning organic (2012)

Net closure at pink bud stage (Fuji, 28/3/2012)

24

Net closure at 18% open flowers Fuji (2/4/2012)

Untreated

Fuji (27/9/12)Net at 18% O.F.

25

Fruit set of Fuji thinned by means of nets or chemicals

C

BC

BBBB

A

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

n. fr

uit

s / 1

00 c

luste

rs

Fruit set 101 31 22 35 38 35 38

Untreated Pink bud net 8% O.F. net 18% O.F. net 48% O.F. net 71% O.F. 3XATS->BA

Trials 2012

Fruit production of Fuji thinned by M.P. nets (2012)

C

BCBC BC

BC

B

A

B

AB

AAA

AB

A

D

C

B B B

A

A

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

Untreated net P.B. net 8%

O.F.

net 18%

O.F.

net 48%

O.F.

net 71%

O.F.

ATS - BA

0,0

0,5

1,0

1,5

2,0

2,5

3,0

3,5

4,0

4,5N. fruits

Fruit weight

n. of seeds/apple

Optimum N. fruits

26

Prova di diradamento con mezzi chimici, fisici e meccanici

(Golden Delicious, val d'Adige 2013)

B

A

A

A

C

B

A

B

B

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

Testimone 98 288 134

BA+NAA 67 157 215

rete chiusa al 20% F.A. 58 210 193

Allegagione (%) N. frutti Peso frutto (g)

P<0.01P<0.01

P<0.01

Diradamento di Red Delicious con mezzi fisici e meccanici

(val d'Adige 2013)

C

A

A

B

B

B

A

CC

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

400

450

Testimone 84 148 194

Diradamento meccanico 230 rpm 41 70 275

rete 20% F.A. 21 22 360

allegagione % N. Frutti Peso frutto (g)

P<0,0001 P<0,0001P<0,0001

P<0,0001

Overthinning on Red Delicious

27

Untr. Pink bud 8% O.F 38% O.F. 76% O.F. NAD

Seeds in apples thinned by MT nets

Natural fruit set of unthinned Fuji 5/6/14

28

Fruit set of Fuji under MT nets 5/6/14

Thinning of Fuji by means of multi-tasking nets (V. Adige)

Uncovered 2013Net at 20% O.F. 2013

Net at 20% O.F. 2014

29

Thinning Fuji by net (4/27/15) – Maso Parti

Pedestrian Fuji thinned

by MT nets

30

Multi-leader fruit wall of Fuji in 2014 thinned

only by AltCArpò net (79.9 tons/ha - Avg Fruit weight: 255 g)

4 and 6 leader Golden Delicious thinned only by AltCArpò net

2.7 m

53kg/tree x 1650 trees/ha=87 tons/ha

31

Ritorno a fiore di Fuji 2014-2015

B

A A

A

0,0

1,0

2,0

3,0

4,0

5,0

6,0

7,0

8,0

9,0

10,0

1=

sen

za f

iori

, 9=

so

lo f

iori

I_fioritura 7,4 7,3 8,6 2,7

Altcarpò AP doppia Rete fina Scoperto

The protection against hail

32

2 hours after hail without net (24/6/14)

2 hours after hail under net (24/6/14)

33

Standard AltCarpòAnti-rain net

Fine AltCarpò

2.5 m

long

standard

AltCarpò

1.1 m wide anti-rain net

34

Pioggia raccolta in primavera nei pluviometri a centro fila (2014)

0,0

5,0

10,0

15,0

20,0

25,0

30,0

8/4 19/4 22/4 28/4 30/4 12/5 .

mm

AltCarpò

Anti-pioggia doppia

Anti-pioggia singola

scoperto

Untreated Fuji with 100% scab infection on shoots and 15% on

fruits (2016)

35

2 and 4 leader

Golden under anti-

rain nets without

spraying fungicides

Untreated Golden D. apples

Control not covered

(99% scab)

Covered by anti-rain net

(3% scab)

2015

36

Controlling microclimate (anti-rain nets) 2016

No fungicides No fungicides + A-R net

Wholly aphid is the

main problem under

anti-rain nets for some

cultivars like Fuji

37

FIXED SPRAYING on trellys under the nets opens up new

possibilities (timely spraying, m.o., organic compounds, etc.)

FIXED SPRAYING on trellys under the nets

38

Double Guyot under Whailex nets

Nets can be lifted on just one side to perform coltural practices

39

Pedestrian Golden with 70 tons/ha under anti-rain net (2015)

2 leader Golden after 25 cm of wet haevy snowfall (7/3/16)

AltCarpò Anti-rain

40

Thank you for your attention!