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Research

• 25

  Mar
  Development of a system and machinery for collection and removal of crop residue from protected plots

  Orchard, Vegetables

  by Yossi Kashti

  11
  תחום או ענף אגרוטכנולוגיה; אורגני; ירקות

  תאריך עדכון 14/3/2012
  Development of a system and machinery for collection and removal of crop residue from protected plots
  Y. Kashti, I. Sagi, O. Kesar, A. Levi, F. Geoola, R. Brikman – Institute of Agricultural Engineering, ARO
  A. Gadiel – Central and Northern Arava R&D
  R. Amir – Extension Service, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development
  E-mail address for correspondence: ykashti@volcani.agri.gov.il

  Abstract
  At the end of a season of vegetable production in a greenhouse, the plants are manually removed. This process requires 3 work days and 5 tractor hours per dunam. The material is removed for sanitary reasons, to avoid the transmission of diseases to future crops. The amount of greenhouse vegetable production in Israel stands at 65,000 dunams. Thousands of work-days are spent removing the remains of old crops from these areas.
  The goal of this research is the development of a method and equipment for the mechanization of this process. Examination of the matter led to the identification of three possible methods for mechanized removal of crop residue. We chose to more closely examine the cheapest of these methods. The chosen method includes three mechanized activities that are carried out one after the other with the help of the farm tractor. The activities are: uprooting the plants, concentration of the uprooted plant material in a bin and collecting and chopping up the plants as they are collected as preparation for the production of compost. Over the last two years, we examined the process of removing crop residue from greenhouses with the help of different types of existing equipment, machines that were specially prepared and tested and machines that were purchased from different manufacturers. We tested the abilities of four types of uprooting machinery to uproot whole plants and crop residue: a knife uprooter with one central leg, a knife uprooter with two side legs, a disc uprooter and a finger uprooter. A piece of equipment based on a set of pitchforks was evaluated in an area thick with whole plants and residue. We evaluated the efficacy of two types of mowers for collecting and chopping up whole plants.
  The mechanized residue removal experiments were conducted in the western Negev and the central Arava. The experiments were conducted in pepper plots in screen-houses and greenhouses belonging to different developers, on sandy and sandy/loess soils, with varying agro-technical specifications (plot width, number of rows per plot, distance between rows, etc.) The main experiments were conducted in the Arava beginning in early May, immediately after the last harvest while the plants were still green and continued each month until the plants withered.
  After two years of research, the results of this work show that the optimal timing for removing crop residue is immediately after the last harvest while the plants are still green. At that point, few leaves and fruit are cut-off from the plants and dropped to the ground. We also found that collecting plant matter and then depositing it in place with a mower that includes a container and has no pick-up (wheel with lifting fingers) left the area cleaner. The finger plow successfully uprooted crop remains in moist and dry soil.
  Based on the results obtained from two seasons of research (2009/10 and 2010/11), it appears that the possible process for mechanized removal of crop residue includes two phases: 1) mowing with a mower that includes a container immediately after the last harvest, while the plants are still standing in the ground; and 2) uprooting and collecting the crop residue. Therefore, before the third year of this research, we will build a mower without pick-up that has a large container that will be sufficient for the collection of plants from at least two plots and the collection of the crop residue after uprooting.

  Acknowledgements
  We thank the growers, Noa and Atar Sahak from Hetzva and the staff and management of the Besor Farm and the Yair Farm, on whose property experiments were carried out, for their help. We thank Amotz from the Ego Company and Aharon Yemini for contributing the piece of equipment based on a set of pitchforks and the mower for the first experiments. We thank Motti Ben-Ami from the Ein Yahav welding shop for helping us with tool repair. Special thanks to Ram Golan, on whose farm the main experiments were carried out, for dedicating his time and effort to this project and for very pleasantly providing us with advice and technical equipment. Thank you to Mickey Kaplan, Central and Northern Arava R&D Tamar, as well as the office of the Chief Scientist of the Ministry of Agriculture for financial support for research project no. 458-0518-09.

  שפה English
  מלות מפתח vegetable, greenhouses, pepper, capsicum
  מחבר Yossi Kashti, I. Sagi, O. Kesar, A. Levi, F. Geoola, R. Brikman, A. Gadiel, R. Amir
  שנה 2011
  שייכות yzvieli
  תאריך יצירה 14/3/2012
  תאריך עדכון 14/3/2012
• 25

  Mar
  Irrigation of a mango plantation with desalinated water, Sodom Valley

  Orchard

  by Dafna Harari

  7
  תחום או ענף מטעים
  תאריך עדכון 14/3/2012

  Irrigation of a mango plantation with desalinated water, Sodom Valley
  Dafna Harari, Ami Maduel, Uri Zeiri, Aviran Asraf, Rami Golan, Svetlana Gogio – Central and Northern R&D Arava
  Baruch Luzon, Izik Kosto, Shlomo Kramer – Extension Service, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development
  E-mail address for correspondence: dafnahr@arava.co.il

  Abstract
  Aside from dates, no orchard or vineyard crops have been grown in the Sodom Valley area, unlike the southern areas of the Arava Valley, in which mango and grapes are grown. Despite the unique climate of the Sodom Valley area and the early-ripening advantages associated with such a climate, the area in this region planted to orchards/vineyards (excluding dates) is limited and includes small areas of Brazilian figs and papaya. The main reason for this is the quality of the water. The saline water available in the area has an EC of 3.5-4. In the case of perennial crops, such as orchard crops and grapevine, the salt accumulates in the plant, there is a subsequent decrease in growth and yield and the trees or vines eventually die. In the past, experiments were conducted involving orchard crops and vineyards in the region, but these efforts did not succeed over the long term due to the accumulation of salts. The decrease in the cost of desalinated water and the development of more effective, cheaper technologies have made possible the desalination of water for agriculture. This desalinated water can be blended with local water. The quality of this blended water is just as good as that of the piped water in the northern and central parts of the country. That is, this water has a salinity level of 1-1.5 (dS/m).
  In 2006, a mango orchard was planted on the grounds of the Zohar Experimental Station. Mango cultivars Shelly and Tommy were planted in a screen-house. Some plots were irrigated with the local piped water and the others were irrigated with desalinated water. The plots were separated by sheets of polyethylene that extended to a depth of 1.5 m, in order to prevent the roots from growing in the direction of the blended water. After six growing seasons, large differences were noted in the growth of the plants and the quantity and quality of their yields. Soil and root examinations in the treatment that was irrigated with local pipeline water revealed increased salinity in the deeper layers and, for that reason, fewer roots. The damage that the salinity caused the trees was visible in both cultivars, but was especially notable in cv. Shelly; some of those trees dried up completely. Regarding the yield, we saw heavy fruit production throughout the orchard, in both cultivars and both irrigation treatments. The cv. Tommy did comparatively better when it was irrigated with the blended water. In cv. Shelly, there was no significant difference in export-quality yield, but about 30% of the yield of this cultivar was made up of small fruit (less than 200 g) that were not fit for export. In light of the results of this study, it is clear that the expansion of the variety of orchard crops grown in Sodom Valley requires a supply of water that is significantly less saline than that currently available for agriculture. The success of the experiment will open up new ways to take advantage of the idea of building a central desalination facility for each region.

  שפה English
  KETWORDS irrigation, salinity
  AUTHORS Dafna Harari, Ami Maduel, Uri Zeiri, Aviran Asraf, Rami Golan, Svetlana Gogio, Baruch Luzon, Izik Kosto, Shlomo Kramer
  שנה 2011
  שייכות yzvieli
  תאריך יצירה 14/3/2012
  תאריך עדכון 14/3/2012
• 12

  Dec
  AGROTECHNIQUES FOR PRODUCTION OF TABLE GRAPES IN AN ORGANIC VINEYARD

  Orchard

  by Dafna Harari

  תחום או ענף מטעים
  תאריך עדכון 9/4/2010

  תיאור מלא Dafna Harari and Omer Galor – Central and Northern Arava R&D
  Baruch Luzon – Negev Region, Extension Service, Ministry of Agriculture
  Eyal Raban – Orchard Department, Extension Service, Ministry of Agriculture
  Etty Or – Orchard Department, Volcani Center, ARO

  Abstract
  In the Arava, there is little use of pesticides for the control of pests and diseases. This fact makes it possible to evaluate the organic production of table grapes. Together with the increasing public awareness of the issue of pesticide residues, the Yair Research Station was allocated an organic vineyard. In 2007, there was a severe outbreak of powdery mildew in this vineyard and none of the produce from that year could be marketed. In 2008-2009, we tested a treatment program for the control of powdery mildew that was appropriate for an organic vineyard. This program was based on a preliminary treatment following pruning to ensure early and uniform emergence from dormancy, as well as the use of polyethylene sheets on the rows of the vineyard. The pruned vines in the plots that had been covered with polyethylene sheets emerged from dormancy earlier and in a more uniform fashion than the vines in the uncovered plots. The grape yield was relatively high as compared to that observed in a conventional vineyard of cv. SBS (‘Early Sweet’), approximately 3 tons/dunam of high quality grapes and an additional 0.75 tons/dunam of lower quality grapes. Research efforts toward a preventative treatment for powdery mildew should be continued.

  Email address of the writrer: dafnahr@arava.co.il

  שפה English
  מחבר Dafna Harari, Omer Galor, Baruch Luzon, Eyal Raban, Etty Or
  שנה 2010
  שייכות yzvieli
  תאריך יצירה 10/4/2010
  תאריך עדכון 10/4/2010
• 17

  Dec
  A model and preliminary interface of precision agriculture in date palm production 2006-7

  Orchard

  by Ofer Mendelson

  תאריך עדכון 14/3/2008
  תיאור מלא The recent years' development of precision agriculture (PA) takes advantage of the progress obtained in the computer applications and data collection and processing, to identify the spatial and individual variation within a field, and to enable an optimum use of inputs and manpower at the individual tree or at a predefined-plot management level in an orchard. Although developed for field crops, the methods of PA spread recently to orchards (e.g., vineyards). In date palms (Phoenix dactylifera L.), the revenue potential is very high; analyses of the profit gained from an individual tree suggest that it could be further increased by the improvement of the data-collection process and the consequent precise inputs. Date palm growers struggle with limited resources such as manpower, height-access machinery and water availability. Nevertheless, in spite of the significant variability within an orchard between plots and individual trees, the decision-making by most growers is founded at the arithmetic mean level. To examine the possibility to promote and disseminate the PA approach among the date palm growers, we have made arrangements for a preliminary test whether and at which conditions the spatial variability in a date palm orchard justifies a more dissected attitude either at the tree, or at the sub-plot level. Additionally, means and methods to ease the data collection and applications at those levels have been developed.
  During 2007, a model which divided an orchard in Ein-Yahav into two plots that were divided further into 3 sub-plots on a basis of satellite and aerial photographs in which possible growth variations could be identified. A year-round follow-up of data collected from those sub-plots and soil quality parameters, counting of palm frond bases at 20% of the trees, ripening in tagged sample trees, and quantity and quality of the yield at harvest, revealed no significant differences between the sub-plots. However, the uniformity found at each stage of the examination demonstrates that at least in this case, the spatial analysis of the data correlated well with the final quantity and quality of the yield. The examination of additional plots will enable to improve the model of the terms that justify sub-plot division.
  Three archetypes have been developed for the following means: 1) A pocket-size logger aimed at on-site data collection and inputs recording, including data harvesting at the level of the individual tree. The system is based on a commercial palmtop computer with navigation and data collection software assisted by GPS and detailed maps of the plots and the trees for an accurate identification and resolution. The collected data are transmitted directly to an MS Excel table. The advanced version will include the ability to record instructions for the workers at the orchard; 2) A barcode-based system to assist the management of produce pallets during the primary sorting process. The system allows for a continuous track of the pallets arriving from the orchard to the packing house, where the produce is sorted and forwarded to various post harvest processes while preserving the original plot identity until the final sorting step. Simultaneously, the quality parameters of the produce at the primary sorting step of each plot is dissected on a time scale; 3) A barcode-based system for the automatic counting of the packages of the final product, which provides the dissection of the final produce quality parameters according to plots, thus saving time and manpower.
  In parallel to the technological development, a process of mapping and categorizing the future required performance of the system was undertaken, including the examination of various data collection methods currently employed by growers, aiming at assisting the development of an application that will enable a uniform data assemblage. Towards 2008, we plan to continue the data collection from various plots for the improvement of the model, focusing on solving the problem of weighing the yield of individual trees, to examine the correlation between various single tree parameters with its actual yield.

  שפה English
  מחבר Ofer Mendelson, Gilad Dotan, Baruch Louson, Dafna Harari
  שנה 2008
  שייכות yzvieli
  תאריך יצירה 14/3/2008
  תאריך עדכון 14/3/2012

  OPEN