TRANSMISSION AND EFFICIENCY OF VIBRATIONS ON ‘MORAIOLO’ OLIVE HARVESTING

Using multidirectional and orbital vibrations on the cultivar ‘Moraiolo’ with a high detachment force (604 g) and a low weight (0.9 g) fruits, 66% of them were removed. The successive application of a module of vibration, differing from the first, increased the harvest yield to 82.37%. Because the fruits had homogeneous detachment force and weight ratios and because uniform removal percentage of fruits remaining on the tree after the first shaker treatment was obtained, the following conclusions can be made:

• The vibration was transmitted to the fruiting branches of individual trees in a nonuniform way because of the presence of areas of inactive wood, elasticity or irregularity of the direction of the branches.
• The second vibration acted on areas not affected by the first because of a different way of transmitting movement from the point of application of the shaker to the fruiting branches.
• Fruit fall, beyond the effect of removal force and weight, was primarily due to their position in the crown.

Therefore, applying different modules of vibration and proper pruning to eliminate areas little affected, good yields can be obtained with cultivars not ideal for mechanical harvesting.