African Journal of
Agricultural Research

  • Abbreviation: Afr. J. Agric. Res.
  • Language: English
  • ISSN: 1991-637X
  • DOI: 10.5897/AJAR
  • Start Year: 2006
  • Published Articles: 6863

Full Length Research Paper

Comparative performance of commonly used portable coffee harvesters

Felipe Santinato
  • Felipe Santinato
  • Instituto Agronômico de Campinas, IAC, Avenida Barão de Itapura, 1.481 Botafogo, Campinas, São Paulo, Brazil.
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Rouverson Pereira da Silva
  • Rouverson Pereira da Silva
  • Departamento de Engenharia Rural, UNESP Universidade Estadual Paulista “Júlio de Mesquita Filho”, Campus de Jaboticabal, Via de Acesso Prof. Paulo Donato Castellane, s/n, 14884-900, Jaboticabal, São Paulo, Brazil.
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Caio Fernando Eckhardt Souza
  • Caio Fernando Eckhardt Souza
  • Universidade Federal de Viçosa, UFV, Campus de Rio Paranaíba, Rodovia MG-230, km 7, 38810-000, Rio Paranaíba, Minas Gerais, Brazil.
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Victor Afonso Reis Gonçalves
  • Victor Afonso Reis Gonçalves
  • Universidade Federal de Viçosa, UFV, Campus de Rio Paranaíba, Rodovia MG-230, km 7, 38810-000, Rio Paranaíba, Minas Gerais, Brazil.
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Carlos Diego da Silva
  • Carlos Diego da Silva
  • Universidade Federal de Viçosa, UFV, Campus de Rio Paranaíba, Rodovia MG-230, km 7, 38810-000, Rio Paranaíba, Minas Gerais, Brazil.
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Roberto Santinato
  • Roberto Santinato
  • Santinato and Santinato Cafés, Rua das Margaridas 783 - Chácara Primavera - Cep: 13087-450 Campinas, São Paulo, Brazil.
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  •  Received: 28 July 2018
  •  Accepted: 04 September 2018
  •  Published: 17 January 2019

Abstract

In mountain regions due to the high slopes, the coffee harvest is carried out manually, generating higher production costs. An alternative to reducing these costs is to use portable breakers. The objective of this work was to evaluate the efficiency of portable coffee breakers in coffee harvesting. The experiment was carried out in a field of Catucaí Amarelo 24/137, 3.5 years old. In the study, six types of breakers were tested, in addition to an extra treatment, the experiment was delineated in randomized blocks with four replicates. The number of broken coffee, remaining coffee, number of broken branches that fell on the melting cloth, number of primary and secondary branches present in the plants and defoliation were evaluated. The commercial bruising Brudden promoted a greater amount of broken branches fallen in the cloth of derrick. Regarding the defoliation, it was observed that the Brudden melt promoted the highest values, followed by commercial brands AGS Dupla, Nakashi and Sthil WR9. The treatments Sthil WR6 / 2 and WR6, and Sthil associated to the rubber extensors obtained the lowest values of defoliation. Brudden was also the one that promoted the largest amount of broken branches accounted for in the plant. Based on that, results showed that harvest process using portable milling machines has high harvesting efficiency.

Key words: Operational efficiency, defoliation, Coffea arabica.