No abstract

The cost of harvesting olive is probably the major factor in determining whether or not there will be an economically successful season for most farmers. Manual harvesting of fruit accounts for 30 to 60% of the total production costs. The aim of the present study was to design, construct and evaluate a hand-held harvester for olive tree. With the purpose of increasing the mechanization level of the harvest operation and permitting the production of high quality oil; the design was based on the following criteria: using local raw materials in the manufacture of the equipment. Providing simple design and easy in operation. The design is made considering all the mechanical, agronomical and economical aspects involved in this issue. The first step consists in the design of the shacking device used for the separation of the olives from the plant, the next step is the design of the supporting structure, including the arms and the frame; finally there is a description of moving parts of the machine. To evaluate the machine performance, a factorial experiment with complete randomized design in five replications was conducted, the factors being shaking frequency (900, 1250 and 1600 rpm), shaking period (1,2and 3 min) and Three varieties of olives (Krotina -kornaki-Manzanalo) varieties oil, varieties of table to study the effect of the use of different speeds in (rpm) and operating period in (min) on harvesting productivity and damage percent were evaluated. The highest harvesting productivity was at 1600 (rpm) and 3 (min), Low damage percent were evaluated at 900 (rpm) and 3 (min), machine achieved highest productivity and Low damage with Kornaki.

Olive harvesting machine by shaking was developed and fabricated using local materials with required specifications. The developed elements were frame and hitch, gear assembly, input and transmission shafts, vibrating unit, connecting rod, limb clamp, and transmission system. This research work aimed to evaluate the developed olive harvester capable to perform harvesting operation in the proper time using the tractor as the available economic source of power. Measurements covered the properties of olive fruit, stem, and limb for five olive varieties: Agizi, Manzanillo, Picholine, Kalamata and Arbiquen. The developed harvester was tested at three levels of frequency; 3.3, 6.7, and 10 Hz, four levels of stroke; 40, 80, 120, and 160 mm, and three levels of shaking time 60, 120 and 180 s. Results indicated that the effective range to attach the clamp on the olive limb were 30 to 40% of limb length. The average value of the maximum bending stress affecting the limb and limb deflection were 16.5 MPa and 196.6 mm respectively. In addition, results have provided the suitability of the developed shaker to harvest olive fruit. The suitability of the developed machine was judged through the fruit removal percentage. The values of performance parameters of olive harvester were 10 Hz optimum shaking frequency, 120 mm of stroke, and 120 s of shaking time.

The main object of the search work is to assess the dermal pesticide exposure inside greenhouses during its application and to compare pesticide pollution resulted from handgun sprayer with its values of a vertical boom sprayer prototype. Fluorescent tracer, is semi-quantitative dermal exposure assessment method based on visual observations of fluorescence images, had been used to demonstrate the extent to which dermal exposure can occur under inadequate protective conditions. 22 body segments (˃ 90% of the total body surface area) scored for all workers. Prototype is superior to handgun sprayer, contaminated area ratio of glasses was 0.28% -no pollution for the mask versus 8.11% and 9.15% respectively. Trunk, buttock, chest and shoulder contaminated area with handgun sprayer were 1.75, 1.60, 0.60 and 6.69 % (front view) and were 1.79, 9.51, 0.73 and 0.00 at back view versus no pollution (0.00 %) in all previous cases with vertical boom sprayer prototype. No pollution in any area of worker's arms compared to polluted area ranged between 0.00 and 8.17% for handgun sprayer. Contaminated area of gloves (5% of total body area) ranged between 0.00 and 0.92 % for vertical spray boom prototype versus 11.72 % -19.50 % for handgun sprayer. Worker's legs exposed to some pollution (0.42 % and 0.82%) against more detected exposure extended to 13.36 % for handgun sprayer. Regrettably, workers did not wear safety boots, though no data for feet area, which form about 7 % of total body area, was taken. Tested prototype maintained more working safety conditions when compared to handgun sprayer.

Leafy crops harvester prototype was modifying depending on the leafy crops characteristic like crop height leaves surface area crop stems. The prototype included frame, conveyor, collection box, and transmission system. Results provided the suitability of the modifying prototype to transportation and collecting leafy crops, the suitability of the modifying prototype was judged through the removal percentage, undamaged percentage and losses percentage.