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ARS Home » Northeast Area » Kearneysville, West Virginia » Appalachian Fruit Research Laboratory » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #363644
Research Project: Production Management Research for Berry Crops (BRIDGE PROJECT)

Location: Appalachian Fruit Research Laboratory

Title: Machine harvesting blueberries in the Pacific Northwest

Author
item Takeda, Fumiomi
item YANG, WEI - Oregon State University
item ZHANG, MENGYUN - University Of Georgia
item DEVETTER, LISA - Washington State University
item BEAUDRY, RANDY - Michigan State University
item ABELI, PATRICK - Michigan State University
item KORTHUIS, SCOTT - Oxbo International Corporation

Submitted to: Journal of the American Society for Horticultural Science
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 4/1/2019
Publication Date: 7/21/2019
Citation: Takeda, F., Yang, W.Q., Zhang, M., Devetter, L.W., Beaudry, R., Abeli, P., Korthuis, S. 2019. Machine harvesting blueberries in the Pacific Northwest. Journal of the American Society for Horticultural Science. Paper No. 30531.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: As harvesting labor costs steadily rise, blueberry growers are increasingly using over-the-row (OTR) machines designed to pick berries for the processed market to harvest their crop for the fresh market. Postharvest evaluations have shown that harvesting blueberries with conventional OTR machines results in fruit with a shorter shelf-life, excessive internal damage, and lower fruit firmness (g/mm) than hand-harvested blueberries. Much of the loss in fruit quality from OTR machines is from impact damage or fruit falling directly on the harvester’s hard surfaces, such as the plastic catch plates and conveyor belts. In 2018, OTR blueberry harvesters (Oxbo 7440 and 8040) with the Orbirotor® picking heads and modified fruit catching surfaces were used to harvest northern highbush blueberries in Oregon and Washington. The modifications included softer berry catch plates and soft intermediate fruit collecting surfaces over the conveyor belts. These changes to the catching surface alone resulted in fruit quality of machine-harvested 'Duke' and 'Draper' to be nearly like that of hand-harvested fruit in terms of firmness and bruising. Reducing the drop height in OTR machines with intermediate soft fruit catching surfaces and soft catch plates instead of letting detached blueberries drop directly onto hard plastic catch plates and conveyor belts improved fruit quality and pack-out percentage. The details of harvester modifications, and trials and tribulations of field testing of blueberry harvesting systems will be discussed.