Abstract
Mature green fresh market tomatoes have been machine harvested on a commercial scale in California since 1978. The harvesting and handling process results in some damage to the fruit, and the incidence of puncture injury is a function of the percentage of fruits which retain their stems. This paper reports on a study to identify concepts for mechanically stemming the tomato fruits, concepts which, preferably, might be incorporated in the harvesting machine, so that machine productivity could be increased while maintaining or possibly reducing the size of crew required in the field. Parallel rollers were used to study fruit stem orientation and stemming of mature green fresh market tomatoes. Stemming efficiencies of more than 95% were achieved by using a padded, tri-roller assembly with a fruit constraining bracket.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Journal | Paper - American Society of Agricultural Engineers |
| State | Published - 1980 |
| Externally published | Yes |
| Event | Pap ASAE Presented at Summer Meet - San Antonio, Tex Duration: Jun 15 1980 → Jun 18 1980 |
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Agricultural and Biological Sciences (miscellaneous)