Mechanical harvesting at dawn in a super-high-density table olive orchard: effect on the quality of fruits.

Background: Mechanical harvesting with over-the-row harvesters in super-high-density (SHD) table olive orchards increases the effectiveness of fruit removal, although bruising can limit the fruit quality. Additionally, an early harvest in periods less favourable to quality production is increasingly frequent as a result of global warming. The present study explores the impact on olive quality of harvesting at dawn when the environmental temperature is low. The study was carried out for 2 years on two cultivars with different tolerance to bruising ('Manzanilla de Sevilla' and 'Manzanilla Cacereña'), grown in SHD conditions and harvested at two timepoints: dawn and morning.

Results: Fruit morphology was not modified by the moment of harvest in either of the cultivars. Fruit harvested at dawn produced less CO and ethylene and was less damaged externally and internally compared to fruit harvested in the morning. However, environmental conditions throughout development influenced the response because the highest values of bruising (incidence, area and volume of damaged area), total internal damage and the number of tissue ruptures increased in the year with the hottest summer, and the differences between harvest treatments were less evident.

Conclusion: Mechanical harvesting at dawn contributes to reducing the damage in olive fruit. © 2022 The Authors. Journal of The Science of Food and Agriculture published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Society of Chemical Industry.