Assessment of different table olive harvesting methods

Olives (Olea europaea L.) are one of the oldest trees that are planted with two purposes: table and oil olive production. The main problem of olive production is picking the fruit from the tree. Nowadays, olive harvesting is done manually in Iran. Much of the olive product of Iran is used for table olive. To evaluate the performance of existing machines in Iran for harvesting olives in order to be table, a study was conducted in 2012 in the ETKA Organization?s olive grove located in the city of Roodbar, Guilan province. A randomized complete block design was used with the following harvesting methods: a = tractor mounted branch shaker, b = pneumatic combs, c = manual branch shaker and d = manual harvesting. The results showed that the tractor mounted branch shaker can be introduced to gardeners as an appropriate machine for table olive harvesting.