Abstract
Hops for beer production are a crop of growing interest in Italy, requiring specialized harvesting equipment and infrastructure. Several studies have been conducted on hop cultivation and harvesting around the world, but information on Italian hop production is still very scarce. As it turns out, only a few Italian farms are self-sufficient, employing a mechanical harvesting system, while most of them resort to hand-picking. In this study, hand and mechanical hop-picking were investigated, highlighting the longest time necessary for the manual cut (65 ± 5 min for approximately 2 kg of fresh cones). Furthermore, different mechanical solutions for hop harvesting were evaluated; in particular, one hop-picking machine was tested at different settings (full speed and 75% of chain feed). At full speed, it was possible to collect an average of around 96 kg h−1 of fresh cones, while approximately 13% of cones were left unpicked. A speed reduction of approximately 25% made it possible to reduce the cone loss to 8%, with a cone collection of around 86 kg h−1. Lost and picked cones, however, were strongly related to the number of side-arms growing from the main bines. This experience made it possible to test an old solution for this emerging crop at moderate cost and with good sustainability for the Italian territory.
Subject
Management, Monitoring, Policy and Law,Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment,Geography, Planning and Development
Reference35 articles.
1. A survey on pests and diseases of Italian Hop crops
2. Hops—A Millennium Review
3. Sustainable Hop Production in the Great Lakes Region. Extension Bulletin E-3083https://www.uvm.edu/sites/default/files/media/Sirrine-Sustainable-Hop-Production-in-the-Great-Lakes-Region.pdf
4. Hop. Alternative Filed Crops Manual, 1–8;Carter,1990
5. HOP PRODUCTION 1958-1983
Cited by
4 articles.
订阅此论文施引文献
订阅此论文施引文献,注册后可以免费订阅5篇论文的施引文献,订阅后可以查看论文全部施引文献