In ItalyProcessing tomato is the first Italian vegetable crop for harvested area (about 94000 ha). A three year “on-farm” open field research on processing tomato was carried out from 2006 to 2008 in a conventional farm in the Serchio Valley (Pisa, Central Italy), with the aim of testing innovative strategies for non-chemical weed control. The innovative strategy was compared with the farm conventional technique (consisting in chemical treatments and rotary inter-row hoeing interventions). The innovative strategy was carried out by means of the stale-seedbed technique (consisting in a rolling harrowing and flaming treatments) and post-transplanting precision hoeing interventions (with innovative hoes equipped with rigid or rotating tools). All the operative machines were on purpose adapted or modified according to tomato space arrangement. The rolling harrow was equipped with spike disks (placed in the front) and cage rolls (placed at the rear), connected by an overdrive with a ratio equal to 2. The flaming machine was equipped with three 50 cm wide rod burners, for a total working width of 1,5 m. The precision hoe was equipped with rigid elements for inter-row cultivation, elastic elements for in-row selective weed control and a precision guidance system. With this machine it was possible to till soil and control weeds even inside the crop pairs, without removing the drip irrigation hoses. Furthermore, “V” shaped elements, that allow to “open” crop vegetation during late hoeing interventions, were appositely built. The operative machines performances, weed density during the crop cycle, dry weed biomass at harvest and crop fresh yield were recorded. The innovative strategy allowed to reach significantly higher yield values, an efficient weed control and a relevant increase of gross marketable production with respect to conventional management in all the three years of experiment.

Innovative operative machines for physical weed control on processing tomato in the Serchio Valley (Central Italy)

FONTANELLI, MARCO;RAFFAELLI, MICHELE;GINANNI, MARCO;LULLI, LEONARDO;FRASCONI, CHRISTIAN;PERUZZI, ANDREA
2009-01-01

Abstract

In ItalyProcessing tomato is the first Italian vegetable crop for harvested area (about 94000 ha). A three year “on-farm” open field research on processing tomato was carried out from 2006 to 2008 in a conventional farm in the Serchio Valley (Pisa, Central Italy), with the aim of testing innovative strategies for non-chemical weed control. The innovative strategy was compared with the farm conventional technique (consisting in chemical treatments and rotary inter-row hoeing interventions). The innovative strategy was carried out by means of the stale-seedbed technique (consisting in a rolling harrowing and flaming treatments) and post-transplanting precision hoeing interventions (with innovative hoes equipped with rigid or rotating tools). All the operative machines were on purpose adapted or modified according to tomato space arrangement. The rolling harrow was equipped with spike disks (placed in the front) and cage rolls (placed at the rear), connected by an overdrive with a ratio equal to 2. The flaming machine was equipped with three 50 cm wide rod burners, for a total working width of 1,5 m. The precision hoe was equipped with rigid elements for inter-row cultivation, elastic elements for in-row selective weed control and a precision guidance system. With this machine it was possible to till soil and control weeds even inside the crop pairs, without removing the drip irrigation hoses. Furthermore, “V” shaped elements, that allow to “open” crop vegetation during late hoeing interventions, were appositely built. The operative machines performances, weed density during the crop cycle, dry weed biomass at harvest and crop fresh yield were recorded. The innovative strategy allowed to reach significantly higher yield values, an efficient weed control and a relevant increase of gross marketable production with respect to conventional management in all the three years of experiment.
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11568/200486
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