Click on “Download PDF” for the PDF version or on the title for the HTML version.

If you are not an ASABE member or if your employer has not arranged for access to the full-text, Click here for options.

A tractor-mounted harvester was designed and constructed which uses a rotating circular saw to sever the broccoli heads from the plants and belt and flight conveyors to elevate the heads to a flat belt cross conveyor that deposits the heads into a pallet box located on a wagon towed beside the harvester. Harvest rates of 60 to 90 heads/min in the row appear feasible. Damage to the broccoli heads was slight and was judged by the authors to be acceptable for processing broccoli. A single pass harvesting system for broccoli is limited more by cultivar performance than by machine performance.