ASABE Technical Library - Abstract

Abstract. China is main and biggest planting area of Zanthoxylum and reached 1.67x10⁶ ha in 2008. Harvesting of Zanthoxylum fruit is mainly based on manual picking which is conflicting with rapidly increasing labor cost and labor shortage in farming. Therefore, it is very important to study mechanized harvesting technologies to improve the harvesting efficiency and promote the development of Chinese Zanthoxylum industry. Study of the mechanical characteristics of the harvest period can provide basic theoretical data for designing Zanthoxylum harvesting machinery. Since the differences of Zanthoxylum in the variety, soil conditions, climate and other aspects, the material properties of Zanthoxylum are also different. Therefore, through the laboratory determination of Zanthoxylum fruit from Hancheng city of Shaanxi province, the mechanical properties of Zanthoxylum were analyzed by image analysis and mathematical statistics. Geometric characteristic, separation force between fruit and stalk, and separation force between stalk and branches, as well as the color characteristics of Zanthoxylum fruit were studied. It was found that the separation force between fruit and stalk was significantly smaller than that between stalk and branch. And the fruit size was uniform. This study will provide a scientific basis for the development of the machine. Our hope is that this work will spark the renewal of a research or development process which will move the technology another step forward.