Analysis of energy consumption in the maintenance technology for a fruit-bearing seedling orchard.

摘要

Three annual fruit [crop not mentioned] orchard maintenance regimes were compared for energy consumption. Regime 1 (control) involved black polyethylene film inter-row mulching, 8 crop protection sprayings and manual pruning. Regime 2 had a turf inter-row system which required 4 mowings a year; contoured machine pruning; machine uptake, shredding and scattering of pruning waste; detailed pruning and removal of suckers with a mobile tractor-mounted unit; application of mineral fertilizer with a special broadcaster; and 5 low-volume sprayings (100 litre/ha) and one drenching (1100 litre/ha) in spring for crop protection. Regime 3 comprised plastic film inter-row mulching, 5 low-volume sprayings, machine pruning and manual detailed pruning. Energy consumption of the activities was highest with regime 1 (48 684 MJ), followed by regime 3 (39 535.6 MJ), with regime 2 having the lowest energy consumption (27 474 MJ). Fuel use was high in regimes 1 and 3. The particular activities with the highest energy consumptions were soil tillage in regimes 1 and 3, crop protection sprayings in regime 1, and the manual operations in regime 1.