Conditioning harvested almonds on the orchard floor to reduce drying time of wetted almonds

摘要

Almond production in California, USA, relies upon gradual, in-field drying of the harvested crop to deliver a cost effective, quality product. Almonds may dry on the orchard floor for one to two weeks after snaking before pickup and delivery to the huller. Significant early rainfall (September/October) during the drying stage of harvest in 2010 and 2011 led to quality losses including concealed damage (CD) in the Sacramento Valley growing region. To identify active management practices to acceleratein-field almond drying time following rain, an applied research project was conducted in 2012 and 2013. Field-dried 'Monterey' cultivar almonds ready for pickup were sprayed with irrigation water to simulate rain and left on the orchard floor to dry for13 days (2012) or 30 days (2013) in October. Kernel and hull moisture levels were measured at regular intervals. Good drying conditions - low humidity and no rainfall - characterized both study years. Treatments in both years included conditioning windrows (tumbling almonds and removing dirt/leaves) before and/or after wetting. A raking treatment, prior to windrowing, was added in 2013, and significantly reduced median hull and kernel moisture compared to unraked almonds prior to a second wetting. In 2012 and 2013, conditioning windrows after wetting significantly reduced kernel and hull moisture levels at study end compared to the unconditioned treatment. Conditioning before wetting, only, significantly reduced kernel and hull moisture compared to theunconditioned treatment at the study end in 2012 but not 2013. Based on these study results, waiting to condition almonds after rain is recommended as a cost-effective alternative to conditioning both before and after rain.