The influence of mechanical pruning in cost reduction, production of fruit, and biomass waste in citrus orchards.

In this work the suitability of mechanical pruning to reduce costs and increase profits in citrus orchards has been analyzed. Six different types of solely mechanical pruning were assessed, another six of mechanical pruning combined with subsequent manual pruning, and these were compared with traditional pruning. The most suitable method of cutting was determined as well as its influence on production, the quality of the fruit, and the biomass waste obtained. The results obtained indicate that the practice of mechanical pruning combined with manual pruning improves production, the cost being similar to traditional pruning. This means that profits are increased. The cost of combined pruning (mechanical + manual) is 800 € ha-1, reaching an increase in production of 30 kg per tree, which is equal to 18 t of fruit/ha. With a sale price of 192.3 € t-1 of fruit, an extra profit of 2,661.4 € ha-1 is obtained with respect to conventional manual pruning.