FEATURES OF THE TECHNOLOGICAL PROCESS AND LABOUR EFFICIENCY WHEN HARVESTING APPLES OF DIFFERENT CULTIVARS IN INTENSIVE ORCHARDS OF NORTHERN ITALY

The article is devoted to the analysis of specific operations in growing and harvesting apples in an intensive orchard in the leading horticultural region of Europe - South Tyrol (Italy), where the profitability of production is achieved by ensuring high yield, fruit quality with significant added value, and the use of self-propelled platforms for the effective implementation of technological operations in the orchard. The study was conducted in 2024 in industrial intensive plantations of eight autumn and winter apple cultivars – ‘Gala’, ‘Golden Delicious’, ‘Red Pop®’, ‘Red Delicious’, ‘Granny Smith’, ‘Braeburn’, ‘Pink Lady®’, ‘Joya®’. The yield of marketable fruits and the main reasons for the loss of marketability, mean fruit weight, the actual and potentially possible labour efficiency when harvesting apples depending on the cultivar were analysed. It was determined that even with a high crop load (51-85 t/ha for most cultivars) and increased, compared to the standard, requirements of retail chains for fruit diameter and colour, it was possible to ensure the share of marketable fruits at the level of 81-93 %. The main causes for non-marketable fruits were to fallen fruits, mechanical damages, and insufficient diameter/ skin colour. Marketability and optimal colour of apples is achieved through the introduction of green mechanical pruning, pneumatic defoliation, and timely closing of anti-hail nets. The main factors affecting labour efficiency during apple harvest were the number of picking sessions, mean fruit weight, crop load, and the share of unmarketable fruit. Labour efficiency using a self-propelled platform when harvesting all the fruits in one session is 157-239 kg/h with a potential of up to 190-256 kg/h; when harvesting in several sessions – 104-141 kg/h with a potential of up to 120-167 kg/h.