The Effect of Cutting Technique on the Degree of Damage to Fruit Tree Shoots

The aim of the study was to assess the effect of various fruit tree shoot cutting techniques and variable wood moisture content on the formation of damage on the cut surface, using fractal dimension analysis. The experiments were conducted on shoots of two cultivars of apple and pear trees, at four levels of moisture content and using three cutting units: a chainsaw, a circular saw, and bypass loppers. The obtained cross-sectional images were digitally processed, and the degree of damage was evaluated using the fractal dimension. Analysis of variance demonstrated a significant effect of shoot moisture content, plant species, and cutting tool type on the fractal dimension value, which represents the complexity of the cut edge. The best cutting quality was observed for shoots with the highest moisture content and those cut with a pair of loppers and a circular saw, whereas the greatest damage was caused by the chainsaw. Apple cultivars exhibited the lowest susceptibility to damage, while pear cultivars showed the highest. These findings confirm the crucial role of both cutting technique selection and material moisture in determining cutting quality, and the applied fractal analysis proved to be a useful tool for the objective assessment of damage. The obtained results contribute to the optimisation of tool selection and to the design of orchard machinery, especially in relation to the development of mechanical pruning systems.