Mechanical harvest of pruning residuals in hazel orchard

The cultivation of hazelnut in Piedmont (North west Italy) is a important traditional agricultural crop, particularly in the hilly areas. Pruning is a cultural practice that can affect quality and quantity of seed production. This operation usually is manual done every three or four years. Recently it is been developed a specialized machine for this operation. To avoid disease and pest problem in the orchard , the wood residues must be collected and burned. In 2006 started a research with e the aim to verify the feasibility of this mechanical operation in four farms situated in different environmental conditions of the Piedmont Region. Object of the studies are the operating abilities of pruning machines but also the successive mechanical harvest od residues. In the first years have been compared mechanical and manual pruning and were tested four different prototypes developed for harvest residues. Some of these machines showed interesting operating abilities. Mechanization reduces the cost of 50-75%. The residues production varied between 1.35 and 9.77 Oven Dry Tons( ODT) per hectare. Basal densities of wood residues varied between 0.48 and 0.50 g cm-3. The hazelnut pruning residues can be an important source of biomass for heating distric in Piedmont Region