Work productivity of teams with different pruning tools in olive

Pruning is second only to harvesting in cost, as it generally accounts for about 20-30% of annual cultivation costs, besides it can be hazardous to pruner safety. Tests to facilitate pruning were performed in an olive grove in central Italy in 2007, consisted of 20-year-old trees of the 'Frantoio', 'Leccino' and 'Maurino' cultivars, trained to vase and having a planting distances of 5×5 m. The aim was to compare five pruning teams with different tools, in which pruners stand on the ground, to find the most effective as work productivity and the less tiring. Each pruning team was composed by two well trained pruners. The pruning's kit includes chain saw, chain pruner, and lopper, pneumatic pruning shear with and without an extension pole. Those pruning tools have been used in different association by the five teams. In the pruning team in which one pruner used the chain saw and the lopper and the other the chain pruner and the pneumatic pruning shear with an extension pole the work capacity amounted to 23 trees per hour, whereas the tiredness was 5 (range 1- 10). In this team the number of cuts/tree was 34 with a diameter of 26 mm, in average, and 70% of cuts was smaller than 30 mm. In the less tiredness pruning team, in which one pruner used the chain pruner and the other the pneumatic shear, the work productivity amounted to 16 trees per hour and the 77% of cuts was smaller than 30 mm. When larger and more numerous cuts were necessary to prune olive tree, the most suitable pruning team resulted that in which one worker used the chain saw and the chain pruner, while the other used the pneumatic pruning shear with an extension pole.