The Effect of Mechanical Harvesting on Yield, Quality of Fruit and Bush Damage of Highbush Blueberry1

On 15 occasions, either Wolcott, Jersey, Morrow or Murphy cultivars of highbush blueberry ( Vaccinium corymbosum L.) were harvested by commercial hand-pickers and over-the-row mechanical harvesters in eastern NC during 1970 and 1971. Compared with hand-harvesting, machine-harvesting reduced yield of marketable ripe fruit 19 to 44%. Compared with commercially hand-harvested fruit, machine-harvested fruit was 10 to 30% softer in compression tests; and when held for 7 days at 21°C, the fruit developed 11 to 41% more decay. Machine-harvested fruits sorted on a commercial cleaner were softened still more and developed 5 to 10% more decay than fruit mechanically harvested but not sorted. Fifty times as many canes were damaged by mechanical harvesting as by hand-harvesting.