Mechanical Harvesting of Camelina: Work Productivity, Costs and Seed Loss Evaluation

Walter Stefanoni, Francesco Latterini, Javier Prieto Ruiz, Simone Bergonzoli, Consuelo Attolico and Luigi Pari
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Walter Stefanoni: Consiglio per la Ricerca in Agricoltura e l’Analisi dell’Economia Agraria (CREA), Centro di Ricerca Ingegneria e Trasformazioni Agroalimentari, Via della Pascolare 16, 00015 Monterotondo, Italy
Francesco Latterini: Consiglio per la Ricerca in Agricoltura e l’Analisi dell’Economia Agraria (CREA), Centro di Ricerca Ingegneria e Trasformazioni Agroalimentari, Via della Pascolare 16, 00015 Monterotondo, Italy
Javier Prieto Ruiz: Camelina Company Espana, Camino de la Carrera, 11, Fuente el Saz de Jarama, 28140 Madrid, Spain
Simone Bergonzoli: Consiglio per la Ricerca in Agricoltura e l’Analisi dell’Economia Agraria (CREA), Centro di Ricerca Ingegneria e Trasformazioni Agroalimentari, Via Milano 43, 24047 Treviglio, Italy
Consuelo Attolico: Consiglio per la Ricerca in Agricoltura e l’Analisi dell’Economia Agraria (CREA), Centro di Ricerca Ingegneria e Trasformazioni Agroalimentari, Via della Pascolare 16, 00015 Monterotondo, Italy
Luigi Pari: Consiglio per la Ricerca in Agricoltura e l’Analisi dell’Economia Agraria (CREA), Centro di Ricerca Ingegneria e Trasformazioni Agroalimentari, Via della Pascolare 16, 00015 Monterotondo, Italy

Energies, 2020, vol. 13, issue 20, 1-14

Abstract: Camelina is a low input crop than can be cultivated in rotation with cereals to provide vegetable oil suitable for bioenergy production, industrial applications and even as source of food for livestock. At large scale farming, camelina seeds are currently harvested using a combine harvester, equipped with a cereal header, but the literature still lacks the knowledge of the performance of the machine, the harvesting cost and the related loss of seeds. The present study aims to fulfill that gap by reporting the results obtained from an ad hoc harvest field test. Camelina seed yield was 0.95 Mg ha ?1 which accounted for the 18.60% of the total above ground biomass. Theoretical field capacity, effective field capacity and field efficiency were 3.38 ha h ?1 , 3.17 ha h ?1 and 93.7% respectively, albeit the seed loss was 80.1 kg ha ?1 FM (7.82% w/w of the potential seed yield). The presence of material other than grain was rather high, 31.77% w/w , which implies a second step of cleaning to avoid undesired modification of the seed quality. Harvesting cost was estimated in 65.97 € ha ?1 . Our findings provide evidence on the suitability to use a conventional combine harvester equipped with a cereal header for the harvesting of camelina seeds, although some improvements are required to reduce both seed loss and impurities.

Keywords: bioenergy; oil crops; work performance; harvesting loss (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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