XVII th World Congress of the International Commission of Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering (CIGR)

The emission of suckers in hazelnut (Corylus avellana L.) negatively affects crop management. Several applications are required to eliminate basal shoots every year with associated recurrent costs. Mechanical, thermal or chemical treatments can be used. A thermal control method was recently investigated. Its desuckering effectiveness was evaluated by applying an open flame in a hazelnut orchard. With this technique, a short blast of intense heat is carefully directed at the basal shoots keeping a short distance from the target. Flaming was carried out with two apparatus. The first equipment was a set of two handheld torches and the second was a tractor-operated orchard-vineyard type fitted with a set of 8 burners. The operative parameters for the handheld equipment were: LPG consumption of 1.8 kg/h per torch at a pressure of 0.1 MPa, 60 s or 30 s exposure time per plant. For the tractor mounted apparatus, the parameters were: LPG consumption of 20 kg/h at a working pressure of approximately 1.8 bar (0.18 MPa), treatment time was 10 s per plant. The effectiveness of the treatments was evaluated two weeks after their application. The single torch at 30 s application resulted in high effectiveness. The 60 s application scorched vegetation excessively. The 8 burners 10 s application achieved good but not homogeneous results. Flaming is easy to use, requires low cost equipment and low fuel consumption. The handheld equipment allows the operator to intervene in a precise manner. The tractor mounted machine saves time but the orientation of the burners must be fine-tuned because heat must impact on suckers all over their length.