Harvesting of Arachis hypogaea L. in an Italian Area: Synergy between Cultural Techniques and Mechanization

Abstract

The world production of peanuts is 45.9 million tons, of which China and India account for 50% of the total production. The cultivation of peanuts in Italy has had a reduction in recent decades mainly due to the high harvesting costs due to a lack of specific mechanization despite possessing favorable soil and climatic conditions. In this work, modern harvesting technologies are analyzed for adaptation to Italian areas and loss containment, and agronomic technique adaptation for mechanical harvesting. The mechanical harvesting was evaluated in two steps: plant extraction and separation pods. The results showed that lower planting density led to approximately 22% higher production and reduction in crop losses (−52%). The same trend showed that yield and harvesting efficiency were found to be 40% and 22% higher. Our research aimed to evaluate the impact of new technologies integrated by suitable agronomic management, grain losses, and the quality of the final product obtained. The lowest density also improved the healthy pod rate by 11%, from 59 to 70%. These results suggest that an integration of modern technologies and specific agronomic management improves pod retention during harvesting.