Effects of impact by mechanical harvesting on storability of onions (Allium cepa L.)

This study investigated the storability of onions according to manual and mechanical harvesting. Moreover, we simulated the onion-to-onion impact during the mechanical harvesting process and investigated the storability after artificially subjecting the onions to impact treatment. The onion harvesting methods included hand plucking + manual collection, digger + manual, and digger + mechanical collection. The maximum impact height during the mechanical harvesting process was 0.5 m. Immediately after harvesting, no significant difference in the bruise and wound rate among the harvesting methods was observed. Any increased bruise or wound rate because of mechanical harvesting was presumed to be influenced by soil conditions, such as the presence of gravel, and machine operation factors. Furthermore, the storability during the 8.5 months storage showed no significant difference according to the harvesting methods. In treatments by simulating the impacts during the mechanical harvesting process, the impact heights were 0.0 m (0.0 J), 0.25 m (0.86 J), 0.5 m (1.72 J), and 0.75 m (2.57 J), each performed once, and four times at the same position (3.43 J) and four times at different positions (3.43 J) at 0.25 m. Throughout all the treatments, there were no significant differences in the storability during the 8.5 months storage period.