Preliminary Evaluation of a Snap Bean Harvester in Southern Puerto Rico

Abstract

A snap bean planting was established on March 21, 1978, at the Fortuna Substation, in southern Puerto Rico, with the purpose of comparing mechanical with hand harvesting. There were no significant differences between yields of the hand-harvested and the mechanical harvested plots. There was significant difference between the time consumed per ha in the hand and mechanical harvesting, i. e. 395.7 vs. 100.7 man-hours, respectively. Although the percentage of extraneous matter harvested was high (32.8%) it could be reduced with adequate blower and reel calibration.