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Mechanical harvest of grapes is one of the operations that mostly influence the quality of the future wine. The shaking frequency of the harvesting machine is usually adjusted on the basis of the grape berry characteristics in order to limit grape juice production that is a potential cause of uncontrolled fermentations. These evaluations usually require time, personnel and laboratory analyses. The introduction of a vis NIR system to rapidly and reliably evaluate the berry properties in field before mechanical harvest could be a good alternative. The aim of this study was to evaluate the feasibility of applying vis NIR spectroscopy as a non-destructive technique on grapes cv. Syrah and Chardonnay to predict pedicel detachment force, pH and total soluble solids before mechanical harvest. The spectral acquisitions were performed using a portable vis NIR device (600-1000 nm). An Ordinary Least Square evaluation was applied to assess vis NIR prediction ability on grapes. The system gave excellent performance in predicting pH for both varieties (R 2 = 0.99), also confirmed by the indicators SECV/M and Bias/M respectively equal to 0.024 and 0.014 for cv. Syrah and 0.002 and -0.009 for Chardonnay. The vis NIR device showed satisfactory prediction ability even regarding total soluble solids (R 2 = 0.997 for Syrah and 0.9935 for Chardonnay) with SECV/M = 0.090, Bias/M = 0.071 for cv. Syrah and SECV/M = 0.00, Bias/M = -0.002 for Chardonnay. However, the results showed the low vis NIR ability to predict detachment force for Chardonnay grapes (R 2 = 0.85, SECV/M = 1.008; Bias/M = -0.834), and an acceptable one for Syrah grapes (R 2 = 0.87; SECV/M = 0.362; Bias/M = -0.109). Since detachment force has an enormous importance in grapes mechanical harvest, the possibility of applying vis NIR spectroscopy in field before harvest is very encouraging for cv. Syrah (red grapes) and needs to be improved for cv. Chardonnay (white grapes).

The use of the harvesting machine for grape wine has the limit of the production of must coming out from the detachment of the berries that could reflect negatively on the quality of the final product. It depends on many factors including grapes variety, ripeness and frequency of the harvesting machine shakers. The shaking frequency generally adopted is the one that achieves the maximum harvest efficiency, that means high work capacity and low grape juice production. In this paper, the authors present a new system to measure the accelerations received by grapevine during mechanical harvest with the aim of evaluating the influence of the shaking frequency on the quality of the must obtained. The device is an instrumented sphere designed and implemented by the Agricultural Mechanics Section of the Department of Agricultural and Forest Sciences, University of Palermo, Italy. It contains a triaxial Micro Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS) sensor capable of acquiring acceleration from a few mg to 400 g (where g is the gravitational acceleration). The field tests were carried out in September 2015 on Viognier and Grillo grapes. They allowed to measure the accelerations on the plants during mechanical grape harvest with three different shaking frequencies: 7.6, 7.9 and 8 Hz, and then to evaluate their influence on the main quality characteristics of the musts obtained. The results showed that the number of vibrations on the plants linearly increases with the increasing frequency. With reference to the quality of the musts obtained, polyphenols and catechins increased as the shaking frequency increased both for Viognier and Grillo varieties.

The use of portable harvesters in olives harvesting is presently widely diffused in Sicily, south Italy, both to reduce the costs of production and to assure the olive oil quality. Nevertheless, it's well known that the use of such tools may involve risk of exposure to vibration transmitted to the hand-arm system which is a potential cause of muscular/skeletal pains, and specific pathologies such as Hand-Arm Vibration Syndrome (HAVS), Vibration-Induced White Finger (VWF) and Carpal Tunnel Syndrome (CTS). The aim of this study was to assess the level of exposure to vibration transmitted to the hand-arm system of the operators during the use of portable harvesters for olives. Two different commonly used types of tools were evaluated performing both laboratory and field tests. One was a hook type harvester provided with an internal combustion engine; the other an electric portable harvester consisting of a bar ending with a comb, equipped with an electric motor. The daily action value established by the European Directive 2002/44/EC was always considerably exceeded by the two harvesters for both hands both in the laboratory and in the field tests; however, the electric comb showed A(8) values about halved with respect to the hook type, equal to 20.79 and 18.69 m s-2 respectively for right and left hand in the field tests against 42.07 and 30.03 m s-2 obtained with the hook type harvester.

Pomegranate juice has many health properties as the fruits contain anticarcinogenic, antimicrobial and antiviral compounds. Its consumption has greatly increased throughout the world in recent years due to the potential of its different components, polyphenols and anthocyanins among all. Many studies have been performed on the pomegranate juice yield demonstrating its influence on the organoleptic and physicochemical properties of the juice. Commercial pomegranate juice production involves pressing fruits procedures. As a consequence, there is a need to investigate the pressing machine types and optimization in order to achieve juice yield and enhance its health properties. The aim of this study was to assess the influence of the pressing systems on pomegranate juice yield and health properties after the extraction. Pomegranate fruits of the Wonderful One variety were manually harvested in November 2014 and mechanically processed to extract juice. Two different pressing systems were used. The first one was an hydraulic pressing machine where the fruits were put after being sliced in half; the second extraction method consisted in using a destemming machine for the entire fruit followed by a pneumatic press, typically applied in grape processing. The juices obtained with the two systems were analyzed and compared in order to identify the extraction performances and quantitatively identify the health care of the juice properties.

In recent years, oxygen content regulation during malaxation has been noted as a process parameter. As concluded by many studies, the presence of oxygen during malaxation has a key role in for improving the quality of Extra Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO) in terms of volatile and phenolic components. There are, however, very few studies of the influence of oxygen in the malaxation machine headspace on the fatty acid composition of Extra Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO). The aim of this study is to evaluate the influence of oxygen in the malaxation machine headspace on Nocellara del Belice EVOO fatty acids. During of the malaxation process, the atmosphere inside the malaxation machine was modified by blowing pure oxygen from cylinders at specific stages of the process (i.e. 15, 25, and 35 minutes after the start of malaxation), using a system which ensures the automatic and continuous maintenance of a known amount of oxygen into the headspace at a given moment throughout the malaxation process. The results show that the amount of saturated and unsaturated fatty acids present in EVOO depends specifically on the timepoint of the malaxation process when oxygen is blown into the head space of the machine and much less on the amount of oxygen. The study confirms that monitoring and controlling the atmosphere inside the malaxation machine is necessary to obtain high quality EVOO with strong nutraceutical properties.

In environments characterized by steep slopes or arranged in terraces, among the shallow tillage systems, rototilling is extensively used. However, the effect of the repeated use of ro-totilling has a considerable influence on soil characteristics; it appears finely powdered, soft and without structure. In order to limit these inconveniences, an innovative self-propelled machine equipped with working tools as a spade, to be used in steep slopes or arranged in terraces areas, was designed by the Mechanics Section of the Department of Agricultural and Forest Sciences, University of Palermo, in cooperation with Agrotec company, Padua, Italy. The aim of this study is to compare the effects of three machines for shallow tillage: a chisel plough (CP), a rototilling (RT) and a spading machine (SM) on penetration resistance in semi-arid environments of the Mediterranean basin. No tillage was also included. Penetration resistance (PR) was surveyed for all the treatments to a depth of 300 mm with an electronic dynamometer. The study was carried out in 2011-201. The treatments consisted in the exe-cution of a shallow tillage to a depth of 150 mm. SP treatment allowed us to obtain PR lower values throughout the tillage profile than RT, CP and NT. It follows that the type of machine used influences soil PR, and then the soil water storage capacity, key factor for the agricultural productions in semi-arid environments as in Sicily.

The application of heat treatment is especially important in maintaining the organoleptic characteristics of fermented agro-food products, which potential consumers perceive as reflecting the quality of these foodstuffs. However, heat treatments can be cause of deterioration of many quality parameters of agro-food products including texture, intended as the consistency of the pulp. Pasteurization is one of the most important steps of the table olives packaging process; it is applied after that olives are properly treated for debittering process. In this study ‘Nocellara del Belice’ table olives produced in 2010 and packaged in glass jars, were subjected to pasteurization at industrial scale using a tunnel pasteurizer with a core temperature of 75 °C for 8 minutes. The aim is to mechanically evaluate the pulp texture evolution that contributes to the quality of the product in a period of time 36 months long from packaging. The experimental tests were performed 6, 12, 18, 24 and 36 months after packing. At each sampling time the consistency of the pulp through compression tests was evaluated. A panel test was also carried out to perform sensory evaluation of these table olives. The results obtained here show that in the period we studied, table olives maintain the requirements regarding physical-mechanical properties, but there is a decrease of some qualitative aspects determining the consumers’ taste and, among these, fruit firmness.

The influence of pasteurization temperature and time of treatment on the flesh firmness and the evolution of microbial communities was studied for table olives Cv. Nocellara del Belice, packed in glass jars and processed with a tunnel pasteurizer. Pasteurization at industrial scale was carried out within a tunnel pasteurizer applying the treatment at 75 °C for 8 min in the thermal center of the jars. Besides flesh firmness and microbial evolutions, pH, total ti-tratable acidity (TTA) and colour were evaluated for the table olives during storage at 6, 12 and 15 months from packing. Table olives showed a high stability and an acceptable flesh firmness for the entire period under observation. Specifically, olive pulp texture decreased during the storage period, but the softening was most evident in the deeper layers of the pulp. The results indicated that the storage period should not exceed 6 months; although the hygiene is preserved, after this period the firmness might compromise the acceptability by consumers

In the wine industry, bottling is a phase of the production cycle characterized by high levels of noise, mostly owing to repeated collisions between the bottles. In Italy, the Law Decree 81/2008 defined the requirements for assessing and managing noise risk, identifying a number of procedures to be adopted at different noise levels to limit worker exposure. This study was aimed at evaluating the equivalent and peak noise level inside the bottling plant area of a modern Italian winery. In particular, the influence of the working capacity (number of bottles produced per hour) on noise levels was evaluated. Three test conditions were considered: T1 with a working capacity of 4000 bottles/h; T2 with working capacity of 5000 bottles/h; and T3 with working capacity of 6000 bottles/h. Fifteen measurement points were identified inside the bottling area. The instrument used for the measurements was a precision integrating portable sound level meter, class 1,model HD2110L by Delta OHM, Italy. The results indicated that, as the bottling plant working capacity increased, noise levels increased. The measured sound levels exceeded the limits allowed by the regulations in all of the test conditions. Values exceeding the threshold limit of 80 dB(A) were recorded, increasing to a maximum value of 95 dB(A) in test T3. In this case, the operator working along the bottling line was obliged to wear the appropriate personal protective equipment.

Human exposure to mechanical vibration may represent a significant risk factor for exposed workers in the agricultural sector, with particular reference to the operators driving tractors. Also noise in agriculture is one of the risk factors to be taken into account for the evaluation of workers health and safety. In particular, one of the major sources of discomfort for the workers operating a tractor is the noise to which they are subjected during work. In Italy, Law Decree 81/2008 has defined the obligations of vibration and noise assessment and risk management.The aim of this study is to evaluate the risk of exposure to whole-body vibration for the operator driving a tracklaying tractor working in vineyard orchard and the noise level close to the ear of the operator driving the tractor. The experimental tests were performed using six different tracklaying tractors, 40-51 kW power, coupled with the same rototilling machine model BF160 by Celli (Forlì, Italy).For the evaluation of whole-body vibration we referred to ISO 2631-1:2008 standard. The tests for noise evaluation were performed in compliance with the standards ISO 9612 and ISO 9432.During the tests we used the porta-ble vibration analyzer HD2070 by Delta OHM, Italy, that is able to perform spectral analysis and statistics simultaneously on three channels, and a precision integrating portable sound level meter, class 1, model HD2110L by Delta OHM, Italy. The mean square frequency-weighted acceleration was evaluated along each of the three axial components of the accel-eration vector (awx, awy, awz) and the total vibration value. The sound level meter measured A-weighted time-averaged sound pressure level (LAeq) and C-weighted peak sound pressure level (LCpk).This study allowed us to point out that in the use of tracklaying tractors coupled to a rototilling machine, the vibration values referred to the 8-hour working day were always higher than 0.5 m s-2 and, therefore, included in the "risk threshold" identified by Italian Law Decree 81/2008. With reference to noise assessment, the daily noise exposure levels ob-tained by rototilling always overcome the exposure limit value of 87 dB(A) according to the above mentioned law.

The application of heat treatment is especially important in maintaining the organoleptic characteristics of fermented agro-food products, which potential consumers perceive as reflecting the quality of these foodstuffs. The aim of this study was to evaluate the influence of pasteurization time and temperature on the flesh firmness of table olives cv. Nocellara del Belice, packaged in glass jars, and to study their effect on the microbial community of table olives. Four different treatments were applied, one for each of the pasteurization temperatures adopted: 65 °C, 75 °C, 85 °C and 95 °C. A control test was also carried out (test Tc, not pasteurized). Each test was repeated with treatments lasting 4, 8 and 12 minutes. In order to determine the mechanical properties of the olives, all of the batches were subsequently subjected to a laboratory compression test using a dynamometer (Imada DPS 5R - USA) connected to a stand and a PC for data download. The compression force was recorded continuously along the entire pulp sample. Microbiological analyses were performed on olives and brines immediately after the heat treatment (t0) and after 2 months (t1). The results obtained here show that it is appropriate to employ pasteurization temperatures at least equal to 75 °C for a time not lower than 8 minutes from the microbiological point of view. Regarding the olive fruits mechanical properties, it is advisable to use a pasteurization temperature of 75 °C even for a time of 4 minutes in order to maintain a good flesh firmness thus satisfying the consumers' taste.