ŽETVA, SUŠENJE I PRERADA ULJANE TIKVE.

The currently used procedures of oil pumpkin seed harvesting, drying and processing are described in the paper. Problems were identified on the basis of observations of the current practice and literature review. It was concluded that high efficiency has been achieved in ali three operations, especially in seed extraction. The formation of rows, which combines a mechanized procedure and manual labor, needs to be improved. The most significant problem associated with seed rinsing is the use of large amounts of water, up to 3,000 1 per ton of fresh seed. Possibilities should be investi-gated how to reduce the consumption of water, for examplc by water recirculation. The latest R&D results in the field of seed drying showed that the drying temperature can be increased to 60°C. Increased temperature and air recirculation applied in the second stage of drying process may bring significant reductions of the time and energy input for drying. In the next phase, a possibility of using pumpkin meat in biogas production should be tested. If this turns out to be feasible, the harvest procedure of oil pumpkins should be duly modified. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]