Harvesting Damage to Potato Tubers by Analysis of Impacts recorded with an Instrumented Sphere

The results demonstrate the influence of the forward speed of the potato harvester and soil moisture content on impact intensity and the damage suffered by the tubers. In conditions of wet soil the increased flow of soil in the machine, deriving from the higher forward speed, reduced impact intensity and extent of the damage. Harvesting in dry soil led to greater impact intensity and damage to the tubers. Pre-harvest irrigation of dry soils to increase the soil moisture content can be used to reduce tuber damage.