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Abstract
Excerpts from the report: Western iceberg lettuce accounts for approximately 20 percent of all carlots of fresh fruits and vegetables shipped from California, constituting the largest volume of a single perishable commodity shipped out of State. Lettuce shipments have increased by approximately 17 percent between 1968 and 1972. ARS agricultural engineers have developed a mechanical lettuce harvester, which may be the key element of a handling and marketing system that will enable producers and marketers of lettuce to keep pace with increasing costs. The purpose of this study was to determine if lettuce could be handled in large containers, and the effect of this handling on lettuce quality. A system to increase the product flow from the harvester into a shipping container was investigated. This system was based on jumble filling the lettuce into relatively large containers on the harvester. The containers varied in size, holding from 50 to 240 heads, compared with the present 24-head carton.