Productivity and costs of harvester cutting of teak trees for thinning

ABSTRACT

This work was carried out in a teak plantation in the state of Mato Grosso, Brazil. The objective was to evaluate technical and economic indicators of the cutting and processing of trees with a track harvester. Twenty complete work shifts were evaluated using direct thinning to determine operational cycle times. Other information was also recorded for the calculation of production costs. The second thinning was performed at 12 years, with a volume of 0.1648 m³/tree, and the third thinning at 18 years with 0.3408 m³/tree. The main finding was an increase in productivity and decrease in production costs with rising tree volumes. For each hour of effective work, 53 trees were cut (339 trees/day), and processed into 1,047 logs. The decrease in the cost of cutting and processing trees in proportion to the increase in the average volume of trees to be extracted was confirmed.

Keywords:
Forest machines; mechanized cutting of trees; cut-to-length system