# A Proposal for a Processing Line for Cauliflower and Broccoli Florettling
## 5 Case Study  
The vegetable crusher is the main operating unit in the proposed processing line, and its performance was evaluated during a broccoli floreting trial. The crushing chamber was equipped with a set of cutters with the shape of six-pointed stars, designed for operation with a screen with 40 mm-wide openings. The rotational speed of the shaft with star-shaped cutters was set at 6 rpm. Thirty broccoli heads were used in the trial. Broccoli cv. Batory was purchased from a farm in Zakrzewek (Poland) on 7 November 2022. Broccoli was harvested in the morning, packaged in plastic containers, and transported to the crop processing laboratory of the Faculty of Technical Sciences of the University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn on the same day. The morphological traits of broccoli infloresances were evaluated in the laboratory; measurements were performed using a ruler with an accuracy of 1 mm and the WPS 3100/C/2 laboratory weighing scale (RADWAG Radom, Poland) with an accuracy of 0.1 g. The measured values are presented in Table 1. Broccoli infloresances contain four leaves on average. This parameter ranges from 0 to 9, and it is characterized by the greatest variation relative to other traits. The second variable parameter is mass which was determined in the range of around 276 g to around 1117 g (approx. 530 g on average). Medium-sized infloreserences have the following dimensions: width--15.2 cm, thickness--14.3 cm, and height--8.8 cm. Stalk diameter was the least variable parameter (15.1%), and it was determined at 39 mm on average. In the next step, broccoli infloreserences were separated into florets in the vegetable crusher. Inflorescences were collected from the container; an appropriately sized conical knife was selected based on a visual assessment of the stalk diameter; the head was pushed onto the knife, and successive florets and leaves were separated until only the apical floret remained on the stalk. The apical floret was separated with an additional knife. The stalk fell into a container under the processing table. Leaves were separated manually from the florets remaining on the processing table, and they were placed in a container under the table. The florets remaining on the table were fed into the crushing chamber. The entire process was recorded with a Nikon Z6 II camera (Nikon Corporation, Amstelveen, Netherlands) mounted on a DJI Ronin 3-axis gimbal stabilizer (DJI Headquarters Building, Shenzhen, China). The duration of each processing operation was determined in a chronometric analysis of the recorded video footage. Leaf and stalk mass was determined on the WPS 3100/C/2 laboratory weighing scale. The duration of each processing operation in the total time of the processing cycle (in percent) is presented in Figure 6a. The processing cycle of one broccoli inflorescence lasted 11.9 s on average. Inflorescences were separated by an unexperienced operator; therefore, the duration of the processing cycle can be expected to decrease to around 10 s over time. The average duration of each processing operation in the total time of the processing cycle (in %) was as follows: \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c c c c} \hline \hline \multirow{2}{*}{**Trait**} & \multicolumn{3}{c}{**Value of Trait**} & \multicolumn{1}{c}{**Standard Deviation**} & \multicolumn{1}{c}{**Coefficient of Trait**} \\ \cline{2-5}  & **Minimum** & **Maximum** & **Average** & **of Trait** & **Variability (\%)** \\ \hline Number of leaves (-) & 0 & 9 & 4 & 2.8 & 73.1 \\ Stalk diameter (mm) & 29 & 52 & 39 & 5.9 & 15.1 \\ Curd width (cm) & 11.8 & 25.5 & 15.2 & 3.7 & 24.0 \\ Curd thickness (cm) & 9.1 & 25.3 & 14.3 & 3.8 & 26.3 \\ Curd height (cm) & 6.2 & 13.9 & 8.8 & 1.7 & 19.6 \\ Curd mass (g) & 275.5 & 1116.5 & 526.5 & 202.9 & 38.5 \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table} 
Table 1: Statistical distribution of the morphometric traits of broccoli inflorescences.