Search results for " Fruit quality"
showing 10 items of 35 documents
Genetic diversity in a collection of Italian long storage tomato landraces as revealed by SNP markers array
2019
Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) is one of the most important crops worldwide. In this study, we used 7720 genome-wide SNPs to characterize the genetic diversity within a tomato germplasm collection enriched with 64 accessions from southern Italy of the so called "da serbo" type i.e. drought-tolerant and long storage landraces. Notwithstanding the relatively small collection area, 1575 (20.4%) polymorphic SNPs, mostly on Chr11, detected considerable levels of genetic variation. Maximum parsimony analysis of genetic distance revealed four main clusters and clearly separated most "da serbo" landraces from the outgroups. One of the clusters grouped the landraces from the Mount Vesuvius area, t…
The Application of a Plant Biostimulant Based on Seaweed and Yeast Extract Improved Tomato Fruit Development and Quality
2020
Plant biostimulants are under investigation as innovative products to improve plant production and fruit quality, without resulting in environmental and food contaminations. Here, the effects of the application of Expando, a biostimulant based on seaweed and yeast extracts, on plant productivity, fruit ripening times, and fruit quality of Solanum lycopersicum var. Micro-Tom were evaluated. After biostimulant treatment, a two-week reduction of ripening times and a concomitant enhancement of the production percentage during the earliest ripening times, in terms of both fruit yield (+110%) and size (+85%), were observed. Concerning fruit quality, proximate analysis showed that tomatoes treated…
Anthocyanins: Biosynthesis, Distribution, Ecological Role, and Use of Biostimulants to Increase Their Content in Plant Foods—A Review
2021
In the past century, plant biostimulants have been increasingly used in agriculture as innovative and sustainable practice. Plant biostimulants have been mainly investigated as potential agents able to mitigate abiotic stress. However, few information is available about their ability to influence fruit quality or change fruit phytochemical composition. In particular, very little is known about their effects on anthocyanin synthesis and accumulation. Due to the increasing demand of consumers for healthier foods with high nutraceutical values, this review tries to fill the gap between anthocyanin content and biostimulant application. Here, we elucidate the chemical structure, biosynthetic pat…
Postharvest quality and sensory attributes of Ficus carica L
2017
The aim of this research was to evaluate the relationship between some physical and chemical characteristics and sensory descriptors of fig fruits ‘Dottato’ and ‘Melanzana’, belonging to the national germplasm bank of fig trees and cultivated in Southern Italy. The sensory principal descriptors used are external appearance, skin color, pulp color, odor, sweetness, stickiness, bitterness, juiciness, firmness, tannic taste and presence of achenes. Fresh weight, total soluble solids (TSS), titratable acidity (TA), TSS:TA, firmness, and sensory properties changed with cultivar. SSC was more correlated with sensory attributes than TA, but other factors may also be important in controlling this r…
Chemical–physical characteristics, polyphenolic content and total antioxidant activity of three Italian-grown pomegranate cultivars
2019
Background: In Mediterranean countries, there is an increasing demand for pomegranate fruits due to their antioxidant properties and nutritional values. The large diffusion of new genotypes and cultivars requires the knowledge of all fruit characteristics in connection with the cultivation area, to satisfy the market demand. This study seeks to determine the fruit quality attributes and nutraceutical values of three pomegranate cultivars (Wonderful, Acco and Kamel) grown in the Mediterranean climate. Methods: The fruits were evaluated for their main physico-chemical traits (weight, volume, height, width, thickness, total arils number, total arils weight, juiciness, fruit index, peel index a…
Effect of Mycorrhizal Inoculation on Melon Plants under Deficit Irrigation Regimes
2023
The shortage of good quantity and quality of water for irrigated agriculture is a major problem in arid and semiarid regions. To deal with this problem, deficit irrigation (DI) or arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) inoculation have been proposed and adopted for many crops as a tool to save water, or to improve crop tolerance to drought stress. An experiment was conducted for two consecutive years to evaluate the effect of mycorrhizal inoculation on the physiological, morphological, yield, and quality characteristics of melon plants grown under deficit irrigation. Melon crop (Cucumis melo L. cv. Helios) was grown under field conditions adopting a split-plot design with four replications, whe…
Mapping quantitative trait loci affecting biochemical and morphological fruit properties in eggplant (Solanum melongena L.)
2016
Eggplant berries are a source of health-promoting metabolites including antioxidant and nutraceutical compounds, mainly anthocyanins and chlorogenic acid; however, they also contain some anti-nutritional compounds such as steroidal glycoalkaloids (SGA) and saponins, which are responsible for the bitter taste of the flesh and with potential toxic effects on humans. Up to now, Quantitative Trait Loci (QTL) for the metabolic content are far from being characterized in eggplant, thus hampering the application of breeding programs aimed at improving its fruit quality. Here we report on the identification of some QTL for the fruit metabolic content in an F2 intraspecific mapping population of 156…
The role of native flower visitors in pollinating Opuntia ficus-indica (L.) Mill., naturalized in Sicily
2011
Abstract The role of insects in pollination and consequently in fruit set and quality was assessed in two commercial orchards of the cactus pear, Opuntia ficus-indica (L.) Mill., in Agrigento Province, Sicily. In 1997, insects visiting flowers were sampled during May–June (the first bloom) and July (the second bloom, induced by the “scozzolatura” practise). More than 50 insect species belonging to 10 orders were collected in May–June, while only five species of Hymenoptera Apoidea were collected in July. The quality of fruits arising from the second bloom showed that Hymenoptera alone were able to guarantee effective pollination. To verify the role of insects in pollination in 1996 (during …
PREDICTION OF HARVEST TIME IN PEACH [PRUNUS PERSICA (L.) BATSCH] FRUIT USING THE DA-METER
2015
The aim of this work was to define the most appropriate time of harvesting early ripening peach fruit using destructive and non-destructive quality indexes such as the index of absorbance (IAD), measured with the DA-Meter, a portable equipment able to measure the degradation of chlorophyll in the pericarp. In this context our research was carried out in 2009 and 2010 on several peach cultivars. Total soluble solid content increased while flesh firmness and total acidity decreased with IAD values, but no significant correlation was found between destructive and non-destructive parameters.
Effects on the quality and nutritional traits of wood strawberry fruits in Sicily.
2011
In Sicily, the common woodland strawberry (Fragaria vesca) is spontaneous in the Madonie Mountains (554 m a.s.l.), Nebrodi Mountains (850 m) and Mount Etna (900 m). In this region, the main clone cultivated is ‘Fragolina di Sciacca e Ribera’, named after the towns where the crop originally developed. It is a Junebearing genotype and it is characterized by very small fruits, globose-conical shape, deep red colour, very soft flesh, strong aroma and flavor. Also ever-bearing clones are cultivated in Sicily where they are cropped for many months. Solid soluble content, total titratable acidity, total antioxidant capacity, total polyphenols and anthocyanins content were quantified in berry sampl…