In-season calcium-spray formulations improve calcium balance and fruit quality traits of peach.

Experiments to evaluate the effect of in-season calcium (Ca) sprays on late-season peach (Prunus persica L. Batsch cv. Calrico) were carried out for a 2-year period. Calcium formulations (0.5% and 1.0% in 2008 and only 0.5% tested in 2009) supplied either as CaCl2 or Ca propionate in combination with two or three adjuvants (0.05% of the nonionic surfactants Tween 20 and Break Thru, and 0.5% carboxymethylcellulose, CMC) were sprayed four to five times over the growing season. Peach mesocarp and endocarp Ca concentrations were determined on a 15-day basis from the beginning of May until the end of June. Further tissue analyses were performed at harvest. A decreasing trend in fruit Ca concentrations over the growing season was always observed regardless of the Ca treatments. Both in 2008 and 2009, significant tissue Ca increments associated with the application of Ca-containing sprays in combination with adjuvants were only observed in June, which may be coincident with the period of pit hardening. In 2008, both at harvest and after cold storage, the total soluble-solids concentration (° Brix) of fruits supplied with Ca propionate (0.5% and 1.0% Ca) was always lower as compared to the rest of treatments. The application of multiple Ca-containing sprays increased firmness at harvest and after cold storage, especially when CaCl2 was the active ingredient used. Supplying the adjuvants Tween 20 and CMC increased fruit acidity both at harvest and after cold storage. Evaluation of the development of physiological disorders after cold storage (2 weeks at 0°C) indicated a lower susceptibility of Ca-treated fruits to internal browning. Fruits treated with multiple CaCl2-, CMC-, and Break Thru®-containing sprays during the growing season were significantly less prone to the development of chilling injuries as compared to untreated peaches.

Morphological and germination response variability in seeds of wild yellow gentian (Gentiana lutea L.) accessions from northwest Spain

Gentiana lutea L. (yellow gentian, Gentianaceae) is an important medicinal plant under protection as endangered species in most European countries. The aim of this work was to evaluate variation in seed mass, seed water content, and seed germination among 56 wild accessions of G. lutea. The effect of gibberellic acid (GA3), putrescine, moist chilling, and level of ripeness of seeds on subsequent germination was also investigated. Seeds of G. lutea showed physiological dormancy (final germination percentages ranged from 0% to 11%, depending on the accession) and GA3 enhanced seed germination drastically in all the accessions. The highest germination (99%) of GA3-treated seeds was reached at 15 °C. Final germination percentage and germination rate (as expressed by mean germination time), as well as seed mass and seed water content, varied significantly among accessions. In general, 1 year moist chilling did not significantly enhance G. lutea seed germination. For most accessions, no significant differences were found between fully ripe seeds and less ripe seeds for seed water content, seed mass, and seed germination. Applications of GA3 were always most effective than those of putrescine for increasing seed germination.

Influence of climate change on the flowering of temperate fruit trees

It is well known that winter chilling is necessary for the flowering of temperate trees. The chilling requirement is a criterion for choosing a species or variety at a given location. Also chemistry products can be used for reducing the chilling-hours needs but make our production more expensive. This study first analysed the observed values of chilling hours for some representative agricultural locations in Spain for the last three decades and their projected changes under climate change scenarios. Usually the chilling is measured and calculated as chilling-hours, and different methods have been used to calculate them (e.g. Richarson et al., 1974 among others) according to the species considered. For our objective North Carolina method (Shaltout and Unrath, 1983) was applied for apples, Utah method (Richardson et al. 1974) for peach and grapevine and the approach used by De Melo-Abreu et al. (2004) for olive trees. The influence of climate change in temperate trees was studied by calculating projections of chilling-hours with climate data from Regional Climate Models (RCMs) at high resolution (25 km) from the European Project ENSEMBLES (http://www.ensembles-eu.org/). These projections will allow for analysing the modelled variations of chill-hours between 2nd half of 20C and 1st half of 21C at the study locations.

Monitoring leafy vegetables through packaging films with

Fresh-cut or minimally processed fruit and vegetables have been physically modified from its original form (by peeling, trimming, washing and cutting) to obtain a 100% edible product that is subsequently packaged (usually under modified atmosphere packaging –MAP) and kept in refrigerated storage. In fresh-cut products, physiological activity and microbiological spoilage, determine their deterioration and shelf-life. The major preservation techniques applied to delay spoilage are chilling storage and MAP, combined with chemical treatments antimicrobial solutions antibrowning, acidulants, antioxidants, etc.). The industry looks for safer alternatives. Consequently, the sector is asking for innovative, fast, cheap and objective techniques to evaluate the overall quality and safety of fresh-cut products in order to obtain decision tools for implementing new packaging materials and procedures. In recent years, hyperspectral imaging technique has been regarded as a tool for analyses conducted for quality evaluation of food products in research, control and industries. The hyperspectral imaging system allows integrating spectroscopic and imaging techniques to enable direct identification of different components or quality characteristics and their spatial distribution in the tested sample. The objective of this work is to develop hyperspectral image processing methods for the supervision through plastic films of changes related to quality deterioration in packed readyto-use leafy vegetables during shelf life. The evolutions of ready-to-use spinach and watercress samples covered with three different common transparent plastic films were studied. Samples were stored at 4 ºC during the monitoring period (until 21 days). More than 60 hyperspectral images (from 400 to 1000 nm) per species were analyzed using ad hoc routines and commercial toolboxes of MatLab®. Besides common spectral treatments for removing additive and multiplicative effects, additional correction, previously to any other correction, was performed in the images of leaves in order to avoid the modification in their spectra due to the presence of the plastic transparent film. Findings from this study suggest that the developed images analysis system is able to deal with the effects caused in the images by the presence of plastic films in the supervision of shelf-life in leafy vegetables, in which different stages of quality has been identified.

Mealiness assessment in apples and peaches using MRI techniques.

Since Januarv 1946 a wade EC Project entitled "Mealiness in fruits Consumers perception and means for detection is being carried out. Mealiness is a sensory attribute that cannot be defined by a single parameter but through a combination of variables (multidimensional structure) Previous studies propose the definition of mealiness as the lack of crispiness of hardness and of juiciness. A destructive instrumental procedure combined with a integration technique has been already developed enabling to identify mealy fruits by destructive instrumental means use other contributions of Barreiro and Ortiz to this Ag Eng 98. Current aims .are focused on establishing non destructive tests for mealiness assessment. Magnetic resonance Imaging (MRI) makes use of the magnetic properties that some atomic nuclei have. especially hidrogen nuclei from water molecules to obtain high quality images in the field of internal quality evaluation the MRI has been used to assess internal injury due to conservation as o treatments as chilling injury un Persimmons Clark&Forbes (1994) and water-core in apples (Wang et al. 1998. In the case of persimmons the chilling injury is described as an initial tissue breakdown and lack of cohesion between cells followed by formation of a firm gel and by a lack of juiciness without changes in the total amount ol water content. Also a browning of the flesh is indicated (Clark&Forhes 1994). This definition fits into the previous description of mealiness.