Enhancement of horticultural species for nutraceutical purposes
With a pilot company production system, the optimization of both process and product production phases is pursued, for the cultivation of the Amorphophallus konjac, the sweet potato Ipomoeabatatas and the winter squash Cucurbita maxima. Expected changes: a) increase in the physical-chemical quality of the productions thanks to a better use of inputs and an improvement in the organoleptic properties of the fruits and, consequently, of the derived products (flours); b) improvement of environmental and ecological sustainability by reducing the impact of various production activities c) increasing the professional level of operators in the sector.
With the increase in the world population, the change in eating habits and the risks of reducing agricultural production linked to climate change, the challenge of food security, understood as the availability of a healthy and sustainable amount of food, is increasingly of epochal significance. Within the search for complementary eating styles aimed at diversified populations, such as celiacs and people with metabolic diseases, there is the need for crops and the development of farms that meet this need.
In the horticulture sector too, this orientation has in recent years stimulated a growing search for sustainable production systems in environmental terms. It is known that organic or low environmental impact cultivation is very well received by consumers, therefore, there is a growing demand, also by operators in the horticultural sector, for innovative techniques and strategies.
The project proposal aims to define incentive tools for research and development actions that promote innovation and cooperation between research operators and businesses for the construction of new networks of active participation.
The protected environment horticulture sector, already characterized by a marked tendency towards innovation, will benefit from the development of productive and organizational approaches deriving from technology transfer initiatives deriving from the activities envisaged in the project.
With the increase in the world population, the change in eating habits and the risks of reducing agricultural production linked to climate change, the challenge of food security, understood as the availability of a healthy and sustainable amount of food, is increasingly of epochal significance. Within the search for complementary eating styles aimed at diversified populations, such as celiacs and people with metabolic diseases, there is the need for crops and the development of farms that meet this need.
In the horticulture sector too, this orientation has in recent years stimulated a growing search for sustainable production systems in environmental terms. It is known that organic or low environmental impact cultivation is very well received by consumers, therefore, there is a growing demand, also by operators in the horticultural sector, for innovative techniques and strategies.
The project proposal aims to define incentive tools for research and development actions that promote innovation and cooperation between research operators and businesses for the construction of new networks of active participation.
The protected environment horticulture sector, already characterized by a marked tendency towards innovation, will benefit from the development of productive and organizational approaches deriving from technology transfer initiatives deriving from the activities envisaged in the project.
The arable land and related flours represent the largest production in terms of extension of Sicily. The innovation related to the introduction of a tuber (KONJAC) intended for flour, usable both directly as well as for pasta making. Why Konjac? Konjac flour preparations (eg spaghetti) are gaining space on the market precisely because of the almost absent caloric intake, a very low carbohydrate content, therefore suitable for low-calorie diets.
The main component that determines the ""technological"" possibility of creating extrusions similar to pasta, spaghetti, etc ..., is glucomannan, the polysaccharide that is the most interesting substance obtained from this plant and from which supplements and / or products such as those just mentioned.
The dried corm contains around 40% glucomannan gum.
The cultivation of Konjac is very widespread in areas of East Asia: cultivation in Sicily represents an important competition challenge for low-quality foreign productions.
The Sicilian production system is also characterized by the presence of many mills and pasta factories, which have consolidated thanks to local productions and are always asking for new products and solutions (pasta with black chickpea flour, bread flavored with vegetables, etc.). Considering the tuber production, in some coastal areas, two extra-seasonal cultivation cycles are carried out. We have also encountered similar problems in southern Spain which has the same Sicilian crops (arable and vegetable crops). The increasingly intense exchanges with operators from other countries, Germany, France and Belgium, confirms the ever growing problem of obesity and the need to prepare products capable of offering solutions increasingly requested by operators and end consumers.
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"The product and process innovations to be transferred to the business context concern agronomic techniques aimed at addressing some important problems affecting the cultivation of winter squash, sweet potato and konjac connected in particular to the sustainability of crop cycles and to the improvement of product quality. Therefore, differentiated irrigation levels will be used on the mentioned species to improve the productive, physical-chemical and nutraceutical characteristics of the fruits and at the same time increase the efficiency of the use of irrigation water. At the same time, different mixes of flours will be produced, destined for the production of various types of food and their physical-chemical and nutritional characteristics will be evaluated.
The experimental fields, for the project period, will be subject, through special sensors, to a monitoring campaign of the micro-climatic conditions of cultivation, useful for the acquisition of suitable parameters for a correct agronomic management (organizational innovation) of the subject cultivation. of the experimental activity.
Considering the sensitivity, through context analysis, by consumers towards issues inherent to the sustainability of production cycles, the estimate of the reduction of the environmental impact (including CO2 emissions) will be started through the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) method, to better qualify the offer."
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