Dear FreshPlaza readers, the Italian scientists of EU project Quafety will be on tacler platform (www.tacler.com) next 21th November from 2.00 to 3.00 pm (CET), to discuss some topics that are being studied within the project.You can find the full version of the interviews and of the open discussions of the July and September tacler meetings registering on www.tacler.com and visiting the Quafety section. For further info on the project, you can also visit the official website: www.quafety.eu.
For the November meeting, Professor Antonio Elia and Dr Anna Bonasia from University of Foggia will speak of soilless culture systems to produce high added-value leafy vegetables. The work has been conducted within the WorkPackage Number 4 of Quafety Project.
The topic of the tacler meeting will be "Soilless cultivation of leafy species: effects on shelf life and nutritional quality".
A brief summary of the meeting's contents follows.
Nutritional quality of vegetables is an increasingly pressing issue for greenhouse growers who want to meet the ever growing demand of consumers in the highly competitive fresh vegetable market.
Soilless systems are actually considered the most intensive production method in today’s horticulture industry. They allow a direct control of plant nutrients supply. The nutrient solutions may be modified in order to reach high quality of product destined to "fresh cut process".
Among the soilless systems, Floating System and Ebb and Flow System – are well suited to leafy species cultivation. Irrespective of soilless system used, attention must be paid to the management of nutrient solution, to obtain high quality and high shelf-life raw material especially if destined to fresh-cut processing.
The activities carried out at the University of Foggia for the Quafety European Project focused on the definition of innovative growing protocols for leafy vegetables. Strategic management of nutrient solution aimed to produce raw material suitable for fresh-cut production in terms of safety, nutritional quality and shelf-life.