Ecophysiological and nutritional characterisation of two morphotypes of subsp. Scop. from Puglia region, Southern Italy.

subsp. Scop. (sea rocket) is a succulent halophyte with significant potential as a nutritious food source, being rich in essential nutrients such as vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants.

Characterization of Targeted Phenolic Compounds in Globe Artichoke Heads and Waste from Vegetatively and "Seed"-Propagated Genotypes.

In the globe artichoke, both the edible portion and the waste biomass are recognized as valuable sources of bioactive compounds. For this study, heads with 30 cm-long floral stems including two to three leaves were harvested from five genotypes, which included two traditional vegetative-propagated varietal types ("Brindisino" and "Violetto di Foggia") and three "seed"-propagated hybrids ("Tempo", "Opal", and "Madrigal"). The study aimed to determine the total and individual polyphenolic concentrations (measured spectrophotometrically and using HPLC) and antioxidant activity (AA) in different artichoke parts, namely the "hearts" (H), head waste (HW), stem waste (SW), and leaf waste (LW).

Peeling Affects the Nutritional Properties of Carrot Genotypes.

Peeling may result in changes in carrot's nutritional properties; therefore, the present study focused on its effect on the retention of principal nutrients (minerals, sugars, organic acids) and antioxidants (carotenoids and phenols) in the peeled roots of two landraces ('Carota a punta lunga'-CPL and 'Carota a punta tonda'-CPT) and a hybrid cultivar ('Presto') grown in the area of the "Salterns of Margherita di Savoia" area (Puglia region). The peel had a higher concentration of cations (+92%), organic acids (+103%), carotenoids (+42%), and phenolic acids (seven times) than root flesh. For each chemical class, the most abundant components were K, malic acid, ß-carotene, and chlorogenic acid, respectively.

Evaluation of Garlic Landraces from Foggia Province (Puglia Region; Italy).

Interest in local landraces has unfortunately decreased over, the last decades, in which they have been continuously subjected to a high genetic erosion in favour of new modern varieties. Within the Puglia region (S-E Italy), Foggia province was found to be the richest in vegetable landraces. In the present study, six garlic landraces collected from this area have been assessed for their chemical composition (minerals, organic acids, free sugars, volatile, and phenolic compounds) along with their main morpho-biometrical traits.

Nutritional, Biophysical and Physiological Characteristics of Wild Rocket Genotypes As Affected by Soilless Cultivation System, Salinity Level of Nutrient Solution and Growing Period.

With the aim of defining the best management of nutrient solution (NS) in a soilless system for obtaining high quality baby-leaf rocket, the present study focuses on two wild rocket genotypes ("Nature" and "Naturelle"), grown in a greenhouse under two Southern Italy growing conditions-autumn-winter (AW) and winter-spring (WS)-using two soilless cultivation systems (SCS)-at two electrical conductivity values (EC) of NS. The SCSs used were the Floating System (FS) and Ebb and Flow System (EFS) and the EC values were 2.5 and 3.

A decision support system (GesCoN) for managing fertigation in vegetable crops. Part II-model calibration and validation under different environmental growing conditions on field grown tomato.

The GesCoN model was evaluated for its capability to simulate growth, nitrogen uptake, and productivity of open field tomato grown under different environmental and cultural conditions. Five datasets collected from experimental trials carried out in Foggia (IT) were used for calibration and 13 datasets collected from trials conducted in Foggia, Perugia (IT), and Florida (USA) were used for validation. The goodness of fitting was performed by comparing the observed and simulated shoot dry weight (SDW) and N crop uptake during crop seasons, total dry weight (TDW), N uptake and fresh yield (TFY).

Influence of biochar, mycorrhizal inoculation, and fertilizer rate on growth and flowering of Pelargonium (Pelargonium zonale L.) plants.

Peat is the most common substrate used in nurseries despite being a very expensive and a non-renewable material. Peat replacement with biochar could be a sound environmental practice, as it is produced from waste biomass, but evaluation of biochar as a potting substrate is needed. Ratios of peat:biochar of 100:0, 70:30, 30:70 (BC0, BC30, and BC70, respectively), two fertilizer rates (FERT1, FERT2), and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) inoculation were tested on potted Pelargonium plants.

Pre-harvest nitrogen and azoxystrobin application enhances raw product quality and post-harvest shelf-life of baby spinach (Spinacia oleracea L.).

Background: Baby spinach was cultivated under spring or winter conditions to investigate the effect of azoxystrobin and, only in the winter cycle, of nitrogen fertilisation (0, 80 and 120 kg ha(-1) of N) on yield and product morphological traits at harvest and on the physical, visual, bio-physiological, nutritional and anti-nutritional characteristics change during cold storage.

Results: The yield was 37% higher in spring than in the overwinter cycle. Spring grown plant had leaves of lighter colour, lower in dry matter content, higher in ascorbic acid, nitrate, and total phenol content.

Morphological and qualitative characterisation of globe artichoke head from new seed-propagated cultivars.

Background: Three new artichoke seed-propagated hybrids (Tempo, Opal and Madrigal) were compared with two standard cultivated varietal types [Catanese and Violet du Provence (VP)] in terms of head morphology, processing performance, nutritional or technological qualitative traits, in order to define their best use.

Results: Compared to the other genotypes, Opal and Madrigal had more rounded, heavier, larger heads, higher processing yield (>400 g of heart kg(-1) raw head) and lower total phenol (TP) content (2.4 g of gallic acid equivalents kg(-1) FW).