Reduced Fertilization to Improve Sustainable Use of Resources and Preserve Postharvest Quality of Fresh-Cut Wild Rocket ( L.) in Soil-Bound and Soilless Cultivation.

Reducing fertilizer input is a goal for helping greenhouse farming to achieve higher sustainability in the production process while preserving overall crop performance and quality. Wild rocket plants were cultivated in a plastic greenhouse divided into two independent sectors, one for soil-bound (SbS) cultivation and another equipped for soilless (ScS) cultivation systems. In both SbS and ScS, the crop was subjected to treatments consisting of a high- and a low-input fertilization program (HF and LF treatment, respectively).

Soilless cultivation systems to produce tailored microgreens for specific nutritional needs.

Background: The awareness of the importance of following dietary recommendations that meet specific biological requirements related to an individual's health status has significantly increased interest in personalized nutrition. The aim of this research was to test agronomic protocols based on soilless cultivation for providing consumers with new dietary sources of iodine (I), as well as alternative vegetable products to limit dietary potassium (K) intake; proposed cultivation techniques were evaluated according to their suitability to obtain such products without compromising agronomic performance.

Results: Two independent experiments, focused on I and K respectively, were conducted in a commercial greenhouse specializing in soilless production.

Enhancing the nutritional value of Portulaca oleracea L. by using soilless agronomic biofortification with zinc.

Zinc (Zn) plays a crucial role for human health. Zn deficiency is a common problem worldwide, causing health problems specifically related with detrimental effects on immune system. In this study we used hydroponic floating system and nutrient solutions (NS) with different levels of Zn (0.

Mineral Composition and Bioaccessibility in Rocket and Purslane after Zn Biofortification Process.

Zinc (Zn) is an essential key nutrient in different biochemical and physiological processes. The nutritional deficit of this mineral element is estimated to affect the health of over 3 billion people worldwide. Several strategies are available to reduce the negative impact of mineral malnutrition; among them, biofortification is the practice of deliberately increasing the nutrients and healthy compounds in the edible parts of vegetables.

Posidonia Natural Residues as Growing Substrate Component: An Ecofriendly Method to Improve Nutritional Profile of Brassica Microgreens.

The aim of this study was to test (L.) Delile seagrass residues (leaves and fibers) as growing media component to improve the nutritional quality of two different brassica microgreens (Mizuna and Rapini). We hypothesized that addition of posidonia residues in the substrate would result in higher concentration of certain mineral nutrients in the edible parts of plants.

Effects of municipal solid waste- and sewage sludge-compost-based growing media on the yield and heavy metal content of four lettuce cultivars.

Compost has been recently suggested as an alternative to peat for the preparation of growing substrates in soilless cultivation systems. However, some physico-chemical properties of compost may reduce plant performance and endanger the quality of productions, in particular for possible heavy metal accumulation in edible parts. This study aims at evaluating the suitability of a municipal solid waste compost (MSWC) and a sewage sludge compost (SSC) as components of growing media for the soilless cultivation of lettuce (Lactuca sativa L.

Green bean biofortification for Si through soilless cultivation: plant response and Si bioaccessibility in pods.

Food plants biofortification for micronutrients is a tool for the nutritional value improvement of food. Soilless cultivation systems, with the optimal control of plant nutrition, represent a potential effective technique to increase the beneficial element content in plant tissues. Silicon (Si), which proper intake is recently recommended for its beneficial effects on bone health, presents good absorption in intestinal tract from green bean, a high-value vegetable crop.