GENETIC, COLTURAL INNOVATIONS AND MANUFACTURING FOR THE MANGO SUPPLY CHAIN IN SICILY AND IN THE MEDITERRANEAN AREA
The main objective of the project is to transfer innovation and technical-scientific know-how to the farms that constitute the Sicilian mango supply chain that adhere to the project with particular attention to genetic resources (propagation, varietal identity and sanitation of nursery material), the ambientation of plants (relationship between phenological phases and pedo-climatic variables), agronomic techniques ( water and nutritional resources reduction), harvesting (ripening period and organoleptic quality), post-harvest management (shelf-life of fresh and processed fruits) and impact on the market (market analysis and consumer science) and local tourism
- Development of the experimental protocol for the detection / processing of agro-meteorological data collected at the partner companies
- Verification of genetic and health requirements of plant material for obtaining scions and rootstocks - application of integrated defense protocols
- Implementation of innovative irrigation management protocols
- Screenhouse creation for in vivo genetic material conservation
- Collection of technical information on fruit quality and post-harvest management
- Transformation of the product for drying with low energy consumption
- Communication and dissemination of results
- Evaluation of consumer response to the introduction of the product on the market
"The cultivation of the mango supply chain is rapidly expanding in Sicily: from the few hectares of the early 90s it reached about 300 in 2018. This is mainly due to the change in the climate that from ""Mediterranean"" is increasingly becoming ""Mediterranean- subtropical"". In fact, the mango (Mangifera indica L.) finds in the coastal strips ranging from Balestrate to Milazzo the maximum of its productive vocation precisely by virtue of the ""Mediterranean-subtropical"" climatic conditions. the mango supply chain has been and is delayed by the impossibility of farmers, potential mangroves, to find the plants to be planted in time. More often than not, they have been forced to turn to Spanish nurserymen to cope with the shortage of plants, with the consequent increase in transport costs. Hence the need on the part of some farmers to ""grow plants at home"" as well as draw from research the information relating to cultivation techniques and post-harvest management of the fruit.
To meet this need, an Operating Group has been set up which provides, in addition to mango producers, also a nurseryman with proven thirty years of experience in the subtropical sector, the CNR vegetable production of Palermo and the two Agriculture Departments of Palermo and Catania. The main objective of this project is to transfer the supply chain and product innovation acquired at a scientific level from the holding partners to the GO companies."
The establishment of a homogeneous network of agrometeorological stations, all with the same hardware configuration, is a prerequisite for an accurate assessment of the micro-climatic parameters that affect the GO farms, and is fundamental for the study of the vegetative-productive behavior of the plants and the correct sizing of connected irrigation systems. This network will be the result of the collaboration between the scientific coordinator Prof. Vittorio Farina, the CNR and the partners of the G.O. possessing a high degree of know-how in the sector. The acquisition and processing of available data relating to the meteorological variables measured by this network of stations in a large number of farms characterized by different pedoclimatic environments will allow the agro-climatic characterization of the mango cultivation areas in Sicily. The meteorological data collected will be compared to the structural characteristics of the companies involved in the project, to assess their efficiency in the use of external resources (irrigation and nutritional) according to the environment and any changes to be made to company equipment.
The CNR-IBBR partner will genetically evaluate the plant material already present in the Vivai Torre di Milazzo company in the fields of mother plants of the Gomera 3 variety, from which the fruits are taken to make up rootstocks, and of those of the different commercial varieties from which they come. take the scions for grafting. We will start from the different mango cultivars grown in Sicily and the relative rootstocks. Innovative protocols already in the possession of the IBBR partner will be applied to these, which will allow characterization and evaluation through the use of molecular markers and flow cytometric analysis. Upon completion of the genetic characterization, health analyzes will be carried out to exclude the presence of viruses in mango plants, which may affect production efficiency and fruit quality. To complete the genetic characterization, integrated defense protocols will be developed by the partner UniCT - D3A to protect plants from pathogens that can affect production efficiency and fruit quality.
The climatic data acquired during action 3 will be related to the phenological data collected during the study period. Thanks to the evaluation made by the Unipa Partner in order to optimize the fertigation inputs in the various company systems present in the range affected by the cultivation of the species. Thanks to the partner IRRITEC, fertigation protocols will be tested in the experimental fields that will be carried out at the companies, aimed at obtaining knowledge of the ideal quantities and times for administering irrigation inputs.
These data, processed in synergy with the data acquired by the IRRITEC partner, will allow for a more correct management of the microclimate and energy and irrigation inputs, directing agronomic management towards high quality productions, lowering the environmental impact. The adaptability of the cultivars to the different microclimates and soil and climatic realities will be assessed through phenological studies that will aim to understand the influence of climatic dynamics on vegetative growth, flowering and fruiting for the direct impact on the final fruit yield.
Once verified from a genetic and health point of view at action n ° 4, the mother plants will be stored in a screenhouse located at the IBBR collection field in the countryside of Collesano (PA) and at the partner Vivai Torre. A collection of certified mother plants will be established from which the scions for propagation and the fruits to obtain rootstocks from poly-embryonic varieties (nucellar embryonic) will be taken.
Changes in the quality parameters of the mango fruit are daily, and the consumer is unable to measure the differences during the purchase. It is therefore essential that all the main quality parameters are related to the size, shape, color and aroma, trying to reveal the overall quality parameters of the fruit. The final quality of the fruit and its post-harvest life, whether fresh or processed, largely depend on the time of harvest. The identification of the optimal harvesting period capable of guaranteeing high quality standards is linked to the application of complex collection indices also based on NIR techniques. This will be guaranteed by applying protocols for assessing the state of ripeness to the plants of the various partner companies by studying the ripening curves of the different cultivars in different pedoclimatic environments.
In order to diversify the commercial offer, a solar-powered dryer, "solar dryer" will be used. The instrument in question uses the indirect solar drying technique with forced circulation through the surface on which the product is placed. The drying air will be passively heated by solar radiation, circulated through the product bed and finally discharged into the upper part of the dryer through an emission chimney. The solar dryer allows you to reduce energy consumption, making full use of solar radiation, a feature that makes it an absolutely suitable tool for use in the chosen environment for the realization of the project. Non-compliant fruit or class II and III fruit can be enhanced by transforming it into a dried product.
