The Inner Quality Concept for food, based on life processes

How can we adequately express the quality of food produced by organic agriculture? To answer this research question, we defined a concept of ‘inner quality’ (formerly called ‘vital quality’) based on the life processes growth and differentiation, and their integration. Growers use management methods to influence life processes in their crops, thus optimising the quality of the final product. Traders and consumers can recognise certain product properties as being the result of these life processes. Here, we present a course of validation for the quality concept, together with appropriate quality parameters. The process of validation has been completed in part for two experimental crops, apple and carrot. This quality concept can provide a holistic context for the interpretation of individual food quality parameters as developed by different laboratories

Effectivity of lime sulphur as a flower thinning agent

Unter 3 verschiedenen Bedingungen wurde die Blütenausdünnung vom Schwefelkalk untersucht. Die Wirkung wechselt von 12 bis 40% abhängig von Spritzgerät, Anwendungszeit und Wassermenge. Die Daten nach Junifall sind gestört durch schweren Apfelsägewespenbefall. Durch die Spritzungen ist die Dünnungsarbeit im Juli kaum verringert, aber die Chance auf Blütenknospen für das nächste Jahr verbessert. Über Nebenwirkungen von dieser Anwendung von Schwefelkalk ist noch zu melden: keine Blattbeschädigung, keine Berostung und 0,4 Samen weniger pro Frucht

Thinning with lime sulphur - effect on flowers or on leaves?

Behandlung von nicht nur der Blüten aber auch die Rosettenblätter mit Schwefelkalk vergrößert nicht den Ausdünnungseffekt. Das Entfernen (einen Teil) der Rosettenblätter verringerte den Fruchtansatz ein wenig aber vergrößerte den Junifall stark. Die Schlussfolgerung war das Schwefelkalk ausdünnend wirkt durch Verbrennung der Blüte und nicht durch Schädigung der Blätter. In diesem Fall mit Handsprühgerät, wann die Blumen gut getroffen werden mit Schwefelkalk, ist die Ausdünnung sehr gut

Challenges for an organic food quality concept- the Inner Quality Concept Requirements demonstrated on an experimental concept

At the Louis Bolk Institute, together with several international partners, years of work and several research projects were directed towards the validation of the "Inner Quality Concept"; an organic food quality concept. This concept intends to build two bridges. One bridge between crop management and food quality and another bridge between food quality and possible health effects for the consumer. This paper focuses on requirements for validating a concept, presenting examples from the work in the Louis Bolk Institute

Calcium hydroxide against apple canker (Nectria galligena)

Anwendung von 3x 50 kg/ha ungenutzte Lagerkalk (Kalziumhydroxid) in Blattfallperiode verringert die Anzahl von krebsbefallenen Zweigen im darauf folgenden Juni mit maximal 40%. Nicht oder weniger effektiv zeigte sich Baumanstrich, benutzte Lagerkalk, Landbaukalk, Schachtelhalm Tee, Mikroorganismen oder Wasserglas

Alternativen für Kupfer gegen Schorf auf Jonagold

Copper is currently the strongest fungicide available to organic fruit growers. Unfortunately it is not environmentally safe and it has a bad image with the consumer. As a result, there is pressure to abandon copper altogether. In 1999 the Fruit Research Station FPO and the Louis Bolk Institute carried out a spray trial to assess the potential of various alternatives

Responsive glyco-poly(2-oxazoline)s: synthesis, cloud point tuning, and lectin binding

A new sugar-substituted 2-oxazoline monomer was prepared using the copper-catalyzed alkyne-azide cycloaddition (CuAAC) reaction. Its copolymerization with 2-ethyl-2-oxazoline as well as 2-(dec-9-enyl)-2-oxazoline, yielding well-defined copolymers with the possibility to tune the properties by thiol-ene "click" reactions, is described. Extensive solubility studies on the corresponding glycocopolymers demonstrated that the lower critical solution temperature behavior and pH-responsiveness of these copolymers can be adjusted in water and phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) depending on the choice of the thiol. By conjugation of 2,3,4,6-tetra-O-acetyl-1-thio-beta-D-glucopyranose and subsequent deprotection of the sugar moieties, the hydrophilicity of the copolymer could be increased significantly, allowing a cloud-point tuning in the physiological range. Furthermore, the binding capability of the glycosylated copoly(2-oxazoline) to concanavalin A was investigated