Effects of Pre-Germinative Treatments and Temperatures on Tassel Hyacinth [Muscari comosum (L.) Mill.] Seeds

Muscari comosum (L.) Mill. is a spontaneous plant that grows in the whole Mediterranean area, including the Basilicata and Puglia regions (southern Italy), where it has received inclusion in the Italian National List for Traditional Agri-Food Product (TAP). The food and medicinal uses of bulb are ancient due to its antioxidant properties and high variety of nutrients, such as starch, sugars, and minerals. Muscari seed is characterized by morpho-physiological dormancy, and in order to achieve uniform germination, some pre-germinative treatments are needed. In this research, the effects of hydro-priming and osmo-priming, i.e., PEG 8000 and KNO3, as well as three germination temperatures (4, 10, and 20 ◦C), have been evaluated. In general, the average results pointed out that the pre-treatments increased the germination index (GI) by 5% and the germination percentage (GP) by 3% compared to the no-primed control. The germination temperature of 10 ◦C significantly reduced the median germination time (T50) by 5.4 days and the mean germination time (MGT) by 5 days compared to temperature at 4 ◦C. In particular, the best results were obtained by “hydropriming treatment × 10 ◦C” interaction, in terms of T50 (34.9 days) and MGT (36.3 days). This combination decreased the T50 by 10.5 days and the MGT by 9.6 days compared to the “control × 4 ◦C” interaction. Pearson’s correlation matrix results highlighted a significant positive link between T50 and MGT (r = 0.993). In conclusion, these techniques enhanced the germination potential so that the use of pre-treated seeds could be included in a cultivation protocol to improve the germination phase and satisfy the growing demand for Italian bulbs

The Influence of Soil Physical and Chemical Properties on Saffron (Crocus sativus L.) Growth,Yield and Quality

Soil physical and chemical properties play a central role in plant growth, influencing the availability of air, nutrients, and water. The aim of this two-year study was to evaluate the effect of soil texture and chemical properties (pH, electrical conductivity, organic carbon, organic matter, total, and active lime) on saffron (Crocus sativus L.) growth, yield, and quality. Corms were planted in pots filled with seven different soil textures obtained mixing an increasing quantity (33% and 66%) of sand to a clay soil (S1) and to a clay loam soil (S2) compared to a full (100%) sandy soil as a control (S7). A randomized complete block design comprising of seven pots with different types of soil (S1, S2, S3, S4, S5, S6, and S7) replicated three times was used. The results showed that the highest flower number (320.3 nm2), stigma yield (2.0 gm2), daughter corm production (7.9 kgm2), and horizontal diameter (3.1 cm) were derived from S3 and S4 soils. These were characterized by a loam and sandy-loam texture, not very calcareous, with a sub-alkaline and neutral pH, low electrical conductivity, a content of organic matter between 5.46 and 8.67 g kg1, and a content of active lime between 21.25 and 26.25 g kg1. According to the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) references, although all spice samples belonged to the first qualitative category, S1, S3, and S2 soils recorded the highest value for coloring power (290.5, 289.1, and 287.6 A1m 440 nm, respectively). The highest values of bittering (109.2 A1m 257 nm) and aromatic (26.6 A1m 330 nm) power were reached by S3 soil. Positive correlations were found both between color with clay and organic matter, and aroma with total calcium carbonate. In conclusion, the assessment of soil conditions is particularly important to obtain the best saffron performance in terms of stigma and daughter corms yield as well as spice qualitative traits

Productivity and quality of different tomato cultivars under intercropping system with maize and dry farming conditions in Southern Italy

This research, carried out in a typical Mediterranean environment of Southern Italy, reports some quantitative and qualitative traits of three local tomato cultivars (‘Arsicolo’, ‘Crovarese’, and ‘San Marzano’) plus a commercial one (‘Datterino’) cultivated without irrigation and intercropped with maize. For each cultivar, in addition to the determination of fruit production, tomato paste and “conserva” paste were prepared using a traditional technique of the Tanagro Valley (province of Salerno, Southern Italy). Results highlighted that ‘Arsicolo’ showed the best fruit yield (32.2 metric tons ha-1) and tomato paste production (92.9% paste return by tomato fruits weight) due to its ancient peculiar adaptability to cultivation in dry conditions, while ‘Datterino’, ‘Crovarese’, and ‘San Marzano’ had 19, 16.7, 10.5 tons ha-1 of fruit yield and 85.7, 83.9, 76.2% of tomato paste return, respectively. Conversely, for the qualitative traits, such as total solids, soluble solids, titratable acidity, and ascorbic acid, ‘Crovarese’ showed the best results (9.1%, 6.6 °Brix, 0.93%, and 39.7 mg per 100 g of fresh weight, respectively). The two components extracted by the principal components analysis (PCA) explained 84.9% of the total variance in the morphological, quantitative and qualitative traits and the dendrogram obtained by hierarchical cluster analysis allowed to divide the cultivars into three groups. Our findings highlighted that local tomato cultivars, intercropped with maize, can be cultivated adopting only few sustainable field operations and with no irrigation

Comparison of Bioactive Substances Content between Commercial and Wild-Type Isolates of Pleurotus eryngii

Mushrooms belonging to Pleurotus genus have been demonstrated to have important nutritional and medicinal value and their regular intake prevent many diseases, reduce the infection probability and increase immunity. In order to investigate the bioactive compounds produced by seven commercial (‘142 F’, ‘142 E’, ‘D+’, ‘V turbo’, ‘V 142’, ‘A 12’, ‘V 160’) and five wild-type (‘Albino 1107’, ‘Altamura 1603’, ‘Muro Lucano 139’, ‘Conversano 1250’, ‘Albino beige chiaro 1094’) P. eryngii isolates, the following qualitative analyses were performed: Total polyphenol content, antioxidant activity (EC50 of ABTS) and antiradical power (ARP) in fresh lyophilized and dry basidioma, and water content, -glucans and phenolic compounds in fresh samples. Standard methods were employed for each of the above mentioned aims. Total polyphenol content was diverse among the P. eryngii isolates. In particular, an elevated polyphenolic content was found in fresh lyophilized P. eryngii samples of the commercial isolates ‘V 142’ followed by ‘A 12’. The highest antiradical activity (ARP) was obtained by ‘Muro Lucano 139’ isolate. Wild P. eryngii isolates were characterized by higher water and -glucans contents compared to the commercial ones, and the highest values were registered for the ‘Albino beige chiaro 1094’ isolate. In conclusion, the present study allowed us to identify the commercial and wild-type P. eryngii isolates from the Basilicata region, with high nutritional and medicinal value based on their bioactive compounds

Preserving biodiversity as source of health promoting compounds: Phenolic profile and biological activity of four varieties of solanum lycopersicum l

Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) is a precious source of specialized metabolites with a great role in human health. Many varieties of tomatoes characterize the south of Italy’s agronomic production and biodiversity, thanks to its warm temperatures and favorable weather. The preser-vation of biodiversity is a major goal of recent years, as each variety shows a peculiar phytochemical profile and provides a wide variety of metabolites with health‐beneficial properties. Among the wide range of tomato varieties, literature focused on the most commercially‐known types, including San Marzano and Datterino, while this study considered typical South Italy varieties for the first time, as well as Crovarese and Arsicolo. The aim of our work is to enrich the current knowledge about the tomato by evaluating the carotenoid content, the phytochemical profile by HPLC‐DAD, and the biological activity of the different parts (peel, fruit, pulp, and seeds) of niche cultivars compared with commercial ones. Radical scavenging activity, assessed by the 2,2‐Diphenyl‐1‐picrylhy-drazyl (DPPH) method, was higher in Crovarese peel extract, while Arsicolo possessed the highest lycopene content, underlying the importance of local ecotypes as a precious source of health promoting compounds. However, out of all of the varieties considered, peel extract was the most active one, opening new insights on their valorization in light of the circular economy

Crocus sativus L. Ecotypes from Mediterranean Countries: Phenological, Morpho-Productive, Qualitative and Genetic Traits

The characterization of C. sativus ecotypes is of great interest for preserving them from a possible genetic erosion due to the decrease of European cultivation surface. In this study, we evaluated four ecotypes from Italy (Sardinia and Abruzzo), Spain (Castilla-La Mancha), and Greece (Kozani) in order to detect the existence of variability and promote the biodiversity of this crop. Thirty-one traits related to saffron flowering, flower morphology, production of spice and daughter corms, vegetative development (leaf and corm traits), and spice quality, were evaluated. In addition, a genetic analysis through three PCR-based approaches, SSRs, RAPD, and SRAP was assessed. Results highlighted a phenotypic variation among ecotypes during two consecutive years. All the studied parameters were influenced by the ecotype except for the stamen length, color coordinates of tepals, leaf length, and leaf number per plant. Sardinia had a longer flowering interval, earlier flowering, and higher spice yield and quality than the other corm origins. The maximum values of morphological traits, such as stigma length, dry weight of stigmas, tepals, flowers and leaves, leaf area, and daughter corm weight were observed in the Abruzzo ecotype. Principal component analysis (PCA) showed a clear separation among ecotypes, in which Sardinia and Spain showed more similarities than Abruzzo and Kozani. Significant negative correlation was found between days to flower with stigma yield and quality. However, we could not find molecular markers discriminating among corm origins. In conclusion, this study suggests the importance of C. sativus ecotypes as precious source of biodiversity and bioactive compounds, and of their enhancement as fundamental prerequisite for a sustainable development strategy and as an agricultural diversification opportunity for growers

Morphological and productivity comparison between commercial and wild isolates of Pleurotus eryngii (D.C.: Fr.) Quél

Seven commercial isolates of Pleurotus eryngii (‘142 F’, ‘142 E’, ‘D +’, ‘V turbo’, ‘V 142’, ‘A12’ and ‘V160’), identified on molecular basis, were compared to five wild type isolates (‘Albino beige chiaro 1094’, ‘Altamura 1603’, ‘Albino 1107’, ‘Muro Lucano 139’ and ‘Conversano 1250’) concerning their morphological, productivity and quality features. Interestingly, two wild type isolates (‘Albino 1107’ and ‘Conversano 1250’) resulted more productive then all the commercial fungal isolates analysed. Besides, all wild isolates of P. eryngii showed harvest earliness and among them ‘Altamura 1603’ and ‘Conversano 1250’ were the best. The highest percentage of large basidioma was observed for the commercial isolates ‘V turbo’ and ‘D+’. Within the wild types, the isolate ‘Conversano 1250’ stood out. Regarding the pileus cuticle colour, commercial isolates (‘V turbo’ and ‘V 160’) showed lower lightness value than wild type isolates (‘Albino 1107’)