Olive oil characteristics of eleven cultivars produced in a high-density grove in Valladolid province (Spain)

The olive oil composition of eleven cultivars (cvs. Arbequina, Arbosana, Arroniz, Cornicabra, Frantoio, Hojiblanca, Manzanilla, Picual, Picudo, Redondilla and Royuela) cultivated in a high-density olive grove located in a non-traditional producing region (Valladolid, Spain) was studied during four consecutive crop seasons. The results showed that the 122 monovarietal olive oils studied could be classified as extra virgin oils, according to the quality parameters. Furthermore, the olive cultivar had a marked effect on the chemical composition and antioxidant activity. In general, olive oils from cvs. Picual and Cornicabra showed the highest total phenolic contents, oxidative stability, and tocopherols contents, whereas the worst results for oxidative stability were observed for cv. Redondilla olive oils, probably associated to the lowest contents of phenolics and tocopherols and the highest amounts of polyunsaturated fatty acids. Finally, it was found that, despite the different crop years evaluated, the quality-chemical profiles could be used to successfully discriminate the monovarietal oils under study (linear discriminant analysis sensitivities: 92 ± 5% for the repeated K-fold cross-validation), using the data of 15 non-redundant variables identified by the simulated annealing variable selection algorithm.The authors are grateful to the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT, Portugal) for financial support by national funds FCT/MCTES to CIMO (UIDB/00690/2020) and Associate Laboratories for Green Chemistry-LAQV (UIDB/50006/2020) and SusTEC (LA/P/0007/2020). Nuno Rodrigues thanks to National funding by FCT- Foundation for Science and Technology, P.I., through the institutional scientific employment program-contract.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Programa nacional de mejora y conservación de los recursos genéticos de la encina y el alcornoque frente a la seca

Como respuesta a la gravedad de los procesos de decaimiento y mortalidad de la encina y el alcornoque, que amenazan la sostenibilidad de sus masas en la Península Ibérica, en el año 2019 se constituyó el subgrupo de trabajo “Mejora genética y fisiológica”, que forma parte del grupo de trabajo “Seca”, coordinado por el MITECO. Este subgrupo incluye a científicos y técnicos de varias administraciones y numerosos centros de investigación y Universidades y una empresa pública, expertos en mejora genética, fitopatología, ecología, propagación vegetativa, bioquímica y biología molecular. El programa tiene como objetivo la selección de genotipos de Quercus ilex y Q. suber tolerantes al estrés hídrico y a la podredumbre radical provocada por Phytophthora cinnamomi. A partir del estudio de 18 poblaciones y de 194 árboles “escape” seleccionados en focos de seca, se espera seleccionar un material apto para restaurar zonas afectadas por problemas de decaimiento. Se presenta una síntesis de las primeras actividades de caracterización e identificación de árboles escape en focos de seca, ensayos de invernadero para el estudio de la variabilidad poblacional en cuanto a vigor y tolerancia al estrés, recogida de muestras vegetales y edáficas para el análisis genético, molecular y de microbioma, identificación de marcadores moleculares asociados a resiliencia y micropropagación del material de mayor valor potencial

Atlas de las praderas marinas de España

Knowledge of the distribution and extent of seagrass habitats is currently the basis of management and conservation policies of the coastal zones in most European countries. This basic information is being requested through European directives for the establishment of monitoring programmes and the implementation of specific actions to preserve the marine environment. In addition, this information is crucial for the quantification of the ecological importance usually attributed to seagrass habitats due to, for instance, their involvement in biogeochemical cycles, marine biodiversity and quality of coastal waters or global carbon budgets. The seagrass atlas of Spain represents a huge collective effort performed by 84 authors across 30 Spanish institutions largely involved in the scientific research, management and conservation of seagrass habitats during the last three decades. They have contributed to the availability of the most precise and realistic seagrass maps for each region of the Spanish coast which have been integrated in a GIS to obtain the distribution and area of each seagrass species. Most of this information has independently originated at a regional level by regional governments, universities and public research organisations, which explain the elevated heterogeneity in criteria, scales, methods and objectives of the available information. On this basis, seagrass habitats in Spain occupy a total surface of 1,541,63 km2, 89% of which is concentrated in the Mediterranean regions; the rest is present in sheltered estuarine areas of the Atlantic peninsular regions and in the open coastal waters of the Canary Islands, which represents 50% of the Atlantic meadows. Of this surface, 71.5% corresponds to Posidonia oceanica, 19.5% to Cymodocea nodosa, 3.1% to Zostera noltii (=Nanozostera noltii), 0.3% to Zostera marina and 1.2% to Halophila decipiens. Species distribution maps are presented (including Ruppia spp.), together with maps of the main impacts and pressures that has affected or threatened their conservation status, as well as the management tools established for their protection and conservation. Despite this considerable effort, and the fact that Spain has mapped wide shelf areas, the information available is still incomplete and with weak precision in many regions, which will require an investment of major effort in the near future to complete the whole picture and respond to demands of EU directives

Atlas de las praderas marinas de España

Knowledge of the distribution and extent of seagrass habitats is currently the basis of management and conservation policies of the coastal zones in most European countries. This basic information is being requested through European directives for the establishment of monitoring programmes and the implementation of specific actions to preserve the marine environment. In addition, this information is crucial for the quantification of the ecological importance usually attributed to seagrass habitats due to, for instance, their involvement in biogeochemical cycles, marine biodiversity and quality of coastal waters or global carbon budgets. The seagrass atlas of Spain represents a huge collective effort performed by 84 authors across 30 Spanish institutions largely involved in the scientific research, management and conservation of seagrass habitats during the last three decades. They have contributed to the availability of the most precise and realistic seagrass maps for each region of the Spanish coast which have been integrated in a GIS to obtain the distribution and area of each seagrass species. Most of this information has independently originated at a regional level by regional governments, universities and public research organisations, which explain the elevated heterogeneity in criteria, scales, methods and objectives of the available information. On this basis, seagrass habitats in Spain occupy a total surface of 1,541,63 km2, 89% of which is concentrated in the Mediterranean regions; the rest is present in sheltered estuarine areas of the Atlantic peninsular regions and in the open coastal waters of the Canary Islands, which represents 50% of the Atlantic meadows. Of this surface, 71.5% corresponds to Posidonia oceanica, 19.5% to Cymodocea nodosa, 3.1% to Zostera noltii (=Nanozostera noltii), 0.3% to Zostera marina and 1.2% to Halophila decipiens. Species distribution maps are presented (including Ruppia spp.), together with maps of the main impacts and pressures that has affected or threatened their conservation status, as well as the management tools established for their protection and conservation. Despite this considerable effort, and the fact that Spain has mapped wide shelf areas, the information available is still incomplete and with weak precision in many regions, which will require an investment of major effort in the near future to complete the whole picture and respond to demands of EU directives.Versión del edito

The use of hydrological models in the irrigated areas of Mendoza, Argentina

A proper understanding of the interaction of irrigation and drainage canals with an aquifer system is necessary to improve the performance of irrigation. This mechanism must be studied with a detail sufficient to identify operational guidelines for specific portions of an irrigation and drainage system. Numerical simulation models provide a useful support since specific operational procedures of irrigation and drainage canals can be evaluated in this way. Regional hydrological models of surface water and groundwater have been applied to an irrigated area of 36,000 ha in the province of Mendoza, Argentina. The use of such models can support decision-making on water management aspects. The benefit of a physically-based model is its use in situations with changing conditions affecting the hydrological system. An important aspect is the need to simulate the hydrological processes as accurately as possible and to include operational irrigation practice. The drawback of a modelling approach is the great demand for reliable input data

Effect of olive trees density on the quality and composition of olive oil from cv. Arbequina

The number of plants per hectare is a key factor for olive tree productivity. Nevertheless, information about the effect of tree density on olive oil quality and composition is scarce. Thus, the effect of planting densities of cv. Arbequina trees on olive oil quality and composition was studied along the first four years of production. Two types of planting tree arrangements were evaluated, namely olive trees planted at different distances within a row (2.0 m; 1.5 m; 1.25 m; and 1.0 m, fixing the space between rows equal to 4.0 m) or at different distances between rows (4.0 m; 3.5 m; and 3.0 m, fixing the space within the same row at 1.5 m), which led to planting densities from 1250 to 2500 trees ha−1. The results indicated that the quality parameters, composition, antioxidant activity and oxidative stability were significantly affected by the densities of plants and the crop year (Pvalue < 0.0001, for one-way ANOVA). An increase of plants in the row and between rows showed a tendency for a slight increase of free acidity, and a reduction of the peroxide value and of the extinction specific coefficients. Fatty acid composition was also affected, with a tendency for the decrease of C16:0, C18:0, SFA and PUFA, and an increase of C18:1, C18:2 and MUFA. The antioxidant activity and the oxidative stability also showed a reduction trend. For all parameters evaluated, the crop year had a marked influence. The year of production had significant statistical effects on the evaluated parameters, which could be related to agro-climatic factors.This work was financially supported by Project POCI-01-0145- FEDER-006984 (Associate Laboratory LSRE-LCM); Project UID/QUI/ 50006/2013 (REQUIMTE-LAQV); Strategic Project PEst-OE/AGR/ UI0690/2014 (CIMO), all funded by Fundo Europeu de Desenvolvimento Regional (FEDER) through COMPETE2020-Programa Operacional Competitividade e Internacionalização (POCI) and by national funds through Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT), Portugal. This work was also supported by POCTEP (Programa Cooperação Transfronteiriça Espanha-Portugal) within the project "RED/AGROTEC – Red transfronteriza España Portugal de experimentación y transferencia para el desarrollo del sector agropecuario y agroindustrial”. Nuno Rodrigues thanks FCT, POPH-QREN and FSE for the Ph.D. Grant (SFRH/BD/104038/2014).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

By-product of Lavandula latifolia essential oil distillation as source of antioxidants

The objective of this work was to evaluate the antioxidant properties of Lavandula latifolia waste obtained after essential oil distillation. Samples of 12 wild populations of the Lavandula genus collected between 2009 and 2010 were hydrodistilled and their by-products were analyzed using the FolineCiocalteu, free radical scavenging activity (2,2-diphenyl-1- picrylhydrazyl), and the ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) methods. Rosmarinic acid, apigenin, and luteolin contents were analyzed by high-performance liquid chromatographyediode array detection. The mean of total phenolic content ranged from 1.89 ± 0.09 mg gallic acid equivalents/g dry weight to 3.54 ± 0.22 mg gallic acid equivalents/ g dry weight. The average value of the half maximal effective concentration (EC50) for scavenging activity ranged from 5.09 ± 0.17 mg/mL to 14.30 ± 1.90 mg/mL and the variability of the EC50 in FRAP ranged from 3.72 ± 0.12 mg/mL to 18.55 ± 0.77 mg/mL. Annual variation was found among this samples and the environmental conditions of 2009 were found to be more favorable. The plants collected from Sedano showed the highest antioxidant power. Our results show that rosmarinic acid and apigenin in L. latifolia contributed to the antioxidant properties of the waste. In conclusion, the by-product of the distillation industry could be valorizing as a source of natural antioxidants.This project was carried out thanks to financial support from the National Institute for Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agraria y Alimentaria (INIA) through project RTA2009-00062-C03-02. I. M.-T. was supported by a PhD fellowship from the Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agraria y Alimentaria (INIA)

Influence of spike lavender (Lavandula latifolia Med.) essential oil in the quality, stability and composition of soybean oil during microwave heating

Lipids oxidation is one of the main factors leading to quality losses in foods. Its prevention or delay could be obtained by the addition of antioxidants. In this sense the present work intend to monitor the protective effects of Lavandula latifolia essential oil during soybean oil microwave heating. To achieve the proposed goal quality parameters (free acidity, peroxide value, specific coefficients of extinction and ΔK), fatty acids profile, tocopherols and tocotrienols composition, antioxidant activity and oxidative stability were evaluated in soybean oil with and without spike lavender essential oils (EO) submitted to different microwave heating exposure times (1, 3, 5, 10 and 15 min; 1000 Watt) with a standard domestic microwave equipment. Microwave heating induced severe quality and composition losses, mainly above 3 min of microwave heating, regardless the sample tested. However, spike lavender EO addition counteracts the oxidation comparatively to control oils, by presenting enhanced values in quality parameters. A higher protection in unsaturated fatty acids loss was also observed as well as a higher antioxidant activity and oxidative stability. The microwave heating effects were clearly different in the samples with essential oils addition, allowing discrimination from plain soybean oils by a principal component analysis, being also capable to discriminate the different heating times tested within each sample.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio