First results with the Gas Discharge Visualisation (GDV) method (Kirlian photography) to assess the inner Quality of apples

GDV technology can provide useful information for distinguishing healthy and stressed plants and, in some cases, it can provide useful information for distinguishing different varieties and rootstocks. It can also provide information for distinguishing fruits grown using different fertilization treatments. However, in our cases with fruit of very similar standard quality, we were not able to find complementary information to distinguish organically from conventionally grown apple fruit. Currently we are carrying out two larger and refined studies on just that topic with 5 conventional/ organic comparison pairs from harvests of two years

Hot compaction of nanocrystalline TiO2 (anatase) ceramics. Mechanisms of densification: Grain size and doping effects

The hot compaction of nanocrystalline TiO2 anatase powders is investigated using dilatometry. The constant rate of heating (CRH) method is applied to determine effective activation energies of the processes involved during sintering. Grain size and doping effects are studied, using dopant cations of different radius and charge: Zn2+, Al3+, Si4+, Nb5+. The results are interpreted by a mechanism including superplastic deformation and boundary diffusion. The former is predominant for small particles and low temperature, whereas the latter is more important for larger particles and higher temperature. Dopant effects on densification kinetics are discussed in view of defect chemistry

Geschmack- und gesundheitsrelevante Qualität von ökologisch angbauten Äpfeln: Eine 3jährige Feldvergleichsstudie mit standard- und ganzheitlichen Untersuchungsmethoden

In a 3 years lasting field study with the ‘Golden Delicious’ cultivar, we compared fruits of 5 pairs of organic/integrated fruit farms. The orchards were similar in microclimate, soil conditions and planting system. To assess inner fruit quality we investigated at the beginning and at the end of cold storage: (i) standard parameters (firmness, sugar, malic acid., mineral content); (ii) sensorial quality by panel tests; (iii) health related components (23 phenolic compounds, nutritional fibres; vitamins); and (v) fruit «vitality quality» by holistic approaches (crystallisation in copper chloride, self degradation tests, feeding preference tests with laboratory rats). The most significant differences were found in year one of the study, and were by tendency confirmed in the following two years. In year one all fruit samples of organic orchards had significantly firmer fruit flesh (14%), a 10 % higher index of inner quality (on basis of sugar and malic acid content and fruit flesh firmness), and 15% higher taste scores than conventional ones. Phosphorus content of the fruit flesh was 31% higher in organic apples and closely correlated (r2 = 0.93) with the index of inner quality and sensory score (r2 = 0.69). No extraction method of Phosphorus in the soil (water, NH4-EDTA, citric acid, CAL) correlated with the P-content in the fruits. However, P in the fruit flesh correlated by r2 = 0.72 with the microbial activity of the soil expressed as the ratio of microbialbound Nitrogen and Carbon in the soil. With a value of 3.85 the Cmic:Nmic ratio was 44.5 % lower (thus more favourable) in organic tree strips. Flavanols, with 65.7 % of the total polyphenol content were the dominant group of polyphenols. The content of flavonols was 22.7 % higher in organic apples in the first year and 15.6 % in the average of the three years. The self-degradation test didn't provide significant differences. Laboratory rats, showed a tendency to prefer IP apples probably due to their advanced ripeness. Thus rat behaviour did not correspond with the sensory panel judgement. The picture forming method provided a correct reproducibility with repeated blind samples before and after storage (r2 = 0.83), and distinguished 100 % correctly organic an IP fruit in the first year. In the second year there was one miss qualification. The average value over three dates of the index for «vitality quality», which was especially created for this study, was 44.6 % higher with organic apples The picture forming methods correlated well with sensory scores and standard quality (r2 = 0.63) in the first year. The study revealed interesting and consumer-relevant differences between organic and integrated apples with standard and holistic methods

SENSORY AND HEALTH-RELATED FRUIT QUALITY OF ORGANIC APPLES. A COMPARATIVE FIELD STUDY OVER THREE YEARS USING CONVENTIONAL AND HOLISTIC METHODS TO ASSESS FRUIT QUALITY

In a 3 years lasting field study with the ‘Golden Delicious’ cultivar, we compared fruits of 5 pairs of organic/integrated fruit farms. The orchards were similar in microclimate, soil conditions and planting system. To assess inner fruit quality we investigated at the beginning and at the end of cold storage: (i) standard parameters (firmness, sugar, malic acid., mineral content); (ii) sensorial quality by panel tests; (iii) health related components (23 phenolic compounds, nutritional fibres; vitamins); and (v) fruit «vitality quality» by holistic approaches (crystallisation in copper chloride, self degradation tests, feeding preference tests with laboratory rats). The most significant differences were found in year one of the study, and were by tendency confirmed in the following two years. In year one all fruit samples of organic orchards had significantly firmer fruit flesh (14%), a 10 % higher index of inner quality (on basis of sugar and malic acid content and fruit flesh firmness), and 15% higher taste scores than conventional ones. Phosphorus content of the fruit flesh was 31% higher in organic apples and closely correlated (r2 = 0.93) with the index of inner quality and sensory score (r2 = 0.69). No extraction method of Phosphorus in the soil (water, NH4-EDTA, citric acid, CAL) correlated with the P-content in the fruits. However, P in the fruit flesh correlated by r2 = 0.72 with the microbial activity of the soil expressed as the ratio of microbialbound Nitrogen and Carbon in the soil. With a value of 3.85 the Cmic:Nmic ratio was 44.5 % lower (thus more favourable) in organic tree strips. Flavanols, with 65.7 % of the total polyphenol content were the dominant group of polyphenols. The content of flavonols was 22.7 % higher in organic apples in the first year and 15.6 % in the average of the three years. The self-degradation test didn't provide significant differences. Laboratory rats, showed a tendency to prefer IP apples probably due to their advanced ripeness. Thus rat behaviour did not correspond with the sensory panel judgement. The picture forming method provided a correct reproducibility with repeated blind samples before and after storage (r2 = 0.83), and distinguished 100 % correctly organic an IP fruit in the first year. In the second year there was one miss qualification. The average value over three dates of the index for «vitality quality», which was especially created for this study, was 44.6 % higher with organic apples The picture forming methods correlated well with sensory scores and standard quality (r2 = 0.63) in the first year. The study revealed interesting and consumer-relevant differences between organic and integrated apples with standard and holistic methods

Present Status of Organic Fruit Growing in Europe

Organic fruit growing in Europe has experienced remarkable growth rates since the mid 1990's. Southern states, especially Italy, Spain and France have the largest land area with organic fruit, are also growing olives, citrus and chestnuts. Mainly increasing interest of supermarket chains is responsible for this buoyancy, but also the availability of better plant protection products e.g. granulosis virus and mating disruption against codling moth, and Neem oil against Rosy Apple Aphid. State subsidies varying from 600 to more than 1600 Euro /ha/y in the EU-countries (15) are less decisive for the conversion of top fruit production. Market share of organic table fruit is only 1 to 2 %, reaching 4 to 5 % in Switzerland. For Switzerland, we estimate a market potential of around 12 to 15 %, which is already achieved with organic vegetables. In order to reach that percentage, better solutions for several key problems have to be found, e.g. control of scab, fire blight, sooty blotch, brown rot, weed management, fertilisation and crop load regulation. Also the assortment of organically produced “modern-standard” varieties is not satisfactory, in particular with stone fruit. The economics of organic fruit growing is comparatively healthy, however, it depends on receiving a one third higher farm gate price for the product. In Switzerland the benefit of organic orchards is 16 % higher compared to integrated fruit production; but labour hours exceed those of IFP by 7%, due to blossom thinning by hand, manual weed control and mice control. Supermarkets have a tendency to just “substitute” conventional with organic fruit if requiring organic fruit from disease susceptible varieties with no cosmetic blemishes. This can/does feed back to the growers resulting in “substitutional” production with disease and pest sensitive orchards managed with intensive “organic” spray and fertilisation programs. This certainly does not correspond with either the original concept of organic farming or with expectations of organic consumers. Thus, still a lot of development - also on the marketing side - has to be undertaken

Organic fruit production in Switzerland: Research and development to resolve cultural, management, and marketing problems

The area devoted to organic table fruit production in Switzerland remained virtually unchanged from the 1930s to the mid-1980s. However, during the last decade there has been a fivefold increase in the production area, approaching a total of 340 ha in 2000 (4.8% of the total area of table fruit production). Factors contributing to this dramatic increase include (1) new and effective non-chemical methods for pest and disease control, (2) improved management and production techniques from research and extension programs, (3) increased marketing of organic produce by supermarkets due to consumer demand, and (4) change in Swiss government policy that began to subsidize ecological performance rather than farm production. A 1994 poll of consumer demand indicated that 3 to 5% of the total apples marketed in Switzerland was organically grown, and projected a total market share of 10% in the near future. Despite this, conventional fruit growers are hesitant to convert to organic production methods because of certain risks involving (1) selection of varieties, (2) pest and disease control, (3) crop hectarage controls, (4) weed control, and (5) tree nutrition. Research and development programs are attempting to deal with these problems, to reduce the level of risk with organic production. Nevertheless, ecological considerations to optimize fruit production are strongly dictated by market conditions and consumer demand. Finally, the development of a stable organic fruit production sector will require that retailers and supermarkets make certain concessions for marketing organic frui

Successfull Blossom Thinning and Crop Load Regulation for Organic Apple Growing with Potassium-bi-carbonate (Armicarb(R)): Results of Field Experiments over 3 Years and with 11 Cultivars

With field trials over 3 years in a commercial organic orchard in Switzerland we have tested the efficacy of Armicarb® (potassium-bi-carbonate) for flower thinning in organic apple production. Over time, Armicarb was tested on 11 cultivars, at different application periods, in different concentrations, and always in comparison to other agents that are already allowed for thinning in organic fruit production in the European Union as e.g. lime sulphur, molasses, mechanical rope-thinner or combinations of methods. Armicarb proved to be an efficient and reliable thinning agent with an efficacy similar to the now recommended methods with rope device, molasses or lime sulphur but has the advantage to be an environmentally very friendly product. On the other hand, the risk for fruit russeting is comparably elevated especially with cultivars ‘Elstar’, ‘Golden Del.’ ’and ‘Gala’. Finally, we have elaborated cultivar-specific recommendations for the use of Armicarb for thinning purposes, which were the basis for the Swiss Federal approval to use Armicarb for thinning in conventional and organic apple production in 2011/2012

Fruit thinning in organic apple growing with optimized timing and combination strategies including (new) natural spray products and mechanical rope-devices

The aim of our study was to find new thinning methods for organic apple production able to fulfil the standards of Bio-Suisse, the main label organisation of the organic food sector in Switzerland. The 14 trials reported were carried out during flowering period in 2003 and 2004 on the cultivars Pinova, Gala, Maigold, Elstar, Golden Delicious and Otava at different sites. The results confirm the good efficiency of mechanical thinning with the rope thinner and the thinning potential of vinasse, a by-product of molasses. Different vinasse products were tested (K-Vinasse, light-vinasse, N-Vinasse) and it was observed that those containing less nitrogen had a minor thinning effect. To avoid phytotoxicity on leaves, the concentration of N-Vinasse should not exceed 10 %. It seems that for Gala higher concentrations are needed, 7.5-10%, whereas with Maigold the efficacy of N-Vinasse was the same with the 2.5 % concentration as with 5 % and 10 %. On the other hand, partly good results were obtained when N-Vinasse was over-concentrated to 12 %, applied at warm weather and rinsed with clear water 4-6 hours later to avoid the phyto-toxic effect (“burn & rinse” method). Corn Oil, a commercial product from New Zealand, gave encouraging results. Lime sul-phur didn’t effectuate a significantly better thinning effect. The best method tested (fruit set reduction by 44 % and 26 % higher flower bud set next year) was achieved with a combination of rope thinner and N-Vinasse: rope thinner to thin the peripheral branches and to exert a physiological stress; and N-Vinasse to thin the inner parts of the canopy that the ropes can’t reach. Other tested products did not show satisfying effects. Trials also confirmed the importance of applying these thinning agents at least two times, at the appropriate phenological stage of flowering period (F,) F2 (full bloom) and G (= F2 of the one-year old shoots). Hitting also the flowers of the one-year old shoots is important to break bi-annual bearing. Pollen tube growth was assessed by fluorescence microscopy. Almost complete inhibition of pollen tube germina-tion was observed with Lime Sulphur and over-concentrated N-Vinasse (12 %) whereas with N-Vinasse at 5 % inhibition was 50 % less compared to untreated styles. Some contradictory results between different trials we ascribe to the air temperature during and after the treatments. It seems that treatments with N-Vinasse should be carried out at warm and sunny days above 16, better 18-20 deg. C. to maximize phytotoxicity on the styles; whereas we recommend to apply the rope thinner during periods of cold and clouded weather to maximize the thinning effect due to physiological stress and shortage of assimilates to the fruitlets. Concrete practical recommendations are given

Semantics matters: cognitively plausible delineation of city centres from point of interest data

We sketch a workflow for cognitively plausible recognition of vague geographical concepts, such as a city centre. Our approach imitates a pedestrian strolling through the streets, and comparing his/her internal cognitive model of a city centre with the stimulus from the external world to decide whether he/she is in the city centre or outside. The cognitive model of a British city centre is elicited through an online questionnaire survey and used to delineate referents of city centre from point of interest data. We first compute a measure of ‘city centre-ness’ at each location within a city, and then merge the area of high city centre-ness to a contiguous region. The process is illustrated on the example of the City of Bristol, and the computed city centre area for Bristol is evaluated by comparison to reference areas derived from alternative sources. The evaluation suggests that our approach performs well and produces a representation of a city centre that is near to people’s conceptualisation. The benefits of our work are better (and user-driven) descriptions of complex geographical concepts. We see such models as a prerequisite for generalisation over large changes in detail, and for very specific purposes