Producing garden cress (<i>Lepidium sativum</i>L.) for the fresh-cut chain using a soilless culture system

Fontana, E.; Senesi, N.

doi:10.1080/14620316.2008.11512342

Cited by 25 publications

(20 citation statements)

References 30 publications

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“…The high respiration rate explains why it is hard to reach a commercial shelf life longer than seven days. Young and tender baby leaf vegetables of new varieties and species are continuously been developed for the fresh-cut industry, but younger plants tend to accumulate more nitrate (Fontana and Nicola, 2008). It is then crucial to establish the harvest maturity indicators to describe the right time for harvesting raw material with high nutritional value and optimal postharvest performance.…”

Section: Raw Materials Harvest and Handlingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fresh-Cut Produce Quality

Senesi

Fontana²

2014

Postharvest Handling

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Section: Raw Materials Harvest and Handlingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fresh-Cut Produce Quality

Senesi

Fontana²

2014

Postharvest Handling

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“…The FF system can be temporized and the HNS can be heated or cooled with the addition of temperature-controlling devices, according to the experimental setting. The HNS composition and concentration has been defined according to results obtained in previous experiments conducted by the research group in Vegetable Crops & Medicinal and Aromatic Plants - VEGMAP (Fontana and Nicola, 2008;Nicola et al, 2004Pignata et al, 2015). The HNS tested for all species had 6 N, 2 P, 6 K, 2 Mg, and 2.5 Ca (all in mmol·L (Table 1 and Pignata et al, 2015).…”

Section: Water Beds and Fgsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…FGS increases the precision of fertilizer application to plants by reducing water leaching during irrigation. For managing mineral plant nutrition, tissue ion accumulation can be controlled by varying the macroelementratio in the HNS or its composition (Fontana and Nicola, 2008;Santamaria and Elia, 1997). FGS reduces microbial contamination, and eliminates soil and chemical residue spoilage allowing softer washing procedures, such as eliminating chlorine from the water sanitation process, resulting in less stress for the leaf tissue (Fontana and Nicola, 2008;Nicola and Fontana, 2014;Scuderi et al, 2011).…”

Section: Innovative Soilless Growing Systemsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Overview of a Lab-scale Pilot Plant for Studying Baby Leaf Vegetables Grown in Soilless Culture

et al. 2016

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Investigating several environmental factors affecting plant growth implies having sound experimental facilities equipped to test individual factors in lab-scale although applicable later at the industrial scale. Sometimes, detailed information is hardly given in a manuscript that allows for replications by other authors, maybe due to the shortening of pages requested by journal publishers and editors. A system and methodology was developed for qualitative and quantitative analyses of baby leaf vegetables (BLV) raised in floating growing systems (FGS). Lab-scale pilot plants (LSPP) were developed in 2 greenhouses differing in structure and equipment, suitable for different growing seasons in a continental climate. The equipment and technology allowed multiple treatments and replicates for sound statistical design and data analyses. Environmental conditions and cultural techniques were studied in major and minor species (white mustard, Brassica alba L. Boiss; black mustard, Brassica nigra L. Koch; garden cress, Lepidium sativum L.; water cress, Nasturtium officinale R. Br.; rocket salad, Eruca sativa Mill.; perennial wild rocket, Diplotaxis tenuifolia L. DC.; corn salad, Valerianella olitoria L.; baby spinach, Spinacia oleracea L.) to determine best cultivation techniques in a standard soilless culture system (SCS) for BLV, based on FGS. Considering that SCS can improve raw material quality at harvest, and enhance the postharvest shelf-life of many vegetables and herbs, a standardized growing system is required to obtain premium quality raw material in terms of commercial stage, low nitrate content and long shelf-life. Among the SCS used, the FGS are suitable systems to grow leafy vegetables because the plants can grow at high densities, thereby producing high yields, and in a short time. FGS are based on sub-irrigation technology, avoiding over-head irrigation and contact between nutrient solution and edible parts, and result in greater qualitative and quantitative yields than the traditional cultivation techniques, reducing pollution, crop and substrate residues, leading to clean raw material with potential low microbiological load. The FGS is a modern technology that could be exploited more to enhance yield, quality and safety of fresh and fresh-cut BLV. The LSPP installed are providing the basis for expanding the research to other species and agronomic factors.

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“…Maximum, minimum, and mean temperatures during the growing season were 43.0°C, 17.0°C, and 29.1°C, respectively. The plant material used was a commercial cultivar of watercress (Nasturtium officinale R. ): 12 N, 2 P, 6 K, 2 Mg, and 2.5 Ca (Fontana and Nicola, 2008;Nicola et al, 2004Nicola et al, , 2007. Then, Lysodin ® Multimix formulation of microelements (Intrachem Production S.r.l., Grassobbio, Bergamo, Italy) was added to the NS at a dose of 0.30 g·L −1…”

Section: Plant Materials and Growing Conditionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Among the different systems available for the cultivation of watercress, the floating systems (FS) are an easy and profitable growing technique. With FS, seeded trays float continuously on a water-bed or nutrient solution (NS) during plant growth (Fontana and Nicola, 2008). One of the main advantages of FS is the possibility of directly influencing the nutritional status of plants by changing the composition of the NS, facilitating the production of vegetables of prime quality and sometimes fulfilling specific dietetic requirements.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Inherent Quality and Safety of Watercress Grown in a Floating System Using <i>Bacillus subtilis</i>

et al. 2016

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The aim of this work was to study the effect of substrate disinfection and application of plant growthpromoting rhizobacteria (Bacillus subtilis) on the yield, quality and safety of watercress grown in a floating system. Substrate disinfection had a positive effect on plant development because it increased the shoot antioxidant capacity and general plant growth and decreased the colony-forming units of molds. In turn, inoculation with B. subtilis increased the antioxidant capacity but decreased the chlorophyll a, chlorophyll b, and carotenoid contents and did not affect the rest of the parameters measured. In conclusion, our results showed that the effects of substrate disinfection were more pronounced than those obtained by B. subtilis inoculation, suggesting that it would be more convenient to reserve the use of plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria for other conditions, such as abiotic stress.

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Producing garden cress (Lepidium sativumL.) for the fresh-cut chain using a soilless culture system

Abstract: To cite this article: Emanuela Fontana & Silvana Nicola (2008) Producing garden cress (Lepidium sativum L.) for the fresh-cut chain using a soilless culture system

Cited by 25 publications

References 30 publications

Fresh-Cut Produce Quality

Fresh-Cut Produce Quality

Overview of a Lab-scale Pilot Plant for Studying Baby Leaf Vegetables Grown in Soilless Culture

Inherent Quality and Safety of Watercress Grown in a Floating System Using <i>Bacillus subtilis</i>

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