The Chestnut and Its Resources: Images and Considerations

Bellini, E.

doi:10.17660/actahortic.2005.693.8

Cited by 13 publications

(7 citation statements)

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“…On the contrary, laurel structure did not allow a consistent removal of water, determining the higher survival of bacteria and fungi in comparison to sage. However, unlike sage, laurel is not commonly consumed raw and generally undergoes a thermal treatment before consumption, such as boiling (e.g., for the preparation of chestnuts boiled in water flavored with fennel seeds or laurel leaves) [37] or roasting (when added to meat) [38].…”

Section: Microbiological Aspectsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Design and Implementation of a Smart System to Control Aromatic Herb Dehydration Process

et al. 2020

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Drying is a process aimed at reducing the water content in plant materials below a limit where the activity of microbes and decomposing enzymes deteriorate the quality of medicinal and aromatic plants. Today, the interest of consumers towards medicinal and aromatic herbs has registered a growing trend. This study aims at designing a low-cost real-time monitoring and control system for the drying process of aromatic herbs and evaluating drying efficacy on the microbial community associated with the studied herbs. Hot-air drying tests of sage and laurel leaves were carried out in a dryer desiccator cabinet at 40 °C and 25% relative humidity using three biomass densities (3, 4 and 5 kg/m2). The prototype of the smart system is based on an Arduino Mega 2560 board, to which nine Siemens 7MH5102-1PD00 load cells and a DHT22 temperature and humidity sensor were added. The data acquired by the sensors were transmitted through Wi-Fi to a ThingSpeak account in order to monitor the drying process in real time. The variation in the moisture content of the product and the drying rate were obtained. The system provided a valid support decision during the drying process, allowing for the precise monitoring of the evolution of the biomass moisture loss and drying rate for laurel and sage. The three different biomass densities employed did not provide significant differences in the drying process for sage. Statistically significant differences among the three tests were found for laurel in the final part of the process. The microbial loads of the aromatic herbs after drying were influenced by the different leaf structures of the species; in particular, with laurel leaves, microbial survival increased with increasing biomass density. Finally, with the drying method adopted, the two species under consideration showed a different microbial stability and, consequently, had a different shelf life, longer for sage than laurel, as also confirmed by water activity (aw) values.

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Section: Microbiological Aspectsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Design and Implementation of a Smart System to Control Aromatic Herb Dehydration Process

et al. 2020

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“…Although the flow of ecosystem services and its trade-offs in relation to traditional land-use systems, as for instance, larch meadows or chestnut coppices, have been approached in the last few years (Fontana et al, 2013;Fontana et al, 2014;Radtke et al, 2013;Radtke et al, 2014), data and studies on chestnut-orchard related ecosystem services are mainly limited to the provisioning of non-wood forest products, except for a mentioning in Bellini (2005) and Bounous (2005).…”

Section: Ecosystem Services Approachmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Chestnuts are the main provisioning service of orchard ecosystems and, therefore, the benefit most frequently perceived by farmers and consumers. Despite the size of the national chestnut variety assortment, i.e., more than 300 cultivars known in Italy, as reported by Bellini (2005;, only 20% of South Tyrolean chestnut farmers consciously grow a precise cultivar (Bossi Fedrigotti & Fischer, 2014). This means that at a local level, it is more frequent to find a mixture of partly unknown varieties when walking through chestnut orchards, rather than marroni type of chestnuts or other precious selected varieties, which might excel in size, taste, peelability or resistance against pests.…”

Section: Fruitsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Public Preferences for Farmed Landscapes: the Case of Traditional Chestnut Orchards in South Tyrol

Fedrigotti

Troiano

Fischer

et al. 2020

European Countryside

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Sweet chestnuts are, from a farming point of view, a marginal crop in South Tyrol, though historically rooted. Chestnut orchards represent a cultural heritage, as well as an important aesthetic element of the cultural landscape, besides assuming a high ecological value for many animal and plant species. Public awareness towards this ecosystem is generally higher in autumn, when fruit consumption sees its peak and events take place. Using a Choice Experiment, we assessed whether seasonality interferes in people’s willingness-to-pay for a traditional chestnut orchard and its ecosystem services. We also investigated the importance of respondent origin (residents vs tourists) and, finally, a Latent Class analysis allowed us to depict segments of society in relation to their preferences. Our results show that tourists are ready to pay more than locals for chestnut orchards and for fruits, whereas seasonality has generally a low impact.

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“…Cultivated for centuries, the European chestnut became an important part of the cultural heritage in many rural areas of the continent. Historically, chestnuts were used as a staple food, providing a major food source for many European mountain populations (Bellini, 2005). Chestnut wood has also been used in house framing, furniture, tannin production, and as a source of renewable energy.…”

Section: History Origin and Distribution Of Castaneamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Currently, one objective is the selection of the best cultivars from the germplasm available, which would be helpful in countries such as the United States, Chile, Australia, and New Zealand, where efforts are being aimed at selecting the superior types from European varieties that are best adapted to local conditions. The majority of European nut production comes from old groves, which, after important interventions, are being transformed into new plantations through rational grafting techniques (Bellini, 2005). In some cases, appropriate rootstocks (tolerance to diseases, good compatibility, adaptation to different pedoclimatic conditions) have been selected for young plantations (Bounous, 2002).…”

Section: Nut Characteristics Production and Usesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Chestnut

Maynard

Powell

Polin-McGuigan

et al. 2008

Compendium of Transgenic Crop Plants

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Castanea sativa , European chestnut, the only native chestnut species in Europe, was derived from the Turkish Mediterranean gene pool. Castanea dentata , American chestnut, is the largest chestnut species native to North America. Although European and American chestnuts are both susceptible to Cryphonectria parasitica , the causal agent of chestnut blight, the former is still a commercially viable species. The American chestnut, however, has been essentially eliminated as both a nut crop and a timber species. European and American chestnuts have been the focus of attention of professional and amateur plant breeders for more than a century. They have been selected for various traits, moved from numerous points of origin, hybridized, and redistributed across the landscape. This comes after centuries of domestication by native peoples of both continents. The American Chestnut Foundation is carrying out the largest and most active breeding program based on backcross breeding between the American chestnut and the blight‐resistant Chinese chestnut ( Castanea mollissima ). A comparison is made between backcross breeding and genetic engineering in terms of numbers of unknown genes introduced and speed of introducing additional genes. Research to develop transformation systems for American and European chestnut has followed similar paths. For both species, the preferred target tissue is somatic embryos derived from immature zygotic embryos. The selectable marker gene bar , with the herbicide Finale® (active ingredient phosphinothricin), in combination with scorable marker gfp , has proved to be effective in selecting for transformation events in American chestnut. The nptII selectable maker gene with kanamycin in combination with the scorable marker gus was used to transform European chestnut. Transgenic whole plants have been recovered for both species. The first two transgenic American chestnuts were planted in the field on June 7, 2006 in Syracuse, New York, USA. These trees contain the oxalate oxidase ( OxO ) gene originating from wheat, which has been shown to enhance pathogen resistance in several crop species including soybean, peanut, and sunflower.

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The Chestnut and Its Resources: Images and Considerations

Cited by 13 publications

References 0 publications

Design and Implementation of a Smart System to Control Aromatic Herb Dehydration Process

Design and Implementation of a Smart System to Control Aromatic Herb Dehydration Process

Public Preferences for Farmed Landscapes: the Case of Traditional Chestnut Orchards in South Tyrol

Chestnut

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