GO QDPAM: Quality assurance, differentiation and valorisation of Spanish production of aromatic and medicinal plants
- Type Grupo operativo
- Status In progress
- Execution 2024 -2027
- Scope Supraautonómico
- Autonomous community Andalucía; Extremadura; Murcia, Región de
- Main source of financing PEPAC 2023-2027
- Project website GO QDPAM
The aim of the QDPAM is to develop the aromatic and medicinal plants sector, differentiate its production, add value to it and thereby improve the competitiveness of the entire production chain. To this end, an in-depth analysis of market needs will be carried out, as well as the identification of existing material and the selection of those with the highest yield and quality in four different climatic zones. Finally, a catalogue will be created and made available to the sector as a result of the project.
The GO QDPAM aims to differentiate and enhance the value of national products from the cultivation of aromatic and medicinal plants to demonstrate their profitability and environmental benefits in relation to conventional crops: selection of six species through market research.
- Market research, selection of aromatic and medicinal plant species and collection of information on national genotypes of the selected species.
- Preparation of a common protocol for preparing cuttings and sending plant material, trials for optimizing sowing or cuttings, multiplication and propagation of the selected plant material, field evaluation of genotypes in different climatic areas, and, finally, development of a catalogue of genotypes characterized and adapted to different climatic zones.
- Evaluation of management plans for the cultivation of aromatic and medicinal plants, one per climatic area (three areas) and species (two species, where irrigation doses, weed suppression/control techniques, regenerative agriculture techniques to improve soil fertility and analysis of the influence of crop management on soil conservation and improvement will be studied.
- Establishment of a predictive model for the authentication of lavandin essential oils.
- Analysis and characterization of national products, and products on the market, and their differentiation.
- Comparative studies of biodiversity and carbon footprint between lavandin cultivation and conventional cultivation.
- Studies on the use of residual biomass at an industrial level in two species.
- Obtaining a comprehensive management plan for aromatic and medicinal plant crops in three different climatic zones, seeking to reduce irrigation, optimize production, improve the quality of the products obtained and conserve agricultural soils.
- Reduction of the disadvantages of competition from synthetic products, produced as a substitute for natural products, at low cost and without maintaining the desired active ingredients.
- Demonstration of the economic and environmental benefits compared to the majority crops in the area.
This sector has a great variability of species, diverse types of agricultural holdings, gives rise to numerous final products prepared and transformed in multiple ways, and its destination covers such different sectors as food, pharmaceutical, animal nutrition, perfumery, decoration, phytosanitary, dyes, adhesives and glues, being greatly influenced by technological developments and consumer trends. Aromatic and medicinal plants are of great importance in the food industry since they provide the basic components for the preparation of its products, being used more frequently as flavourings, colourings and preservatives, in addition to their antioxidant, antibacterial and antifungal activity, which are attributed to phenols and phenolic acids, among others.
On the other hand, the cultivation of aromatic and medicinal plants is a great attraction for tourism and has numerous environmental advantages. However, this great variability works against the specialisation of the sector, creating competitive barriers at a European level despite the good Spanish climate and the great genetic diversity available in national germplasm banks, whether from the most important Spanish research centres, seed suppliers, nurseries or farmers themselves. These genetic resources, already evaluated and characterised, are in many cases highly profitable, but there are no comparative studies between them, nor an inventory accessible to producers.
The main phytochemical compounds are responsible for the properties of a plant, but the percentage of these in the final product (oil, extract, dried or fresh plant) can be influenced by the genetic material used, the soil and climate conditions or the cultivation techniques. It is important to note that the active ingredients are substances found in the different parts of the plants. Lack of specification on the labelling informing of their origin, whether natural or artificial, causes confusion for the consumer on the one hand, but on the other hand directly reduces the profitability of agricultural production, since it increases stocks without commercial outlet.
The main objective of the GO QDPAM is to promote the aromatic and medicinal plants sector at a national level, guaranteeing the quality and homogeneity of its products, whether extracts, essential oils, fresh or frozen plants or dried leaves.
- Selection of twenty-one genotypes to evaluate in each climatic area.
- Catalogue of genotypes characterized and adapted to different climatic zones.
- Six management plans for the cultivation of aromatic and medicinal plants, one per climatic area (three areas) and species (two species).
- A predictive model for the authentication of lavandin essential oils.
- Fifty-nine characterizations of national products on the market, whether essential oils, dried plants or extracts, and twenty-two commercial ones.
- Four comparative studies between conventional cultivation and lavandin cultivation.
- Two studies on the use of residual biomass at an industrial level in two selected species.
- Coordinator name: NATIONAL AGRO-FOOD TECHNOLOGY CENTER (CTAEX)
- Postal address: Ctra. Villafranco a Balboa km 1.2; 06195 BADAJOZ
- Coordinator email: lzajara@ctaex.com
- Phone: 677448376
From the experience of the participants in the operating group, it is innovative to unify all the existing information in the sector thanks to a number of research projects in which genotypes of interest have been identified due to their industrial yields and composition, maintained in their germplasm banks, and to the continuous innovation work of producers thanks to their concern, not only at a national level, but also internationally, which require quality and homogeneous vegetative material, avoiding the great variability between plants in terms of their results, which in most crops determines the low profitability of the crop.
On the other hand, alternatives to chemicals for weed control are needed, since organic farming is an added value for the production of aromatic and medicinal plants, and options such as grazing, anti-weed nets or regenerative agriculture are being evaluated. The main technological innovation that this Task Force is tackling is the analysis of PAM essential oils to identify adulterated oils that compete unfairly with natural oils.
Chromessence is focused on developing a tool based on computational chemometrics and machine learning, which performs a rigorous evaluation of the purity and naturalness of essential oils and provides qualitative information of great interest to the sector. For the development, software is being used that applies multivariate analysis techniques. With this technique, patterns are discovered, large series of data obtained from the chromatographic analysis of several botanical species of different origins and varieties.
Mass data provides easy-to-understand graphical information on the relationships between important sets of variables with very little loss of information, and is therefore much more efficient and reliable than measuring isolated variables as has been done up to now. Prediction will be made using algorithms such as PLS-DA or SVM.
- Asociación Empresarial de Investigación Centro Tecnológico Nacional Agroalimentario Extremadura (CTAEX)
- Asociación Empresarial de Investigación Centro Tecnológico Nacional Agroalimentario Extremadura (CTAEX)
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