TRADYTECH Operational Group: Multipurpose nutritional products for the organic cultivation of traditional and technological tomatoes
- Type Operational group
- Status In progress
- Execution 2022 -2023
- Assigned Budget 274.899,45 €
- Scope Autonómico
- Autonomous community Andalucía
- Main source of financing PEPAC 2023-2027
The use of phytosanitary and nutritional products has generated undesirable effects for many years. The toxic substances used, primarily organochlorine and organophosphate compounds, have caused serious damage to the environment, as well as to the applicator and the consumer.
All of these problems have generated the need to seek biocidal and nutritional alternatives that are not harmful to human health or negatively affect the fauna and flora present in the agricultural sector. This problem extends not only to the use of chemical compounds in the field, but also during the production and postharvest handling phases. Among the most widely used postharvest treatments to extend the shelf life of fruits and vegetables and control plant diseases, the most common are synthetic chemical fungicides such as imazalil, thiabendazole, pyrimethanil, and fludioxonil, among others.
Their widespread and continuous application has generated public concern, as it generates excessive chemical waste and creates problems for the sector, such as the treatment of wastewater or the proliferation of resistant pathogen strains that reduce or reverse the effectiveness of treatments. Furthermore, legislation and export market requirements are increasingly restrictive regarding the use of these conventional fungicides.
In this context, TRADYTECH seeks to develop nutritional products for organic tomato cultivation that can be applied with high efficiency in both greenhouse tomato cultivation and open-field cultivation of traditional tomato varieties, defining management methodologies based on sensory information from the crop.
The TRADYTECH project was created to address the need to advance the development of tools and strategies that enable farmers to produce high-quality tomatoes using organic methods, a practice increasingly demanded by today's consumers, while also maintaining an appropriate texture for easy handling and marketing, and controlling the incidence of pests that penetrate the fruit's thin skin.
These improvements are proposed based on the application of new technologies based on sensor systems and wireless networks capable of transmitting information about plant physiology and fruit development for decision-making. Thus, the development of nutritional products based on the use of natural compounds is proposed, which will be compatible with organic farming, as an alternative to chemical treatments.
The multipurpose products developed will be based on the use of plant extracts, phytoalexins, antimicrobial peptides, inorganic salts, and raw materials with elicitor functions to promote resistance induction. They can be applied to improve fruit quality during both the cultivation phase and the post-harvest preservation phase.
The design of these new products will be adapted to the two most important management systems in Andalusia: the winter cultivation of tomato varieties obtained through varietal selection technologies, and the open-field cultivation of traditional tomato varieties of interest, ensuring effective management based on the application of a sensor system, whose information is analyzed remotely for decision-making.
The Work Plan consists of 4 PHASES:
- A documentary to explore scientific and technical knowledge on the synthesis of new nutritional products to enhance the sensory and textural quality of tomatoes, as well as new, effective technologies for their application in crops with varying degrees of technological advancement.
- EXPERIMENTAL, with the following activities: 1. Development of new natural nutritional products compatible throughout the production chain; 2. Application of the new compounds to greenhouse tomatoes; 3. Application to open-field tomatoes; 4. Design of methodologies for optimizing post-harvest quality.
- WRITING OF THE FINAL RESULTS REPORT.
- DISCLOSURE OF RESULTS.
The overall objective is to design a methodology capable of improving the field and post-harvest management of tomato fruits, ensuring a long shelf life and improved sensory quality through the application of multipurpose nutritional products specifically designed to optimize quality in traditional and greenhouse tomato crops.
The development of new nutritional products will be aimed at effective application throughout the entire tomato production chain, from cultivation to marketing, and will focus on controlling plant pathogens and improving fruit quality characteristics.
- Coordinator/entity name: Foundation for Auxiliary Technologies in Agriculture
- Postal address: Avda.
- Coordinator/entity email: mcgalera@fundaciontecnova.com
- Telephone: 950 290822
- Fundación para las Tecnologías Auxiliares de la Agricultura
- AGROLABORATORIOS NUTRCIONALES SA. (admon@agrolaboratorios.com)
- ECOINVER EXPORT, S.L (info@ecoinver.es)
- GUADALHORCE ECOLÓGICO S.C.A. (comunicación@guadalhorceecologico.com)
- GRUPO DE DESARROLLO RURAL VALLE DEL GUADALHORCE (info@valledelguadalhorce.com)
- Fundación para las Tecnologías Auxiliares de la Agricultura
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