Arabia Alba, Pallarés Núria, Munné-Bosch Sergi, Muñoz Paula
Department of Evolutionary Biology, Ecology and Environmental Sciences, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain.
Research Institute of Nutrition and Food Safety, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain.
J Sci Food Agric. 2025 Feb;105(3):1745-1759. doi: 10.1002/jsfa.13951. Epub 2024 Oct 12.
Fluctuations in environmental conditions within fields and crop plant performance can greatly affect production and quality standards. These factors are particularly relevant for producers, who require sustained optimal production to profit from small margins. Fluctuations might be exacerbated at the end of the crop season, where neither of the aforementioned factors are optimal. In the present integrated study, we assess strawberries' nutritional quality and the impact of harvest timing, tunnel conditions and inter-individual variability in a Mediterranean production tunnel divided into blocks, where two harvests were performed 3 weeks apart. In addition, the effects of sprayed melatonin at the end of productive season were also evaluated.
End-season harvesting negatively impacted fruit hydration, antioxidant capacity and ripening-related hormones in strawberry fruits. Additionally, tunnel distribution influenced fruit nutritional quality, with light radiation being the main variable factor disturbing antioxidant contents. Nutrients exhibited high inter-individual plant variability, accounting for 20% variation, and were strongly correlated with fruit hydration and ripening-related phytohormones. Finally, melatonin applications affected neither fruit production, nor nutritional parameters, for which the effects were masked by the intrinsic strawberry variability. Overall, the results underline the limitations of this type of application for field implementation.
Fruit quality variation in strawberry fields is explained by environmental and inter-individual variability. Likewise, the implementation of regulatory molecules such as melatonin in field applications relies on crop homogeneity and might have limited applicability in heterogeneous productive systems. Consequently, identifying and reducing microclimate variability in productive fields is paramount for advancing agricultural practices to uphold unwavering standards on fruit quality. © 2024 The Author(s). Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Society of Chemical Industry.
田间环境条件的波动以及作物的生长表现会极大地影响产量和质量标准。这些因素对生产者尤为重要，因为他们需要持续实现最佳产量，才能从微薄的利润中获利。在作物生长季末期，上述因素均不理想时，波动可能会加剧。在本综合研究中，我们评估了地中海地区一个划分成不同区块的生产隧道内草莓的营养品质、收获时间、隧道环境以及个体间差异的影响，该隧道进行了两次收获，间隔3周。此外，还评估了在生产季末期喷施褪黑素的效果。
季末收获对草莓果实的水分含量、抗氧化能力以及与成熟相关的激素产生了负面影响。此外，隧道分布影响了果实的营养品质，其中光辐射是扰乱抗氧化剂含量的主要可变因素。营养物质在个体植株间表现出很大差异，占变异的20%，并且与果实水分含量和与成熟相关的植物激素密切相关。最后，褪黑素处理对果实产量和营养参数均无影响，其效果被草莓本身的变异性所掩盖。总体而言，结果强调了此类应用在田间实施的局限性。
草莓田果实品质的差异是由环境因素和个体间差异造成的。同样，在田间应用中使用褪黑素等调控分子依赖于作物的同质性，在异质生产系统中的适用性可能有限。因此，识别并减少生产田中的小气候变异性对于改进农业实践以维持稳定的果实质量标准至关重要。© 2024作者。《食品与农业科学杂志》由约翰·威利父子有限公司代表化学工业协会出版。
