The Mediterranean basin is a biodiversity hotspot of wild edible species, and their therapeutic and culinary uses have long been documented. Owing to the growing demand for wild edible species, there ...are increasing concerns about the safety, standardization, quality, and availability of products derived from these species collected in the wild. An efficient cultivation method for the species having promising nutraceutical values is highly desirable. In this backdrop, a hydroponic system could be considered as a reproducible and efficient agronomic practice to maximize yield, and also to selectively stimulate the biosynthesis of targeted metabolites. The aim of this report is to review the phytochemical and toxic compounds of some potentially interesting Mediterranean wild edible species. Herein, after a deep analysis of the literature, information on the main bioactive compounds, and some possibly toxic molecules, from fifteen wild edible species have been compiled. The traditional recipes prepared with these species are also listed. In addition, preliminary data about the performance of some selected species are also reported. In particular, germination tests performed on six selected species revealed that there are differences among the species, but not with crop species. "Domestication" of wild species seems a promising approach for exploiting these "new functional foods".
•Food herbs elicit interest due to increased discoveries regarding their nutraceutical properties.•Unfortunately food herbs are often characterized by dormant seeds.•Opportune seed treatments are ...capable of breaking dormancy.•Field sowing shows a slow and incomplete emergence overall for very small seeds.•Greenhouse sowing in substrates showed the best agronomic performance.
The growing need for nutraceutical foods has elicited increasing interest in the herbs traditionally used for ethnobotanical purposes. Their richness in antioxidants inspired this research, which is aimed at cultivating them as crops. Sixteen wild species of crucial interest as food were studied in term of seed propagation. The frequent dormancy was reduced or removed by physical, or physiological seed treatments in laboratory experiments in Petri dishes. However, their direct field sowing, in spring and autumn, did not show the same performance in spite of the efficacy of the treatments. This specially occurs in the case of species with very small seeds suggesting a burial involvement of this soil-mediated inhibition. This inhibition was markedly lower after greenhouse sowing in a soft substrate (peat–pearlite) confirming the hypothesis that the soil acts (via hypoxia) as a crucial obstacle to germination. The study of the emergence reduction by a slight burial (1cm), compared to unburied germination, allowed to evaluate, for each species, the burial-mediated inhibition. After the 1000 seed weight measurement a relation between these two parameters (burial inhibition and seed weight) was fitted. A polynomial regression confirmed the inverse relationship between seed weight and burial-mediated inhibition showing the remarkable burial-intolerance of very small seeds. Consequently the greenhouse sowing in substrate appears the most suitable agronomic strategy overall for food herbs characterized by little seeds. Critical issues are discussed regarding these weeds becoming real nutraceutical crops.
The human diet is characterized by the intake of major minerals (Na, K, Ca, Mg, P, N) and trace elements (Zn, Mn, Se, Cu, Fe, Co, I, Cr, F, Pb, Cd) for their key role in many metabolic functions. ...Nowadays, the research of sources able to improve their intake is in continuous evolution, especially in the undeveloped countries. In this sense, wild edible herbs, commonly used since ancient times, can represent a good alternative to improve the daily human intake of minerals. In this study, four wild edible species,
Rumex acetosa
,
Picris hieracioides
,
Cichorium intybus
, and
Plantago coronopus
, were analyzed for their content in Na, K, Ca, Mg, Cu, Mn, Fe, and Zn and, besides, three domestications (named “soilless,” pot, and open field) were evaluated in the analyzed species in the prospective of their commercialization as valuable sources of minerals in the human diet. Nitrate and oxalate contents were also evaluated, given their negative impact on human health. Results unveil that open field domestication allowed the plants to maintain the content of major minerals similar to those measured in wild plants, especially in
C. intybus
and
P. hieracioides
. The trace elements Cu, Mn, Fe, and Zn were not recorded at high content irrespectively to the wild collection or domestications. Finally, plants grown in the open field also accounted for a high oxalate and nitrate content, especially in
R. acetosa.
Further researches should be aimed at decreasing the oxalate and nitrate content in the domesticated species and to promote the commercialization of the domesticated species.
The use of fertigation, coupled with micro-irrigation, has continued to increase since it was first introduced in horticultural cropping systems. This combination provides a technical solution ...whereby nutrients and water can be supplied to the crop with high precision in terms of time and space, thereby allowing high nutrient use efficiency. However, the correct estimation of crop nutrient and water needs is fundamental to obtaining precise plant nutrition and high nutrient use efficiency in fertigated cropping systems. This paper illustrates the state-of-the-art and new perspectives for optimal nutrient management of vegetable crops cultivated under fertigation regimes. An overall description is reported for the most valuable technologies and techniques based on simulation models, soil testing, plant testing, and related decision support systems that can be adopted for efficient fertigation. However, it should be highlighted that only a few of the above technologies and techniques are practically available and/or easy to use by growers. Therefore, much more attention should be paid in the future to the transfer of research knowledge to farmers and technical advisors.
Life cycle assessment is a widespread method for measuring and monitoring the environmental impacts of production processes, thereby allowing the comparison of business-as-usual with more ecological ...scenarios. Life cycle assessment research can support evidence-based policy making by comparing and communicating the environmental impacts of agricultural and food systems, informing about the impact of mitigating interventions and monitoring sectoral progress towards sustainable development goals. This article aims at improving the contribution of science to evidence-based policies for agricultural sustainability and food security, while facilitating further research, by delivering a content-analysis based literature review of life cycle assessment research in agricultural and food economics. Results highlight that demand-side and system-level approaches need further development, as policies need to support redesigned agricultural systems and newly conceived dietary guidelines, which combine environmental protection and health benefits, without reducing productivity. Similarly, more research effort towards consequential life cycle assessment and multidimensional assessment may benefit policy makers by considering the rebound effects associated with the large-scale implementation of impact-mitigating interventions. Promising interventions involve the promotion of waste circularization strategies, which could also improve the profitability of agriculture. For effective policy making towards agricultural sustainability and food security worldwide, countries with the greatest expected population growth and raise of urbanization rates need more attention by researchers.
Salinity is one of the oldest and most serious environmental problems in the world. The increasingly widespread salinization of soils and water resources represents a growing threat to agriculture ...around the world. A strategy to cope with this problem is to cultivate salt-tolerant crops and, therefore, it is necessary to identify plant species that are naturally adapted to high-salinity conditions. In this review, we focus our attention on some plant species that can be considered among the most representative halophytes of the Mediterranean region; they can be potential resources, such as new or relatively new vegetable crops, to produce raw or minimally processed (or ready-to-eat) products, considering their nutritional properties and nutraceuticals. The main biological and agronomic characteristics of these species and the potential health risks due to mycotoxigenic fungi have been analyzed and summarized in a dedicated section. The objective of this review is to illustrate the main biological and agronomical characteristics of the most common halophytic species in the Mediterranean area, which could expand the range of leafy vegetables on the market.
Iodine deficiency is a serious world-wide public health problem, as it is responsible for mental retardation and other diseases. The use of iodine-biofortified vegetables represents a strategic ...alternative to iodine enriched salt for people with a low sodium diet. However, at high concentrations iodine can be toxic to plants. Therefore, research on plant iodine toxicity is fundamental for the development of appropriate biofortification protocols. In this work, we compared two cultivars of sweet basil (
L.) with different iodine tolerance: "Tigullio," less tolerant, with green leaves, and "Red Rubin," more tolerant and with purple leaves. Four greenhouse hydroponic experiments were conducted in spring and in summer with different concentrations of iodine in the nutrient solution (0.1, 10, 50, 100, and 200 μM), supplied as potassium iodide (KI) or potassium iodate (KIO
). Plant growth was not affected either by 10 μM KI or by 100 μM KIO
, while KI concentrations higher than 50 μM significantly reduced leaf area, total plant dry matter and plant height. The severity of symptoms increased with time depending on the cultivar and the form of iodine applied. Growth inhibition by toxic iodine concentrations was more severe in "Tigullio" than in "Red Rubin," and KI was much more phytotoxic than KIO
. Leaf iodine concentration increased with the iodine concentration in the nutrient solution in both varieties, while the total antioxidant power was generally higher in the purple variety. In both basil cultivars, a strong negative correlation was found between the photosynthesis and the leaf iodine content, with significant differences between the regression lines for "Tigullio" and "Red Rubin." In conclusion, the greater tolerance to iodine of the "Red Rubin" variety was associated with the ability to withstand higher concentrations of iodine in leaf tissues, rather than to a reduced accumulation of this element in the leaves. The high phenolic content of "Red Rubin" could contribute to the iodine tolerance of this purple cultivar.
•Urban greening needs ecological sustainability.•Wild germplasm from naturalized living walls demonstrate potential for vertical gardens.•Standard physical, chemical or physiological treatments are ...sufficient to overcome seed dormancy.•Nursery protocol can be developed for wild xerophyte propagation which should increase plant availability.
Germination characteristics of 10 xerophytic species, widespread in the Mediterranean were studied. A variety of seed treatments were explored to overcome the seed dormancy, including scarification and stratification. Only in Convolvulus cantabrica dormancy was shown to be physical, since it could be removed by seed coat scarification. Several species showed light-dependent germination, possibly related to the fact that in their micro-environment of incubation they are exposed to minimum seed burial. Emergence tests in peat-perlite substrate were carried out in order to verify the optimal burial conditions for seed propagation. This inhibition was found to be inversely related to the low unit weight of seed. Species with minute seeds, such as Erigeron karviskianus and Phagnalon rupestris, had the best performance of germination without burial, while the larger ones such as C.cantabrica and Centranthus ruber, had the best performance at 6 and 4mm of sowing, respectively.
Halophytes are salt-tolerant plants growing in saline ecosystems and are spread throughout the Mediterranean area. Recently, there has been a renewed interest in agricultural exploitation of ...halophytes, but poor attention has been given to pest and disease management of these species. The objective of this review is to assess the extent and distribution of pathogenic fungal and fungal-like (Oomycota) organisms on major Mediterranean halophytes. We retrieved 92 references spanning over 100 years, with more than half published since 2000. Ascomycota is the best-represented phylum, and the order Pleosporales has the highest species diversity. The order Pucciniales prevails in Basidiomycota, whereas Peronosporales is the richest order within Oomycota. Most of the pathogenic species have been isolated from aboveground organs, especially from leaves. Portulaca oleracea is the species with the most associated pathogens (16) and records (28). Leveillula powdery mildew, caused by Leveillula taurica, is the most common disease among the selected species. Cakile maritima was found to be vulnerable to different mycotoxigenic Alternaria species. Strengthening the research on diseases of halophytes is essential to successfully grow these species and to evaluate the risks related to the presence of mycotoxigenic species, which is crucial for the effective exploitation of halophytes as crops.
This study aimed to evaluate the behavior of zucchini (
Cucurbita pepo
L.) and cucumber (
Cucumis sativus
L.) under boron (B) excess. Plants were grown under greenhouse conditions in a sandy ...soil–peat mixture using a nutrient solution containing 0.2 (control), 10 and 20 mg L
−1
B. Visible symptoms were quantified and leaf B accumulation, gas exchanges, chlorophyll (Chl)
a
fluorescence, malondialdehyde by-products and antioxidants were investigated 20 days after the beginning of the treatments. Boron toxicity induced oxidative load and leaf necrotic burns coupled with the reduction of leaf growth and biomass accumulation in both species. Boron excess resulted in a decrease of Chl
a
/
b
ratio, potential (F
v
/F
m
) and actual (Φ
PSII
) PSII quantum efficiency, photosynthetic rate (Pn), stomatal conductance (g
s
), and transpiration (E) as well. A general stimulation of the antioxidant enzymes ascorbate peroxidase, catalase and superoxide dismutase was observed, and a significant increase in the oxidized form of ascorbate and glutathione was evidenced for treated plants of both species. A difference between the two species was observed:
C. pepo
appeared to be more sensitive to B stress being damaged at all B concentration.
C. sativus
grown at 10 mg L
−1
B in nutrient solution showed some down-regulated mechanisms, i.e. increase in Chl
b
content and a good photochemical PSII efficiency as well as a higher amount of constitutive antioxidant molecules, that, however, are not sufficient to contrast the negative effects of B.
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