Vegetables represent pillars of good nutrition since they provide important phytochemicals such as fiber, vitamins, antioxidants, as well as minerals. Biofortification proposes a promising strategy to increase the content of specific compounds. As minerals have important functionalities in the human metabolism, the possibility of enriching fresh consumed products, such as many vegetables, adopting specific agronomic approaches, has been considered. This review discusses the most recent findings on agronomic biofortification of vegetables, aimed at increasing in the edible portions the content of important minerals, such as calcium (Ca), magnesium (Mg), iodine (I), zinc (Zn), selenium (Se), iron (Fe), copper (Cu), and silicon (Si). The focus was on selenium and iodine biofortification thus far, while for the other mineral elements, aspects related to vegetable typology, genotypes, chemical form, and application protocols are far from being well defined. Even if agronomic fortification is considered an easy to apply technique, the approach is complex considering several interactions occurring at crop level, as well as the bioavailability of different minerals for the consumer. Considering the latter, only few studies examined in a broad approach both the definition of biofortification protocols and the quantification of bioavailable fraction of the element.

Over the last few decades, the improvement of tomato aroma and flavour has gained growing attention among breeders, agronomists and food technologists, as it is reputed as a key tool to further consolidate tomato consumption in the global market. However, this represents a difficult task, since more than 400 volatile organic compounds (VOCs) differently contribute to tomato aroma and its flavour perception. The recent development of molecular tools has allowed us to identify some of the major alleles influencing the volatile composition of tomatoes. Nonetheless, such composition involves an intricate weave of polygenic systems, highly influenced by external, pre and postharvest factors. With few exceptions, our knowledge about the effects of these determinants is still scarce, making it difficult to draw sound conclusions to best manage the future genetic potential. The present review examines the existing knowledge on major VOCs influencing tomato organoleptic quality, including their classification, metabolic pathways, genetics, and technical features that affect their concentrations in fruits. Particular emphasis is placed on preharvest and postharvest factors influencing their quantitative and qualitative expression, whose integrated study with omic tools will be increasingly necessary for the perspective of disseminating reliable operational indications throughout the production/distribution chain.

In September 2008, a new disease was noticed in eastern Sicily, Italy in a 2-year-old regrafted citrus orchard with approximately 1,500 plants of sweet orange (Citrus sinensis (L.) Osbeck cv. Tarocco Scirè) on sour orange rootstock. Symptoms on the sweet orange scion consisted of blight of vigorously growing shoots and a sooty canker on shoots and rootstock trunks, resulting in shoot dieback to the cankered area. Masses of black fungal spores appeared under the bark and on the canker surface. Abundant gummosis was frequently associated with the affected tissues. Of the 1,500 plants surveyed, 12% were infected. A Scytalidium-like fungus was isolated consistently from symptomatic tissues on 2% potato dextrose agar (PDA). Conidia were ellipsoid to ovoid, hyaline, with an acutely rounded apex, truncate base, initially aseptate, becoming brown and two-septate at maturity, (10-) 12 to 13 (-14) × (4-) 5 (-6) μm. Mycelium was branched with septate, brown hyphae that disarticulated into 0- to 1-septate phragmospores (toruloid state). Genomic DNA was extracted from mycelia of single-conidial isolates cultivated on malt extract agar. Primers V9G and ITS4 were used to amplify the nuclear rRNA operon spanning the 3′ end of 18S rRNA gene, the internal transcribed spacers, the 5.8S rRNA gene, and a part of the 5′ end of the 28S rRNA gene (1,2). Both PCR primers were used to sequence directly the entire amplicon. DNA sequences of two isolates (CBS 124887 and 124888) were deposited in GenBank (Accession Nos. GQ330902 and GQ330903, respectively). These sequences were 100% identical in more than 545 nt to GenBank Accession Nos. AY213688 and FJ648577. On the basis of morphological characters and molecular data, the fungal isolates were identified as Neoscytalidium dimidiatum (Penz.) Crous & Slippers (2,3). Pathogenicity tests were conducted on five 2-year-old potted plants of sweet orange cv. Tarocco Scirè and lemon cv. Femminello Zagara Bianca, both grafted on sour orange. Eight 5-cm mycelial plugs of a single-conidial isolate were placed in wounds made with a sterile blade in the inner bark of plant stems and branches. Inoculation wounds were wrapped with Parafilm. The same number of plants inoculated with sterile PDA plugs served as controls. Inoculated plants were maintained in a growth chamber at 25 ± 1°C and 90 to 95% relative humidity. After 2 weeks, all inoculated plants developed gummosis originating from the inoculation point. Shoot blight and death of the entire plant were observed within 6 months on all inoculated plants. No differences were observed among the two citrus species. Control plants remained healthy. N. dimidiatum was reisolated from the infected plants and identified as described. To our knowledge, this is the first record of a disease caused by N. dimidiatum on citrus in Italy. The pathogen has been previously observed to infect freeze-damaged limbs of citrus in California, inducing a disease named Hendersonula branch wilt (4). This pathogen on citrus is important mainly as a wound-invading pathogen, therefore posing a serious threat to regrafted citrus orchards. References: (1) R. Cheewangkoon et al. Persoonia 21:77, 2008. (2) P. W. Crous et al. Stud. Mycol. 55:235, 2006. (3) E. Punithalingam and J. M. Waterston. No 274 in: Descriptions of Pathogenic Fungi and Bacteria. CMI, Kew, Surrey, UK, 1970. (4) J. O. Whiteside. Page 29 in: Compendium of Citrus Diseases. The American Phytopathological Society, St. Paul, MN, 1988.