Agrivoltaics and aquavoltaics combine renewable energy production with agriculture and aquaculture. Agrivoltaics involves placing solar panels on farmland, while aquavoltaics integrates photovoltaic systems with water bodies and aquaculture. This paper examines the benefits and challenges of agrivoltaics and aquavoltaics, focusing on their potential for Croatian agriculture and freshwater aquaculture. Benefits include dual land use, which allows farmers to produce clean energy while maintaining agricultural practices. They diversify renewable energy sources and reduce dependence on fossil fuels and greenhouse gas emissions. Solar panels in agrivoltaics provide shade, protect crops, reduce water needs, and increase yields. Challenges include high initial costs and limited accessibility, especially for small farmers. Integration with existing systems requires careful planning, considering irrigation, soil moisture, and crop or fish production. Maintenance and cleaning present additional challenges due to dust, debris, and algae. Policy and regulatory frameworks must support implementation, including incentives, grid integration, land use regulations, and conservation. The location, resources, and crops grown in Croatia present an opportunity for agrivoltaics and aquavoltaics, considering cultivation methods, species, and regulatory requirements.

Penicillium expansum is a necrotrophic plant pathogen among the most ubiquitous fungi disseminated worldwide. It causes blue mould rot in apples during storage, transport and sale, threatening human health by secreting patulin, a toxic secondary metabolite that contaminates apples and apple-derived products. Nevertheless, there is still a lack of sufficient data regarding the resistance of different apple cultivars to P. expansum, especially ancient ones, which showed to possess certain resistance to plant diseases. In this work, we investigated the polyphenol profile of 12 traditional and 8 conventional apple cultivar and their resistance to P. expansum CBS 325.48. Eight polyphenolic compounds were detected; the most prominent were catechin, epicatechin and gallic acid. The highest content of catechin was detected in ‘Apistar’—91.26 mg/100 g of fresh weight (FW), epicatechin in ‘Bobovac’—67.00 mg/100 g of FW, and gallic acid in ‘Bobovac’ and ‘Kraljevčica’—8.35 and 7.40 mg/100 g of FW, respectively. The highest content of patulin was detected in ‘Kraljevčica’ followed by ‘Apistar’—1687 and 1435 µg/kg, respectively. In apple cultivars ‘Brčko’, ‘Adamčica’ and ‘Idared’, patulin was not detected. Furthermore, the patulin content was positively correlated with gallic acid (r = 0.4226; p = 0.002), catechin (r = 0.3717; p = 0.008) and epicatechin (r = 0.3305; p = 0.019). This fact indicates that higher contents of gallic acid, catechin and epicatechin negatively affected and boost patulin concentration in examined apple cultivars. This can be related to the prooxidant activity of polyphenolic compounds and sensitivity of P. expansum to the disturbance of oxidative status.

Mandarins are the second most farmed citrus. Consumers demand a mandarin fruit that is both tasty and excellent in quality. The fruit quality, flavonoid profile, antioxidant capacity and total carotenoid content of five varieties (‘Zorica’, ‘Chahara’, ‘Kawano Wase’, ‘Owari’ and ‘Saigon’) of Satsuma mandarins grown in Neretva valley (Croatia) were determined. In this research, the distribution of bioactive compounds was different for mandarin juice, dry pulp residue and dry peels. Dry peels showed higher levels of polyphenolic compounds and antioxidant activity. Total carotenoids were found to be in a greater concentration in dry pulp residue than in the dry peel. The highest levels of total carotenoids (543 μg β-carotene/g) were found in the dry pulp residue of ‘Owari’ and ‘Saigon’, while the lowest levels were in ‘Chahara’ (227.87 μg β-carotene/g). In dry mandarin peels, the highest levels of total carotenoids were in ‘Kawano Wase’ (227.58 μg β-carotene/g), and the lowest levels were in ‘Chahara’ (52.24 μg β-carotene/g). The most abundant component of polymethoxyflavones (PMFs) in mandarin dry peel was nobiletin, ranging from 0.204 mg/g (‘Chahara’) to 0.608 mg/g (‘Saigon’), followed by tangeretin, ranging from 0.133 mg/g (‘Chahara’) to 0.251 mg/g (‘Saigon’), and sinesestin (‘Zorica’), ranging from 0.091 mg/g to 0.353 mg/g (‘Saigon’).

During 2014, apples ‘Pink Lady®’, showing white haze (WH) symptoms, were harvested in an orchard near Vratisinec (Croatia). Fungi were isolates from symptomatic epidermal tissue on Rose Bengal Chloramphenicol agar. After 7 days of incubation in the dark at 26°C, from whitish to cream colonies with irregular margin, single spore were isolated and transferred on Potato dextrose agar (PDA). Pathogenicity was tested on 20 apples ‘Pink Lady®’ and the pathogen was inoculated by aerosol diffusion on the sterilized surface. Symptoms occurred and T. pallescens was reisolated from inoculated fruit on PDA. Control fruits were symptomless. After 7 days at 26°C, the colonies and the morphology of conidia were the same as those of the original isolates. PCR amplification was carried out, from single spore DNA extraction, using universal primers ITS1 and ITS4. Two amplified sequences (AN KR269863 and KR269864) were blasted in Genbank obtaining 100% homology with strains of Tilletipsis pallescens. To confirm the species ...

This research is focused on comparing the compositions of juice produced from old and commercially grown apple cultivars. We examined factors such as pH, total acids, soluble dry matter, polyphenol profile, and antioxidant activity, which impact the attributes, safety, shelf life, and nutritional value of the juice. Our analysis revealed differences between these two groups of cultivars. For instance, pH values ranged from 3.04 (in ‘Bobovec’) to 3.69 (in ‘Fuji’). The proportions of acids varied from 0.07 g/100 mL (in ‘Fuji’) to 0.19 g/100 mL (in ‘Wagener’). Soluble dry matter content ranged from 14.10% (in ‘Fuji’) to 18.50% (in ‘Kraljevčica’). We also observed variations in sugar content and composition among cultivars; for example, sucrose levels varied from 16.11 g/L (‘Fuji’) to 39.36 g/L (‘Golden Delicious). Glucose levels ranged from 4.95 g/L (‘Jonagold’) to 19.18 g/L (‘Fuji’), while fructose levels spanned from 50.78 g/L (‘Austrougarka’) to 427.97 g/L (‘Ilzer Rosenapfel’). Furthermore, old apple cultivars exhibited higher concentrations of phenols and flavonoids compared to commercial ones; we also noted significant variations in flavonol levels among different cultivars. The ‘Wagener’ and ‘Božićnica’ apple varieties had levels of myricetin measuring 0.53 and 0.52 µg/mL, respectively. On the other hand, ‘Bobovec’ stood out for its content of procyanidin B2 with a concentration of 422.61 µg/mL. When examining non-flavonoid compounds, it was found that old apple cultivars had higher concentrations of gallic acid, trans-ferulic acid, and chlorogenic acid. However, commercial cultivars showed dominance in caffeic and p-coumaric. Comparisons of antioxidant capacity using DPPH and ABTS assays clearly demonstrated the superiority of old apple cultivars. Overall, this study highlights the importance of utilizing apple cultivars for juice production. Their distinct compositions and higher antioxidant capacities contribute to potential health benefits. Preserving these cultivars for enhanced juice quality and nutritional value is encouraged. Further research could explore cultivation practices’ impact on composition and health benefits.

This study attempts to clarify the effect of canopy position on the physico-chemical parameters of apples cv. Braeburn. The experiments were carried out on fruit from the inner and outer part of the canopy in two growing seasons and at two harvest dates. Light measurements revealed that the average value of photo active radiation (PAR) for the inside and outside canopy amounted to 30.3 μmol/m²/s and 133.7 μmol/m²/s, respectively. Production year and canopy position significantly influenced ground color parameters a*, b*, C*, and h°, while the harvest date influenced all color parameters studied. For additional (red blush) coloration, the production year significantly influenced only the L* parameter, harvest date influenced all color parameters, and canopy position influenced L, a*, and C*. Only the fruits of the second harvest date showed more intense additional (red blush) coloration. The production year significantly affected fruit mass, firmness, total soluble solids (SSC), titratable acidity (TA), SSC/TA ratio, DPPH radical scavenging assay (AOP), total phenolic content (TPC), and total flavonoid content (TFC). The harvest date significantly influenced fruit mass, SSC, TA, SSC/TA, AOP, TPC, and TFC. The canopy position significantly influenced SSC, TA, AOP, TPC, and TFC. Regarding mineral content, the production year significantly affected the content of Fe, Ni, Cu, and Ca and the K/Ca ratio. The harvest date significantly affected Fe, Cu, Sr, K and K/Ca. The canopy position affected Fe, Ni, Zn, Sr, Ca, and K/Ca ratio, with a clear significant trend regarding the effect of canopy position only for Ca content (first and second year of the second harvest date) and K/Ca ratio (first year of both harvest dates). PCA analyses identified distinguishing features between apples, with differences defined specifically by AOP, TPC, TFC, Rb, Sr, Ca, and K/Ca on the PC 1 and Mn, Fe, Ni, Cu, and Zn on PC 2.