The dietary consumption of fruits and vegetables is associated with a lower incidence of degenerative diseases such as cardiovascular disease and certain types of cancers. Most recent interest has focused on the bioactive phenolic compounds found in vegetable products. Sweet and sour cherries contain several antioxidants and polyphenols that possess many biological activities, such as antioxidant, anticancer and anti-inflammation properties. The review describes the effect of environment and other factors (such as production, handling and storage) on the nutritional properties of cherries, with particular attention to polyphenol compounds. Moreover the health benefits of cherries and their polyphenols against human diseases such as heart disease, cancers, diabetes are reviewed.

In 2018, 23.2 Mt of pears were produced in the world across 1.3 million hectares (ha) of cultivated land. This review analyzes different training systems and management styles that have been adopted worldwide, emphasizing the European pear’s economic and environmental sustainability for the Mediterranean area of cultivation. Despite a reduced number of cultivars utilized around the world, pear presents a plethora of innovative training systems. In Europe, dwarfing rootstocks have led to reduced planting distances and a subsequent increase in planting density. Still, the economic sustainability of these systems is now questionable. Many of the quince rootstocks have made it possible to considerably reduce the size of the tree and introduce the concept of continuous row planting, with the management of orchards from the ground (i.e., pedestrian orchard). The planting distance must be chosen according to the soil fertility, the vigor of the grafting combination, and the training system. The planting distance dramatically affects the pruning and the management of soil, fertilization, and irrigation. The reduction of tree size also lowers the volume of spray necessary when applying pesticides. The variability in yield worldwide results from the interaction amongst cultivar/rootstock/training system/climate/management.

Sustainable alternatives to chemicals for weed control in the orchard – a Review | Md Jebu Mia, Francesca Massetani, Giorgio Murri, Davide Neri | Agricultural Journals

Grapevine downy mildew (GDM) is one of the most serious diseases of grapevines. With limitations in the use of copper-based products imposed for organic agriculture by the European Union, research for alternatives is encouraged. The aim of this research was to follow a 2-year trial to evaluate the control of GDM using some alternative compounds, and to determine their effects on shoot growth, plant photosynthesis, and grape quality and quantity. Under low disease pressure, Bordeaux mixture, copper hydroxide, laminarin combined with low copper, and 0.5 and 0.8% chitosan had the lowest GDM incidence, reduced on leaves by 96, 95, 75, 56, and 81%, respectively, compared with the untreated control in the last survey. With high disease pressure, Bordeaux mixture, laminarin combined with Saccharomyces extracts, and 0.5 and 0.8% chitosan had the lowest GDM incidence, reduced on grape by 86, 37, 66, and 75%, respectively, compared with the untreated control in the survey of mid-July. Chitosan at 0.8% lowered net photosynthesis, due to reduced stomatal conductance, leaf area, and dry weight, with no negative effects observed on the quantity of the grape berries and the quality parameters of their juice. Among the alternatives to copper, chitosan provided the best GDM protection and reduced the vigor of the vegetation, inducing physiological changes without negative effects on grape production.

Despite the productivity, achieving long-term sustainability and maintaining plant biodiversity have become the pivotal goals in orchard floor management, especially along tree rows. Thus, the paradigm of eradicating weeds in the tree row using chemical herbicide or repeated soil tillage needs to be substituted with more sustainable alternatives. This study was conducted in two commercial apple and peach orchards in Marche region (Italy). Two integrated mechanical approaches, integrated mowing (mower and brush or disc) and integrated tillage (blade weeder and integrated mowing), were compared with the standard herbicide system in a 2-year trial. Weed species diversity, soil coverage, and weed biomass production, including, gas exchange parameters, trunk cross-sectional area (TCSA), fruit yield and quality were measured. Overall, both integrated practices demonstrated approximately 82%, 91% and 113% more species diversity, soil coverage, and weed biomass production, respectively, than herbicide systems. No significant differences were found in terms of tree gas exchange parameters, growth and fruit yield. However, a few fruit quality parameters such as fruit firmness, soluble solids content (SSC) and dry matter content responded positively to the integrated practices. These results suggest that the integrated mechanical approaches of weed management increased orchard biodiversity, and had no adverse effects on tree growth, fruit yield, and quality. The average costs per hectare associated with chemical weed control were 66.5% and 72% lower, respectively, compared to integrated tillage and integrated mowing. However, the government subsidies provided to the orchardists to encourage sustainable management practices were able to offset such additional costs.

Traditional land-use planning models have proven inadequate to address contemporary issues in sustainable development and protection governance. In recent years, new ‘performance based’ approaches that integrate ecosystem services (ES) provided via green infrastructure (GI) into traditional spatial planning models have been proven to reach a higher level of environmental performance, necessary to improve quality of life for all people. In Italy, there are no mandatory planning instruments to design and manage GI, which still remains a component of the traditional land-use plan. Here, the development of urban green spaces (UGS) based on ‘quantitative assessment’ is not suitable for guaranteeing the supply of ES. In addition, the scarcity of financial resources to develop ‘green standards’, as prescribed in the land-use plan to strategically design the GI, is an issue for most Italian public administrations. The paper provides the results of a test case conducted in a public green area of the city of Ancona, where the experimentation of a diversified maintenance strategy of an urban lawn significantly reduced the management cost and improved the environmental performance of green spaces. The identification of a unified management strategy to be applied to all the public UGS can help to achieve better results in support of sustainability, to redesign the continuity of GI and to develop strategies for future urban green master plans.