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News

The VA.PO.RE. project: the future of organic disease-resistant tomatoes

07/07/2023 - François-Xavier Branthôme

Four tomato varieties have been identified as being suitable for organic cultivation, resistant to mildew and/or Alternaria and adapted to industrial processing.

According to the Italian press in June, the tomato of the future is now almost within reach. The challenge launched two years ago by the VA.PO.RE. project is currently being taken up: "Evaluation, dissemination and introduction of new tomato varieties resistant to downy mildew and Alternaria for the production of healthier processing tomatoes with less environmental impact". Conducted as part of the 2014-2020 Emilia-Romagna RSP, field, laboratory and industrial processing trials have identified four new tomato varieties ideal for organic cultivation, resistant to downy mildew or Alternaria (or both) and suitable for processing into purees, sauces, diced tomato or juice. The Cartizze, Milbech, Mascali and 20T6406 varieties have been grown on some 30 farms in the most favorable areas of Emilia-Romagna, and are now ready for distribution throughout Italy.

Cartizze variety

The two-year project (see our related articles below) was carried out by Tera Seeds (project leader), a seed company based in Gambettola (Forli Cesena) specializing in research, genetic improvement and seed breeding, which in recent years has introduced innovative and popular varieties such as Syraz, Cartizze, TS500 and Rulander. Also taking part in the project were Ri.Nova, a research organization in the field of vegetable production based in Cesena (FC), Conserve Italia, one of the European leaders in the canned fruit and vegetables sector and owner (among others) of the Cirio and Valfrutta brands, and CREA OF, the leading Italian research organization dedicated to the agri-food sector. The project also involved Irecoop Emilia-Romagna (Confcooperative's training organization), and various organic farms in the region.

In the words of Enrico Belfanti, genetics research scientist for Tera Seeds, and Stefania Delvecchio, project manager for Ri.Nova: "The objectives of the project were ambitious, and we can say that we have made significant progress in the right direction: we started by trying to provide the processing industry with a good, healthy tomato, suitable for organic production, which also guarantees good crop yields and is resistant to the two major fungal diseases: downy mildew and Alternaria. We started with a pool of twenty varieties, to analyze a wide and varied range, and, thanks to the collaboration of five farms that work organically, we subjected them to agronomic screening, to assess their productivity under these conditions. We studied their resistance to pathogens and we analyzed them from a qualitative point of view, both organoleptically and in terms of their performance for processing into juice, diced tomato and sauces. By cross-referencing all the data, four varieties emerged that gave positive indicators at all levels: Cartizze and Milbech, resistant to mildew, Mascali, resistant to Alternaria, and 20T6406, which performed well against both diseases."

Mascali variety
"All the new varieties were tested for pesticide residue of over 430 active molecules," explained Katia Di Prodi, head of the food quality control laboratory at Conserve Italia, "in order to guarantee the consumer a safe product that meets all the requirements of organic production, which in our country sets even stricter limits for certain active ingredients than in the rest of Europe. The analyses carried out on the processed products concerned also comply with the most recent European recommendations, such as those concerning the monitoring of the presence of Alternaria toxins in food products. In addition, the new varieties show good levels of lycopene, a substance known for its antioxidant properties and beneficial effects on the body," confirming that these varieties meet the extremely high standards set by the project.

"Following on from the positive field data, laboratory analyses of the response to fungal diseases produced interesting results for at least six varieties that showed a satisfactory response capacity to an Alternaria isolate representative of the pathogen's population in the Emilia-Romagna region, compared with the average behavior of the varietal pool analyzed," explained Loredana Sigillo of CREA OF, scientific manager of the VA.PO.RE. project. "The data from these tests, which can be considered an excellent preliminary study, offer opportunities to open up new avenues of research."

20T6406 variety
So the work is due to continue: "Today, thanks to VA.PO.RE.,we have new methodologies for developing a product of great importance to the nation's industry," commented Belfanti "and, in addition to having put the spotlight on two hitherto neglected diseases such as Peronospora and above all Alternaria, we have identified new varieties with good resistances which, in the years to come, could be major protagonists of the processing tomato industry. But that's not all: thanks to the resistance to downy mildew noted in the field for the Cartizze and Milbech varieties, and also confirmed by preliminary laboratory studies for Mascali and 20T6406 against Alternaria," a step has been taken towards the target set by the European Green Deal of 25% of all agricultural land dedicated to organic farming and for the reduction of chemical fertilizers and pesticides by 2030.

Delvecchio pointed out: "What's more, for the first time ever, a major synergy has been created between the world of seed breeding, scientific research and the processing industry: by working together and understanding the different needs, virtuous flows have emerged that have led to significant results. And, in view of the questions still unanswered and the possibilities for further investigation offered by the data collected, these will give rise to interesting new research in the near future."

Sources: corriereortofrutticolo.it, cesenatoday.it, corriereromagna.it, askanews.it

Related companies

CONSERVE ITALIA Soc. Coop. Agr.

Tomato processor See details

EU: The Commission investigates Alternaria toxins

12/06/2023 See details

Italy: New project aims to find the processing tomato variety of the future

09/03/2022 See details

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