Respect for your privacy is our priority

The cookie is a small information file stored in your browser each time you visit our web page.

Cookies are useful because they record the history of your activity on our web page. Thus, when you return to the page, it identifies you and configures its content based on your browsing habits, your identity and your preferences.

You may accept cookies or refuse, block or delete cookies, at your convenience. To do this, you can choose from one of the options available on this window or even and if necessary, by configuring your browser.

If you refuse cookies, we can not guarantee the proper functioning of the various features of our web page.

For more information, please read the COOKIES INFORMATION section on our web page.

Refuse

News

Symposium Synopsis: Unveiling the Key Research Findings

23/07/2024 - Madeleine Royère-Koonings , Sophie Colvine - 2024 WPTC congress

From the presentation entitled “Symposium Synopsis: Unveiling the Key Research Findings” made by Matthew Stewart (Research Commission) during the World Processing Tomato Congress in Budapest on 11 June 2024

Matthew Stewart has served the Australian processing tomato industry in the role of Industry Development Manager since 2020. Leading the Australian Processing Tomato Research Council (APTRC), Matt strategically allocates funding to critical agronomic research projects and extends this knowledge to industry through various extension initiatives. Before assuming his current role, Matt spent 16 years as a Soil & Plant Nutrition Specialist within a nationwide agronomy firm. During this period, Matt also ventured into entrepreneurship, co-founding a tourism focused PYO strawberry enterprise.

“Today, I will present a brief summary of some of the key research presentations made during the ISHS symposium, without getting too scientific. Where possible, I will use some Australian examples. Please note these opinions and observations are entirely my own.

For the ISHS Symposium, we had 67 submissions, of which 44 for crop production, 21 for processing and 3 for markets. The area of crop production dominating makes sense because this is where you have the least control and the most risk for the tomato supply, so it is where we are looking for answers.

The Symposium was broken up into different segments:

On Monday, the ISHS Symposium has offered oral presentations in the areas of: Irrigation Management, Automation and Precision Farming and Resilient Crop Management and a section on Alternaria disease
On Tuesday, the areas of Pests, Plant Diseases and Resistance Breeding and Analysis of tomato Products has filled the agenda.
Tomorrow, the Functionalised Tomato Products section dominates the agenda, and I will give a brief outline the work to be presented there.

I will use these topical headings throughout this presentation.

Irrigation Management
Deficit irrigation remains a necessity in some environments and an unwelcome challenge in others.

In a presentation from Michele Rinaldi (see Abstract 4), tomatoes were grown with deficit irrigation, using lower flow rate emitters but keeping irrigation frequency and duration constant. In the study, yield performance was not enhanced, however, the lower rate emitters may offer a means of better water use efficiency, whilst maintaining yields. With high water costs and water scarcity a constant challenge to industry, this approach could be of interest to some producers.

In Australia, we have largely adopted lower flow rate emitters to assist with improved ‘subbing’, which is the movement of water across and up through soils and lower rate emitters also allow for larger irrigation shifts, lessening the management burden and therefore the labour requirement.
We have also identified drip tape management and better understanding of these systems as an important production requirement. At the last symposium, some may recall where Sam North from Australia outlined a study where water movement patterns in our different soil types from drip irrigation was modelled, with the aim of helping producers make more informed drip placement decisions.

In a follow up desktop analysis, simulating drip tape depth, emitter spacing and discharge rate gave growers a guide that could potentially improve irrigation outcomes by making more informed drip tape placement decisions.

As water availability decreases and we need to think outside the box, Michele Rinaldi (see Abstract 13) outlined a study in Italy that used Tertiary Treated Wastewater. Not only was this trial successful in growing a viable processing tomato crop, but the tertiary treated water use also resulted in yield increases. This was presumably due to the added nutritional benefits of the water, likely to be dominated by nitrogen and phosphorus. I can imagine as agricultural water competes with human water and industrial water requirements into the future.

These studies will potentially provide an elegant solution to synergise the two industries in a way that may in some regions be a win/win scenario. Our decision support tools for irrigation are gaining momentum and various models and agencies are now providing irrigation scheduling guidance.

Work, such as that by Jorge Blanco (see Abstract 35) and also Carlos Campillo (see Abstract 22), indicated there are potential water savings to be had by utilising emerging irrigation technologies, such as the “IrriDesk” platform. As seen in one analysis, the difference of early or late water deficit was tested. In another, water savings meant lower gross yield, however a greater economical yield outcome.The work also outlines the abilities of these decision support tools and like most decision support, these tools rely on human intelligence to feed good data and appropriate parameters into them. I feel as field unit sizes increase, and labour costs become more restrictive we will see more of these tools be developed and enter the industry in the coming years.

It is my strong opinion that the common thread throughout the work presented is that. “Water availability is often THE major driver of yield”

This study from a few years ago in Australia reinforces this idea, where Tomato Fields with less accumulated days of water stress (either from too much or too little) correlated strongly with increasing yields.

Automation and precision farming, and resilient crop management,
Automation and AI integration of irrigation systems is perhaps the next evolution of farm irrigation management.

The ICT (Information and Communication Technology) platform trials of “CropScope”, presented by Norika Oki, yielded impressive results (see Abstract 52). In the presented work, the technology demonstrated yield gains of 23%, whilst using about 19% less water. I do not know how many users globally are using fully automated decision support irrigation technology yet, but I am sure these will gain momentum as knowledge feeds back into these deep learning technologies and the accuracy to regions and climate continues to improve.
In Australia, via Kagome’s relationship with NEC and “CropScope”, we’ve seen how these tools can challenge our thinking on irrigation and nutrition practices by comparing the standard farm practice against AI informed platforms.

On a different type, also in automation and precision farming, some regions are seeing a growth in the popularity of soil mulching. However, there remains the dual edged sword of production benefits and plastic disposal issues.

Recent work by Domenico Ronga indicated they’re not only trialling biodegradable mulch but challenging the method of planting (see Abstract 43). Their study showed that direct sowing of processing tomatoes actually outperformed transplanting in terms of water use efficiency and nitrogen efficiency. As chemical weed control options become more limited in more countries, these important works on biodegradable mulches may help to give some producers a viable way to control weeds and improve yields, whilst improving the environmental outcomes.

Regarding crop resilience, Andrew Watson from California discussed the levelling off for yields in California and the major causal factors of low oxygen concentration in sub surface root zones and an increase in soil borne fungal diseases from a reduction in tomato rotation periods. One potential solution being investigated is the use of higher populations of short-season varieties to minimise loss of yield (see Abstract 2).

I recall that last year on an Australian Industry study trip to the USA, Gene Miyao highlighted his mission to try and find those particular ‘elements’ that gives virgin ground its high yield potential. As land gets tighter and economics drive the need for shorter rotation periods, we will need to share insights, such as those presented by Andrew in efforts to overcome this growing global issue for tomato production.

Alternaria Workshop
The Alternaria workshop was fantastic, yesterday afternoon.

In the points that follow, I’ll put forth a few of the key areas of investigation.
Alternaria Fungal Pathogens affect tomato fruits during cultivation and post-harvest. Mycotoxins can pose health risks (see the keynote presentation from Thierry Gautier, see Abstract K) and the European recommendations currently target three toxins (Alternariol, Alternariol monomethyl ether, Tenuazonic acid) in processed tomato products
Research Objectives from the ISHS presentations highlighted investigations into toxin occurrence results from “hidden” contamination. Particularly focusing on the heat resistance of toxins assessed in juice, puree, and paste.
The Processing Impact is that in studies, all toxins showed high decimal reduction times (or time to reduce toxin population) during heat treatments. These studies have important implications for post harvest processing management (see Abstract 44).

The TOMALT project from France aims to enrich existing data on Alternaria contamination and propose biocontrol solutions (see Abstract 50). In these studies, Alternaria is evaluated for toxinogenesis (ability to produce toxins) in vitro and in vivo. When looking at biocontrol solutions, a plant extract showed promising antifungal effects against Alternaria alternata in vitro and in vivo. But the investigation into Alternaria toxin fate during tomato processing is ongoing
I encourage you to talk to the TOMALT project team if you’d like to know more about these findings

Pests, plant diseases and resistance breeding
Now moving on to pests, plant diseases and resistance breeding.

Zach Bagley from California outlined the ‘Herculean’ collaborative effort of seven university research labs across US, Chile and Israel to combat Branched Broomrape (see Abstract 63). This is a significant issue to the effect that 50% of CTRI research funding is going towards this one particular issue, which is significant. After 8 years since the re-emergence of this parasitic weed there are some wins along the way. Zach presented some of the long-term management strategies they’re currently looking at in their fight against this adversary. Unfortunately, this is an ongoing battle for many growers and it’s likely not the last time we’ll see a prestation on the management of this pest weed.

Still on pests, plant diseases and resistance breeding, Cosme Argerich of Argentina gave a great presentation here on how he is leading a team to investigate the use of oxyflurofen to combat volunteer tomatoes in back-to-back tomato crops (see Abstract 12). They have demonstrated oxyflurofen was in fact highly effective in F2 volunteer tomato reduction, without any adverse effect on commercial tomato crop. However, the product is not currently registered for volunteer tomato control. This kind of out of the box thinking is essential for giving our producers the tools they need to combat weed pests and I suspect it will become even more important into the future as chemical control options in some countries lose their registrations or are pulled from the shelves.

Now onto diseases, Hanyue Feng from Australia discussed how we are now primarily isolating F. oxysporum Lycopersici (Fol) race 3 from our fields and how the team at Melbourne University are helping us unravel the genetic variability of our Australian isolates and their correlation to claimed cultivar resistances (see Abstract 3). A future goal for us is to try and develop a better means of predicting inoculum load in soils, so we can make more informed rotation decisions.

Brenna Aegerter of California also presented on Fusarium Diseases in Processing Tomatoes (see Abstract 38). She outlined how Fusarium wilt, crown and root rot, and stem rot, significantly impact processing tomatoes in California’s Central Valley. Host resistance or tolerance is the primary management approach, but diversity of resistant cultivars is lacking for the latter two diseases. Chemical control is not the primary tactic but may have utility as part of an integrated approach. Field trials conducted in commercial fields in 2021 and 2023 evaluated pre-plant treatments (fumigant) and transplanting treatments (fungicides, biostimulant). The key outcome of these trials was that Pre-plant fumigation with metham-K increased marketable yield by 25.5 t/ha (range: 8 to 58 t/ha), which is pretty impressive.

With the evermore strict regulations on chemical usage imposed by the European Union markets, armers need new alternatives for old problems. In a few studies, phytopthora strains were investigated.

Patrick Smith presented a study in Argentina where researchers used Tricoderma atrovirdie to control the damaging effects of the soil borne pathogen, Phytopthora (see Abstract 6). Their investigations to date have provided some hope that their may be biocontrol solutions for farmers to reduce this pathogen.

In a more ground roots approach, David Perla presented on an observation and screening trial that evaluated inherent genetic resistance of cultivars to Phytopthora Infestans/ Late Blight infection (see Abstract 37).

As diseases evolve and new cultivars constantly enter the market, this work will remain perpetual and also essential for our industries future viability.

In Australia, for assessing local disease performance, the APTRC put new cultivars into ‘screening trials’ and then larger ‘machine harvest trials’. Expert consultants apply their subjective criticisms and praises and put a score beside new cultivars, then, every March, processors and seed representatives descended upon the APTRC Screening Trial sites to review our scorecards and discuss how the different genetics had coped with the season.
The next stage in cultivar evolution is that we conduct randomised, replicated field trials to assess early and mid season cultivars, to gather data on yield and brix performance. This informs our processors and growers about what they can then commercialise for growing and processing.

Analysis and Products
Now we move onto the area of Analysis and Products.
Tomatoes are a powerhouse of health-promoting compounds, and innovative analytical methods are advancing our understanding of their benefits. Once again, such as the case for irrigation management, AI is helping us fast-track our analytical methods.

In the case of Dario Constantinescu, the use of image analysis and machine learning algorithms may help predict carotenoid concentration at harvest, which may prove highly informative for assessing effects of crop growth management, such as deficit irrigation (see Abstract 11).

Whilst in another study David Page outlined work being done on developing a better understanding of the mechanisms that cause texture/viscosity changes at a molecular level (see Abstract 49). Using detailed physio-chemical analysis and fluorescence microscopy their team are helping us understand and hopefully better control this parameter in the future.

Also on the topic of analysis, Daood Hussein of Hungary presented on high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and how it’s digging deeper into the biologically active compounds (see Abstract 40). For the first time, their team identified Tocopherol hydroquinones, which are part of the Vitamin E family.

A presentation by Robert Malomar outlined the beneficial phytomicronutrients in tomatoes that reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and cancer (see Abstract 41). Here, the researchers used spray drying to create concentrated tomato powder rich in phytomicronutrients. To avoid additives, they the reduced sugar content by using a centrifuge before spray drying. The resulting low-sugar tomato powder is more suitable for diabetics and health-conscious consumers, whilst still providing valuable phytomicronutrients, including lycopene.

Tomorrow's sessions, to be dominated by presentations from the FunTomP project. The project aims to reformulate traditional Mediterranean tomato products considering the current consumer trend of "functional foods".

You will hear from Elif Ates about Tomato leather, a condensed form of tomato juice, which holds promise as a Mediterranean snack (see Abstract 20).
Mecit Oztop will present on how functional tomato sauce, enriched with pea protein and powdered olive was microwave-pasteurized to improve lycopene content and have better rheological (or flow) behavior (see Abstract 18).
Neriman Ezgi will compare enrichment of Spray Dried Tomato Powder with RuBisCo Vs Pea protein and its effect on lycopene content, sensory acceptability and solubility (see Abstract 31).

Ozan Tas will focus on lycopene levels in tomato snack bars and how NIR spectra, hyperspectral imaging, and chemical analysis provides different but valuable insights for consumers and producers (see Abstract 27).

Also on snack bars, Rasim Gul will explore the promising method of microwave-vacuum drying and how it preserves quality while enhancing color, texture, nutrition and sensory value (see Abstract 52).
You’ll hear from Murad Bal on how tomato waste is being used to produce cellulose fibers with valuable properties, such as water and oil holding capacity, swelling, and emulsifying activity, rich in cellulose and hemicellulose (see Abstract 34).
Finally, Ayse Akgun will present on tomato pomace, a by-product of tomato processing.
The team will explain how they’re trying to improve its sustainably, by exploring hydrolysis methods to obtain reducing sugars and transform this waste into a better, more sustainable By-product (see Abstract 54).

Poster session
So, up next, the joint poster session. There are so many great studies and projects presented out there, that there is literally something for everyone. So I encourage you to attend (see list of abstracts).

The abstracts listed, and all the others presented can be found in the attached Abstract Book.
Most of the presentations will be published in a special issue of Acta Horticulturae which will be published by ISHS at the end of 2024.

ABSTRACT BOOK 17th ISHS

Related researchers

Dr. Brenna Aegerter

USA

See details

Dr. Cosme Argerich

Argentina

See details

Mr Zach Bagley

USA

See details

Dr. Carlos Campillo

Spain

See details

Mr Oussama M\'hamdi

Hungary

See details

Dr. David Page

France

See details

Mr Gábor Palotás

Hungary

See details

Dr. Domenico Ronga

Italy

See details

Dr. Luca Sandei

Italy

See details

Provisional program of the 17th ISHS Symposium on Processing Tomato

09/04/2024 See details

Back

________________________________________

Editor : TOMATO NEWS SAS - MAISON DE L'AGRICULTURE - TSA 48449 - 84912 AVIGNON Cedex 9 - FRANCE
contact@tomatonews.com
www.tomatonews.co m

Supporting partners