Farming for Fruit Quality and Health

1
Farming for Fruit Quality and Health

• Preston Andrews
• Horticultural Science
• Neal Davies
• Pharmaceutical Science
• John Reganold
• Soil Science

2
Fruit quality

• Depends on stakeholder
• fruit growers
• graders/processors
• marketers
• consumers
• Scientists - specific quantifiable measures
• priorities of consumers, growers, grading and
  processing enterprises, wholesale retail
  marketers

3
Definition of fruit quality

• The standards of excellence of a product that
  distinguishes it as superior
• Composite of attributes
• on-farm productivity
• fruit maturity - ripeness
• storage capacity - keeping quality
  shelf-life
• sensuous
• nutritious
• disease prevention
• safe

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Does Organic Production Enhance Phytochemical
Content of Fruit and Vegetables?Zhao et al.,
HortTechnology 16449, 2006

• The evidence overall seems in favor of
  enhancement of phytochemical content in
  organically grown produce, but there has been
  little systematic study of the factors that may
  contribute to increased phytochemical content in
  organic crops. It remains to be seen whether
  consistent differences will be found, and the
  extent to which biotic and abiotic stresses, and
  soil biology contribute to those differences.
  Problems associated with most studies tend to
  weaken the validity of comparisons.

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Farm System - Fruit Quality Criteria

• Vertically oriented, quality attribute
  extensive studies with
• matched soil, microclimate crop variety
• alternatives in distribution system for storage,
  processing, transport marketing
• consumer handling preparation

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Sustainability of three apple production
systems JP Reganold, JD Glover, PK Andrews HR
Hinman Nature 410 926, 2001

• Crop quality
• Soil quality
• Farm profitability
• Environmental risks of agrochemicals
• Energy efficiency

Apple orchard productivity and fruit quality
under organic, conventional, and integrated
management GM Peck, PK Andrews, JP Reganold JK
Fellman HortScience 4199, 2006
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Apple study

• Yakima County, Washington
• Replicated, on-farm
• ORG, CON, INT
• Soil topography identical
• Cultivars
• Golden Delicious
• Gala
• Grower/scientist managed

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Crop yield
NS
Reganold et al., Nature (2001) Peck et al.,
HortScience (2006)
9
Fruit weight
NS
p lt 0.05


NS

NS

Reganold et al., Nature (2001) Peck et al.,
HortScience (2006)
10
Fruit firmness

Golden Delicious
Gala

NS
p lt 0.05
NS



NS
1998
1999
2002
2003
Reganold et al., Nature (2001) Peck et al.,
HortScience (2006)
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Antioxidant activity
NS
p lt 0.05
Skin 5X concentration of flesh
Peck et al., HortScience (2006)
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Quercetin
p lt 0.05
Skin 4X concentration of flesh
NS
Unpublished
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Quercetin

• Researchers at Minnesota's Mayo Clinic report
  that quercetin, found most abundantly in
  apples, may provide a new method for preventing
  or treating prostate cancer. Carcinogenesis
  22409, 2001
• Researchers at the University of Hawaii
  found that increased consumption of quercetin was
  associated with a reduced risk of lung cancer.
  J. Natl. Cancer Inst. 92154, 2000

http//www.usapple.org/educators/research/index.cf
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Strawberry study

• Monterey Santa Cruz Counties, California
• Paired ORG/CON farms
• 5 pairs in 2004
• 8 pairs in 2005
• Soil topography matched for each pair
• Cultivars
• Diamante
• San Juan
• Lanai

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Antioxidant activity
p lt 0.005
CON
ORG
Unpublished
16
Ascorbic acid
p lt 0.005
CON
ORG
Unpublished
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Phytochemicals
p lt 0.05
p lt 0.05
p lt 0.01
Unpublished
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Specific polyphenolics
NS
p lt 0.05
NS
NS
Ellagic acid
Naringin/Naringenin
Unpublished
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Naringin (glycoside)
Naringenin (aglycone)

• chiral flavanone with R and S enantiomers
• citrus, tomato, apple, cherry
• anti-oxidant, -cancer, -mutagenic properties
• glycoside and aglycone forms of enantiomers have
  different bio-availabilities and bio-activities

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Evaluating polyphenolics

• chiral separation by high-performance liquid
  chromatography (HPLC)
• measure multiple polyphenolic compounds and any
  enantiomers
• evaluate anti-cancer, anti-inflamation, and
  anti-hyperlipidermia of pure compounds and fruit
  extracts

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Fruit weight
p lt 0.001
CON
ORG
Unpublished
22
Dry matter
p lt 0.01
CON
ORG
Unpublished
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Current research

• Hypothesis
• phytochemicals are diluted in conventional
  systems because of excess growth caused by too
  readily available nitrogen and/or selection of
  varieties for large fruits with high yields
• Biologically Intensive Organic Agriculture
  (BIOAg) project
• small-, medium- and large-fruited tomato
  varieties grown under ORG or CON soil fertility
• monitor soil fertility/biology, measure growth,
  cell size and phytochemical density, assess
  anti-cancer activity

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Acknowledgements

• Grad students
• Jaime Yañez
• Karina Vega-Villa
• Jennifer Reeve
• Greg Peck
• Jerry Glover
• Jeffrey Clark
• Post-docs, techs, students
• Canming Xiao
• Carolina Torres
• Peggy Collier
• Mays Vue
• Faculty
• Lynne Carpenter-Boggs
• Carolyn Ross
• Marc Evans
• Herb Hinman
• John Fellman
• Rich Aldridge

• Funding
• CSNAR
• The Organic Center
• USDA
• Washington Tree Fruit Research Commission
• Organic Farming Research Foundation

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Questions? andrewsp_at_wsu.edu
John Marshall Photography