Psychrotrophic Pseudomonas spp. were proved to cause dramatic quality losses in fresh foods like leafy greens and dairy products resulting in the shortening of their shelf-life. These spoilage microorganisms are resistant to most disinfection treatments. This work was addressed to assay the antimicrobial efficacy of the food-grade bovine lactoferrin (BLF) and its hydrolysates (LFH), obtained after digestion with pepsin or the enzymatic cardoon extract. The inhibition assays were carried out in vitro on selected Pseudomonas spp. strains involved in off-color development in ready-to-eat vegetables (RTE) and in mozzarella cheese. A higher antimicrobial activity against most of the tested strains was found for pepsin digested BLF in comparison with BLF digested with the enzymatic cardoon extract. A solution of the antimicrobial peptide lactoferricin B (LFcinB), purified from the pepsin-LFH, was applied to both cold stored RTE lettuce leaves and mozzarella cheeses, inoculated with the spoilage strains. A significant reduced tissue browning of RTE lettuce leaves, as well as absence of mozzarella cheese discoloration applying LFcinB. The results obtained show the possibility to use milk-derived antimicrobial peptides in the control of food spoilage caused by Pseudomonas strains.

Selection of artichoke cultivars with specific physical, physiological and biochemical characteristics is required by processors and retailers in order to commercialize artichokes as fresh or fresh-cut products. In this work six artichoke cultivars were evaluated for their cold storage suitability byfollowing the variations in their main physical (browning index), physiological (respiration rate) and biochemical (antioxidant activity, total phenol content, polyphenol oxidase and peroxidase activity) parameters at 1 °C for 12 days. In addition, linear regressions among antioxidant activity, total phenols and enzymatic activities were assessed with the aim of selecting the most suitable cultivar for storage and processing. The low values for the physical, physiological and biochemical parameters measured in Romolo led us to indicate this cultivar as the best for storage. On the other hand, it may be preferable to designate cultivars, with higher values for the same parameters for fresh consumption, partly due to their high antioxidants content.

Artichoke hybrids propagated by seed have been recently introduced on markets and often represent a valid alternative to traditional vegetatively propagated cultivars. This paper deals with the biochemical evaluation of five artichoke hybrids propagated by seed ('Opera', 'Opal', 'Symphony', 'Madrigal', and 'Romolo') compared to the rooted offshoot propagated 'Violetto di Provenza'. On the edible part of buds, picked in the first decade of March in each year, HPLC polyphenolic patterns, phenol and inulin content, and antioxidant activity were evaluated. 'Opera' and 'Opal' showed the highest total phenol content (about 700-800 mg 100 g-1 f.w.) and antioxidant activity values; whereas, 'Romolo' showed the lowest content (about 350 mg 100 g-1 fw), even compared to 'Violetto di Provenza' (about 380 mg 100 g-1 fw). 'Opera' and 'Opal' showed an inulin content (2.5 and 2.4 g 100 g-1 fw, respectively) significantly higher than other cultivars. Variations in the range ±10% were recorded for each cultivar between the two years. The obtained results could give useful indication on the suitability of the evaluated cultivars for different commercial uses, i.e., fresh consumption and/or processing.

Microbial spoilage is one of the main factors affecting the quality of fresh fruits and vegetables, leading to off-flavor, fermented aroma, and tissue decay. The knowledge of microbial growth kinetics is essential for estimating a correct risk assessment associated with consuming raw vegetables and better managing the development of spoilage microorganisms. This study shows, for the first time, that only a part of total microbial community, originally present on fresh harvested female zucchini flowers, was able to adapt itself to refrigerated conditions. Through the study of microbial growth kinetics it was possibleto isolate forty-four strains belonging to twenty-two species of the genera Acinetobacter, Arthrobacter, Bacillus, Enterobacter, Erwinia, Klebsiella, Pantoea, Pseudoclavibacter, Pseudomonas, Serratia, Staphylococcus, andWeissella, suggesting Enterobacteriaceae as potentially responsible for pistil spoilage.

In the last decade, among the species proposed for the production of renewable energy, a growing interest has been directed toward the cardoon, due to the high biomass that can be obtained even in marginal environments without irrigation and with low input nitrogen. Studies carried out in Italy and in other Mediterranean countries demonstrated the high variability of the cardoon response in terms of biomass and seed production performance, in relation to the genotype and the cultivation environment. Given the need to use marginal land for bioenergy crops to avoid competition with food crops, a trial in a marginal area of the Sub-Appennino Dauno (southern Italy) was carried out, to identify genotypes that are best suited to this environment and alternative strategies to fulfil crop nitrogen requirements. The trial was carried out during 2012-2013 on a two-year-old crop in rainfed conditions, to compare three nitrogen management strategies and four genotypes: i) unfertilized control (N0), one nitrogen level (50 kg ha-1, N1), and unfertilized with the intercropping with subterranean clover (Trifolium brachycalycinum Katzn. and Morley) in order to exploit the nitrogen-fixing capacity (TB); ii) a wild cardoon (Cynara cardunculus L. var. sylvestris Lamk) landrace (RCT10) and 3 lines (CDL07, CDL09, CDL10) of domestic cardoon (C. cardunculus L. var. altilis DC.). A split plot with three replications experimental design was adopted. Drought during the growing season played a crucial role in the experiment. 'CDL07' performed better in terms of above ground dry biomass (AGDB) with 9.0 Mg ha-1 with respect to the other genotypes (5.4 Mg ha-1, on average). On the contrary, grain yield was the highest in 'RCT10' (2.0 Mg ha-1) and the lowest in 'CDL10' (0.6 Mg ha-1). N1 performed better both for AGDB yield (10.7 Mg ha-1) and seed yield (2.2 Mg ha-1). Conversely, TB provided very low yield (1.4 and 0.2 Mg ha-1, AGDB and seed yield, respectively) because of adverse effect of competition of subterranean clover for water. Results confirmed high variability in biomass and seed yield of different genotypes and the limiting role of the water availability in environments such as those Mediterranean. The intercropping with subterranean clover as eco-sustainable strategy for nitrogen supply is not suitable in dry areas.

Environmental stress, as high air temperature and low relative humidity, increases the evaporative demand of the atmosphere, drives the sap flow mainly towards the leaves and causes a calcium deficiency in the artichoke heads that often promotes the formation of atrophic heads. The hypothesis is that conditions leading to a reduction of leaf temperature and transpiration can contribute to reduce the Ca deficiency-related disorders. Therefore, the use of kaolin-based particle film could be an effective tool as antitranspirant, thus mitigating detrimental effect of high evaporative demand that leads to the head atrophy. This study has investigated the effects of kaolin on gas exchange, yield and head atrophy of artichoke 'Violetto di Provenza', during June 2009-May 2010 in field conditions (southern Italy). The following treatments were compared: control without kaolin (C); kaolin sprayed plants starting 60 days (K1) and 67 days (K2) after the awakening. Kaolin, overall, at leaf scale caused the reduction, respectively by 10.3 and 23.8% in assimilation rate and transpiration, which led to 17.9% increase in photosynthetic water use efficiency. The production of marketable heads and atrophic heads not changed with kaolin application. The atrophic heads, all produced in the first three harvests, were 1,635 and 1,346 ha-1, respectively in C and K treatments, corresponding to 51.0 and 44.1% of total yield obtained in the same harvests. This does not exclude that kaolin can reduce heads atrophy, since the excessive earliness in artichoke awakening (mid-June), might have placed the crop in extreme climatic conditions, not sufficiently 'mitigated' from kaolin. Less extreme climatic conditions, which normally occur by awakening the artichoke later, could instead be mitigated by kaolin. Therefore, it would be useful to repeat the trial by scheduling artichoke awakening in different periods

The microbial content of plant tissues has been reported to cause the spoilage of ca. 30% of chlorine-disinfectedfresh vegetables during cold storage. The aim of this work was to evaluate the efficacy of antimicrobial peptidesin controlling microbial vegetable spoilage under cold storage conditions. A total of 48 bacterial isolateswere collectedfrom ready-to-eat (RTE) vegetables and identified as belonging to Acinetobacter calcoaceticus, Aeromonasmedia, Pseudomonas cichorii, Pseudomonas fluorescens, Pseudomonas jessenii, Pseudomonas koreensis, Pseudomonasputida, Pseudomonas simiae and Pseudomonas viridiflava species. Reddish or brownish pigmentation was foundwhen Pseudomonas strains were inoculated in wounds on leaves of Iceberg and Trocadero lettuce and escarolechicory throughout cold storage. Bovine lactoferrin (BLF) and its hydrolysates (LFHs) produced by pepsin, papainand rennin, were assayed in vitro against four Pseudomonas spp. strains selected for their heavy spoiling ability.As the pepsin-LFH showed the strongest antimicrobial effect, subsequent experiments were carried out using thepeptide lactoferricin B (LfcinB), well known to be responsible for its antimicrobial activity. LfcinB significantly reduced(P <= 0.05) spoilage by a mean of 36% caused by three out of four inoculated spoiler pseudomonads on RTElettuce leaves after six days of cold storage. The reduction in the extent of spoilage was unrelated to viable celldensity in the inoculated wounds. This is the first paper providing direct evidence regarding the application ofan antimicrobial peptide to control microbial spoilage affecting RTE leafy vegetables during cold storage.

The artichoke is native of the Mediterranean basin, but the history of its domestication is not yet completely clear; certainly plants similar to the present artichoke, were known and appreciated by the ancient Greeks and Romans. Recent studies suggest that the artichoke domestication started in Roman times, around the 1st century AD probably in Sicily; then the crop was spread by Arabs, who dominated the southern Mediterranean during the Middle Ages. The period of greatest diffusion of the artichoke starts with the Modern Age. From Naples, it was brought to Florence in 1466 by Filippo Strozzi and from Tuscany it was soon spread across the rest of Europe. Even before 1530, the artichoke was grown in southern France, while in the following decades its presence is recorded in the Languedoc, in the Loire Valley and Ile of France; in Brittany the first artichokes were grown in the gardens of the Bishop in St. Paul de Leon. In the same period, the artichoke was introduced in England, probably by the Dutch. The diffusion of the artichoke had a considerable boost in the 18th and 19th century, when the French and the Spanish emigrants brought the plant in the United States, respectively, in Louisiana and in California. Also during the 18th and 19th century when European emigrants introduced the artichoke in South America (Argentina, Chile, Peru, Brazil). Currently, the artichoke world area harvested is of 131.000 ha, spread about 45% in Europe, mainly Italy, Spain and France, 31% in Africa (Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria), 16% in the Americas (Peru, Argentina, USA) and 8% in Asia (China, Turkey, Islamic Republic of Iran). In this paper are reported historical, artistic, linguistic and literature evidences, as well as statistical data concerning the diffusion and the importance of artichoke in the world.

Three experiments were carried out to evaluate the agronomical responses of two seed propagated artichoke hybrids ('Concerto' and 'Madrigal') grafted onto two varieties of cultivated cardoon ('Belgio' and 'Madrid') in noninfested soil (Experiment 1), to evaluate the agronomical responses of the seed propagated artichoke 'T3' ungrafted and grafted onto cultivated cardoon 'Bianco gigante inerme a foglia intera' in soil infested with Verticillium (Experiment 2), to assess the compatibility of globe artichoke cultivars 'Istar' and 'Romolo' grafted onto the cultivated ('Bianco avorio') and wild cardoon rootstocks, and to identify the best grafting method (splice or cleft grafting method) for artichoke (Experiment 3). In Experiment 1, when 'Madrigal' cultivar was used as scion no difference in yield was observed between grafted and ungrafted plants. Contrarily, for the same cardoon rootstocks ('Belgio' and 'Madrid') in combination with 'Concerto' significant differences were recorded among the grafting combinations, with the highest yield and yield components recorded with the combination 'Concerto'/'Belgio'. The cardoon rootstock 'Madrid' delayed the beginning of the harvest season, when 'Concerto' was used as scion, the harvest of grafted plants started 2 months later than ungrafted plants, whereas when 'Madrigal' was used as scion, the delay was about 1 month. In Experiment 2, the total yield was higher by 45%, 53%, and 44% in 2008/2009, 2009/2010, and 2010/2011, respectively when 'T3' was grafted onto 'Bianco gigante inerme a foglia intera' cardoon rootstock than in ungrafted 'T3'. The Verticillium wilt incidence in grafted plants was significantly lower (10%) in comparison to ungrafted plants (43%). In Experiment 3, the higher graft survival rate (82-92%) was observed when the two globe artichoke cultivars were self grafted, cross grafted or grafted onto the cultivated cardoon, whereas a lower affinity rate (39-49%) was recorded when both globe artichoke cultivars were grafted onto wild cardoon. The grafting technique influenced the graft survival rate with the higher values recorded with splice grafting (78%) compared to cleft grafting method (73%).

The ability of packaging conditions to preserve the quality of intermediate moisture artichoke (IMA) during storage at different conditions was evaluated. In this aim, artichoke (Cynara cardunculus L. subsp. scolymus (L.) Hayek, cv. Locale di Brindisi) heads were deprived of external bracts, cut in quarters, dipped in acid solution (0.5% citric acid and 0.05% ascorbic acid in water) for 30 minutes and blanched at 95 °C for 8 minutes in a 1% citric acid and 1% wine vinegar water solution. After this pretreatment, artichoke pieces were dried with heat pump technology equipment at 55 °C up to 40% weight loss and 22.4 ± 0.5% dry matter and then packed in polypropylene trays sealed with a composite covering plastic in air and active modified atmosphere (MA = 30% CO2 + 70% N2). In order to evaluate postharvest performance, differently packed IMAs were stored at 4 and 20 °C up to 28 days. After 0, 7, 14, 21, and 28 days in storage, visual and sensorial scores, water activity, sugars (glucose, fructose, and sucrose), total phenolic content, antioxidant activity, and total microbial load were evaluated. The results showed that IMA storage in MA packaging conditions at 4 °C was the most effective to preserve physical, sensorial, biochemical and hygienic properties. This innovative "ready to use" product could be of great interest from a commercial point of view due to its excellent nutritional quality, good shelf-life and convenience.

Changes in atmosphere composition and colour, tissue browning, decay,microbial viable cell count and sensorial attributes of fresh cut broccoli raab werestudied. Broccoli raab heads and young leaves were placed in polystyrene trays,covered with polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and polyamide/polyethylene (PA/PE) laminatedfilms and then stored under self controlled atmosphere (SCA) at 4°C for 16 d.Viable cell counts of packaged fresh-cut vegetables were lower than the legal limit forsafe consumption until the 12th day of storage in both PA/PE and PVC covered trays.However, after 8 and 12 d of storage, microbial counts of broccoli raab stored in PVCwere approx. 2 log cfu g-1 higher than those in PA/PE. Browning was only significantin samples packaged in PA/PE, probably due to high CO2 concentration inside thepackage. The results showed that PVC packaging was the best solution for freshbroccoli raab heads and young leaves stored at 4°C in SCA, leading to a shelf life of 12d compared to 7 d if vegetables were stored in PA/PE.

In molte aree dell'Italia meridionale in cui è diffusa la coltivazione del carciofo (Cynara cardunculus [L.] subsp. scolymus Hayek), l'acqua impiegata per l'irrigazione presenta elevata salinità a causa della salinizzazione della falda per intrusione marina. Per limitare i danni da salinità sulle colture è necessario adottare appropriate strategie agronomiche tra cui la scelta dei genotipi più tolleranti. In considerazione del crescente interesse verso nuovi ibridi di carciofo propagati per 'seme', è stata realizzata un'attività di ricerca poliennale per valutarne il grado di tolleranza alla salinità, in confronto con il 'Violetto di Provenza' e il 'Catanese', le cultivar più diffuse in Puglia.Le prove sperimentali sono state realizzate in pien'aria presso il CDS 'E. Pantanelli' dell'Università di Bari Aldo Moro. Sono state valutate nove cultivar ibride (Orlando, Concerto, Tempo, Madrigal, Symphony, Opal, A106, Lorca, Violin), di cui sono state determinate le principali caratteristiche dei capolini (numero e peso, numero di capolini atrofici, sostanza secca). I genotipi più produttivi nel controllo non salino sono risultati 'Tempo', 'Concerto', 'A106' e 'Madrigal' (in media 2670 g pianta-1), i meno produttivi 'Catanese', 'Violin' e 'Lorca' (in media 1652 g pianta-1). In generale, la produzione di capolini si è ridotta progressivamente con l'aumento della salinità, in misura diversa in relazione alle cultivar, mentre la sostanza secca è aumentata con l'aumento della salinità. La riduzione di produzione si è manifestata principalmente per la diminuzione del peso medio dei capolini e, in secondo luogo, del loro numero. L'applicazione del modello di tolleranza alla salinità di Maas e Hoffman (1977) ha messo in evidenza la notevole variabilità tra le cultivar dei parametri caratteristici del modello che ne sintetizzano il grado di tolleranza: il livello di salinità oltre il quale comincia a manifestarsi una riduzione produttiva (soglia critica), la riduzione di produzione per ogni incremento unitario della ECe (pendenza), e il valore di ECe in corrispondenza del quale la produzione si dimezza (ECe50). I genotipi esaminati si suddividono in due gruppi in termini di soglia di tolleranza. Il primo gruppo ('Symphony', 'Tempo', 'A106', 'Opal' e 'Orlando') presenta un valore medio di 2,0 dS m-1, mentre il secondo 3,9 dS m-1. Combinando i valori di soglia con quelli relativi alla pendenza, molto variabile tra i genotipi, si ottengono valori di EC50 compresi tra 8,4 di 'Symphony', il genotipo meno tollerante la salinità, e 17,2 dS m-1 di 'Concerto', il genotipo più tollerante. Le informazioni ottenute possono essere utili agli agricoltori nella scelta dei genotipi di carciofo da coltivare in presenza di salinità. In particolare, la scelta deve essere orientata verso i genotipi con elevata soglia per valori di salinità moderati; in presenza di salinità elevata, invece, ci si dovrebbe orientare verso i genotipi con i più alti valori di ECe50.