Strawberry+

UNIVERSIDADE DO PORTO || UNIVERSIDADE CATÓLICA PORTUGUESA

Strawberry (Fragaria ananassa Duch) is the preferred fruit in the fruit processing industry, representing over 40% of the total fruit volume purchased by Frulact. The adequacy of the strawberry fruit and its quality for the fruit processing industry must be nurtured from the field to the final product. In light of the competitiveness in the Agrofood industry, this sector has to constantly work towards meeting the expectations of an increasingly demanding consumer in terms of reducing additives, reducing environmental impact and providing new experiences through innovative products. It is therefore vital to understand if it is possible to increase the intrinsic quality of the fresh material, diminish contamination during production and post-harvest, and concomitantly develop innovative products. The main objective of this project is to increase the suitability of strawberry for technological processing (targeting at an industrial premium strawberry: with higher firmness, brix, better color, lower microbial load and with fewer chemical residues) and to reduce post-harvest losses. As specific goals, we aim to:

• test novel approaches to optimize the quality and productivity of strawberry, with a main focus on fertilization and application of growth regulators;
• conduct a comparative analysis of a soil vs. hydroponic production system in terms of productivity, intrinsic quality, sensorial quality and microbiological load / disease incidence;
• optimize the yield and efficacy of the 1st transformation (fruit cut and disinfection);
• testing the maintenance and integrity of novel fruit shapes to be used in the development of innovative products. The consortium team members have vast experience in coordinating and participating in research projects in this field (both at national and international level), including previous successful collaborations.