Fruits and vegetables for healthy dietResearch potential

of the Institute of HorticultureSkierniewice, Poland

Public R&D institution supervised jointly by Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (administrative supervision) and Ministry of Science and Higher Education (financing and periodic evaluation)

Established on January 1st 2011 by merging:

Research Institute of Pomology and Floriculture (established in 1951)

and

Institute of Vegetable Crops(established in 1964)

Institute of HorticultureSkierniewice, Poland

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Staff

Total employment 575 people, in that:

• 23 full professors

• 21 associate professors

• 83 doctors

• 70 research assistants

• 240 engineers and lab technicians

• 70 administration

• 68 field workers and maintenance staff

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Main research activitiesand major achievements

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Creative breeding

More than 150 new cultivars bred, in that:

• apple rootstocks P 2, P 14, P 16, P 22 and P 6 • apple cultivars ‘Alwa’, ‘Ligol’, ‘Lodel’ and

‘Redcroft’ and other • black currants ‘Tisel’ and ‘Tiben’ and other• raspberry ‘Polana’, ‘Polka’ and other• several cultivars of pear, sweet and sour

cherry, plum, peach, apricot, strawberry, blackberry, gooseberry, and red currants

• Several cultivars of onion, cabbage, letuce, tomato, pepper and cucumber

The share of the cultivars bred at the Institute in new plantings in Poland varies from approximately 7% for apple to more than 40% for strawberry, 50% for cabbage and onion, 70% for raspberry to almost 100% for peppers

Genebank in Skierniewice is part of FAOnetwork. At present it consists of more than 6000 taksons of fruit, vegetable and ornamental plants, in that:1200 apples300 sweet and sour cherries200 pears160 plums150 peaches and apricots200 currants200 raspberries100 strawberries100 blueberries300 lilies700 tulips50 walnuts and hazels

Protection of genetic resources

Analysis of full genome sequence of 3 local isolates

of Plum Pox Virus (quarantine organism) and partial

sequences of several economically important plant

viruses, and bacteria

Developing molecular (PCR, RT-PCR, microarray),

serological (ELISA) and mixed (IC-RT-PCR) methods

of detection of most important pathogens of fruit,

vegetable and ornamental plants in Poland

Developing new, environment-safe methods of pest

and disease control

Developing methods for producing pathogen

(virus)- free planting material using meristem

cultures, thermotherapy and chemotherapy

Monitoring emergence of pesticide-resistant

pathogen strains

Testing new plant protection chemicals

Plant protection- virus, bacteria and fungal diseases

Plant protection - enthomology and pest control

• Studies on pests biology and ecology of agrocenoses, with special attention paid to pest-predator relationship

• Developing biological crop protection methods based on introduction of beneficial species (predators, parasites, entomopathogenic microorganisms) in plant protection programmes

• Pest occurrence monitoring, forecast (mathematical modeling) and signaling (early warning systems)

• Evaluating side effects of plant protection chemicals

• Developing official protection programmes for horrticultural crops

• Evaluating pesticide biological effectiveness

Molecular biology and biotechnology

Elucidating molecular mechanisms and developing molecular

markers of disease resistance in apple (fire blight, scab and

powdery mildew), plum (sharka), pear (fire blight),

strawberry (gey mould) and black currants (reversion)

Genotyping (DNA-fingerprinting) of most important

fruit and vagetable plant cultivars

Plant genetic transformation (plum carrying PPV coat

protein gene, strawberry carrying chitinase and

glucanase genes)

Plant micropropagation

Selecting somaclonal variants with improved

tolerance/resistance to diseases and abiotic stress

(strawberry somaclones highly tolerant to Verticillium

wilt and selected herbicides)

Climate changeand water stress

Analyzing cellular and molecular mechanisms of plant water stress

Mathematical modeling of plant water requirement and irrigation needs

Designing water efficient irrigation systems

Developing early warning system, based on remote sensing and weather radar data, for occurrence of atmospheric hazards like spring frosts, hails and prolonged drought periods

Designing hail and frost-protecting systems

Management of water resources for horticultural production

Soil biology and plant-soil interaction

• Identifiying major beneficial soil microorganisms (nitrogen-fixating and denitrification bacteria, mycorrhisal fungi) in natural environment and various agrocenoses

• Developing and maintainingcollection (genebank) of beneficial soil microorganisms

• Developing microbial symbiotic inocula and biofertilizers, adopted to various horticultural plant species and soils

• Developing sustainable cropping systems

Fruit harvestDecreasing labour cost and increasing

fruit quality

• Design of a series of berry fruit (currants, gooseberry, arronia, rose chips) harvesters, both self-propelled and tractor-pulled, tailored to the needs of various farm sizes

• Design of the first in the world sour cherry harvester working in continuous mode. Adoption to olive harvesting is under way

Due to prompt implementation (licenses sold to several agricultural machinery producers) Poland become first in the world producer of black currants and other berry fruits

Tunnel sprayersMore efficient plant protection due to

more precise leaf cover with spray fluid Protection of environment due to 80%

reduction of the spray drift and 30% less spray fluid used

Decrease of plant protection cost

Spray application techniques

Fruit and vegetablestorage and processing

• Developing non destructive methods for determining optimal harvest window and fruit quality

• Developing new storage technologies,including Dynamic Controlled Atmosphere (DCA), use of inhibitors of ethylene biosynthesis and perception, and various postharvest treatment

• Developing technology of naturally cloudy fruit juices („smoothee”)

• Developing technology of fruit and vegetable chips, ready-to-eat dried fruit snacks and breakfast fruit

• Evaluating (within joint projects) nutritional and health value of new fruit and vegetables and processed products thereof

• Bee breeding• Bee disease control• Bee products collection, conservation and storage• Evaluation of bee products quality• Developing methods for determining honey origin and

detecting adulteration• Introduction of bumblebee and other wild bee species

for plant pollination

Honey bee research

Product quality analysis

Analyses of:• Fruit and vegetable quality (sensoricand instrumental)

• Pesticide residues (GC-MS, LC-MS-MS)• Mycotoxin content (LC-MS-MS, LC-DAD)• Mineral composition, including heavymetal content (ICP)

Institute’s laboratories have ISO/IEC 17025 and/or GLP certificates. In addition to research, they perform commercial analysis (pesticide residues, heavy metals, nitrites and nitrates and mycotoxins) for food producers and exporters. It is estimated that Institute’s laboratories have 50% share of commercial food analysis market in Poland

International cooperation

Running internationalprojects:• 3 projects within 7th FP• 1 project within Life-

environment programme• 9 bilateral projects• 9 Projects financed from

European Regional Development Fund

• Participation in 9 COST Actions

Implementationand promotion

Approximately 10 000 consultancies

given annually

3000 visitors, on average, during

„open days”

One major international and 15-20

domestic conferences organized

annually

Exhibitions on 5-6 domestic and

international fairs

In 2011 the Institute was entrusted

with organising conference „Food

and nutrition in 21st century”, which

is an official event of the Polish

Presidency in EU. The Conference is

supported by European Commission

with 7th FP project „FoodConference”

Interested in joint proposals

in the following areas:

• Biotechnology in fruit and vegetable plant breeding and plant protection

• Molecular and cellular mechanisms of plant resistance to pest diseases

• Climater change and emergence of new pest and diseases –early warning and risk management systems

• Climate change impact on toxigenic microbial species and mycotoxin food contamination

• Mitigating impact of climate change on irrigation water availability by adapting crop systems to limited water resources, including plant breeding for water-stress tolerance, designing early warning and risk-management systems for prolonged drought periods and improving management of water resources

Interested in joint proposals

in the following areas:

• Physiology, biochemistry and molecular biology of tolerance to abiotic stresses, including drought, salinity, flooding, ozone and elevated UV radiation.

• Soil biology, plant-soil interaction and sustainable cropping systems

• Atmospheric carbon sequestration by adopting soil cultivation systems enhancing accumulation of soil biomass

• Innovative fruit and vegetable storage technologies for reducing postharvest losses and improving product quality

• Innovative fruit and vegetable products with high content of bioactive components and health promoting properties

• Introducing new or little-known fruit and vegetable species

• Bee health, especially colony collapse disorder

• Enhancing biodiversity in plant pollination – reintroducing wild pollinating insects

Contact person:

Prof. Dr Lech MichalczukInstitute of Horticulture

Department of Plant Physiology

and Biochemistry

Pomologiczna 18

96-100 Skierniewice, Poland

e-mail: lech.michalczuk@insad.pl

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Thank you for your attention