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[EN] The Mediterranean agro-food systems need to be properly managed. A promising pathway is the transition towards more sustainable food systems through agroecology, which represents the ecology of food systems. In this paper, the state-of-the-art of agroecology is described for three representative euro-Mediterranean countries: Italy, Greece, and Spain. The analysis has been partly based on results of a dedicated literature search and partly on grey literature and expert knowledge. After an overview of the history of agroecology, targeted research and education, collective action (political and social), and some agroecological practices in the three countries are presented. These countries share a rather similar use of the term "agroecology", but they differ regarding (i) the existence/extent of strong civil and social movements; (ii) the type of study/educational programmes, and the relative importance of different scientific disciplines and their evolution; (iii) the development of political support and legal frameworks; and (iv) the elaboration of concepts to rediscover traditional practices and apply new ones, often taken from the organic agriculture sector. Agroecology is an emerging concept for the Mediterranean agricultural sector, with huge potential due to the peculiar socio-cultural, bio-physical, and political-economic features of the region. To boost agroecology in Mediterranean Europe, better networking and engagement of different actors within a coherent institutional framework supporting the transition is strongly needed. ; Migliorini, P.; Gkisakis, V.; Gonzálvez, V.; Raigón Jiménez, MD.; Bàrberi, P. (2018). Agroecology in Mediterranean Europe: Genesis, State and Perspectives. Sustainability. 10(8). https://doi.org/10.3390/su10082724 ; S ; 2724 ; 10 ; 8

249 256 71 4 ; S ; [EN] Introduction. Interest in grafting onto rootstocks resistant to soil-borne pathogens has risen since the phasing-out of methyl bromide, an efficient soil disinfectant. In this study, we have evaluated the putative effect of rootstock¿scion combinations on pepper fruit nutritional quality in relation to grafting, an effect that is sometimes overlooked. Materials and methods. As the scions, we used two representative sweet pepper cultivars, `Almuden¿ and `Coyote¿, and as rootstocks `Foc¿ and `Charlot¿, both resistant to Phytophthora capsici and Meloidogyne incognita. Dry matter, soluble solids, proteins, phenolics, and vitamin C content, as well as eight minerals (P, K, Ca, Mg, Na, Fe, Cu, and Zn) were measured in fruits from non-grafted, self-grafted, and grafted plants. Results and discussion. Differences in the fruit composition were found, depending on the genotype, rootstock, or rootstock¿scion combination. The main effects were as follows. Higher values of ¿Brix, phenolics, P, Mg, and Na were found in the fruit of `Coyote¿ whereas the vitamin C and Fe levels were higher in `Almuden¿ fruit. The dry matter, protein, and K concentrations were higher in the fruit from grafted plants with respect to the values from non-grafted plants, especially in the fruit from plants grafted onto `Charlot¿ and `Foc¿ rootstocks (increases of 11.8%, 17.6%, and 9.6%, respectively; when average values of the four combinations of these rootstocks). Fruit from `Almuden¿ and `Coyote¿ plants grafted onto the rootstock `Foc¿ had lower ¿Brix values (about one degree less than the control) and lower values of phenolics were also obtained when used this rootstock (14.4% less than for the control). On the other hand, the P concentration was higher in the fruit of `Coyote¿ grafted onto `Charlot¿ (17.2% higher than for the control). This combination also exhibited the highest fruit K concentration (226.70 mg 100 g¿1 fresh weight). Conclusion. From a nutritional point of view it is important to evaluate and select the ...

[EN] Phytophthora capsici has caused a major disease of pepper worldwide and only some partially resistant pepper cultivars are commercially available. In this work P. capsici resistance has been evaluated in the pepper hybrids Chariot and Foe, derived from pepper SCM 334, the most promising P. capsici resistance source. Inoculations with a highly virulent R capsici isolate Pc-8 and the isolates Pc-448 and Pc-450 show that both hybrids have a level of tolerance that is similar to SCM 334. The measurement of the agronomic performance of both hybrids when used as rootstocks was made by comparing growth, yield, and the fruit quality of two commercial peppers (Coyote and Almuden) that were grafted onto Foe and Chariot. Comparisons were made with non-grafted and self-grafted plants. No differences were observed for growth since earliness in fruit maturity has been observed in Coyote grafted onto both Chariot and Foe rootstocks. Grafted plants produced a higher number of fruits per plant. However, higher commercial yields were only obtained in Coyote-grafted plants. Almuden-grafted and self-grafted plants showed a greater variability in fruit shape. Differences among Coyote- and Almuden-grafted plants are indicative of the importance of rootstock-scion interaction. Some fruit modifications such as changes in shape were observed in grafted and in self-grafted plants. Therefore, these modifications may be partially the consequence of the grafting process. Grafting onto both Foe and Chariot rootstocks did not modify the pericarp thickness and the mean number of lobes per fruit in Coyote and Almuden fruit. A slight increase in minerals and similar vitamin C content, a very important nutritional quality trait of peppers, were also obtained in the analysed fruit from grafted, self-grafted, and ungrafted plants. ; This work was funded by the Agroalimed Fundación (supported by the Valencian regional government – the Comunidad Valenciana). The excellent technical assistance of Mrs. Nuria Palacios is gratefully acknowledged. We ...

[EN] Increasing the content in bioactive phenolics in the eggplant (Satanum melongena) fruit is of interest, but may result in enhanced browning. We evaluated six varieties of S. melongena, 22 accessions of wild related species and 42 interspecific hybrids between cultivated eggplant and wild relatives for phenolics content, fruit flesh colour, polyphenol oxidase (PPO) activity, and fruit flesh browning. Wild relatives generally had a higher content in phenolics and a broader range of variation than cultivated eggplant. Chlorogenic acid was the predominant ( > 65.0%) phenolic acid in cultivated eggplant and its primary genepool wild ancestor S. insanum, while for the other wild species on average represented 50% of the chromatogram peak area. Fruit flesh colour was lighter in S. melongena than in the wild species, while PPO activity and browning was much higher in wild species of the secondary and tertiary genepools. Interspecific hybrids between S. melongena and S. insanum were intermediate in their characteristics, while those with secondary and tertiary genepool species were more similar to the wild species. No significant correlations were found between total phenolics or chlorogenic acid contents and fruit flesh browning, but PPO activity was correlated to both the degree of browning (r = 0.404) and colour difference (r = 0.458). The results indicate that wild species can contribute to improving the bioactive properties of eggplant without affecting negatively fruit flesh colour and browning. ; This work has been funded in part by the initiative "Adapting Agriculture to Climate Change: Collecting, Protecting and Preparing Crop Wild Relatives", which is supported by the Government of Norway (GS13044 and GS17011). This project is managed by the Global Crop Diversity Trust with the Millennium Seed Bank of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and implemented in partnership with national and international gene banks and plant breeding institutes around the world. For further information see the project website: ...

[EN] The study of the diversity within and between major Solanaceae crops (pepper, tomato, eggplant) is of interest for the selection and development of balanced diets. We have measured thirty-six major fruit composition traits, encompassing sugars, organic acids, antioxidants and minerals, in a set of 10 accessions per crop for pepper, tomato and eggplant, grown under the same cultivation conditions. The aim was to evaluate the diversity within species and to provide an accurate comparison of fruit composition among species by reducing to a minimum the environmental effect. Pepper, tomato and eggplant had a clearly distinct composition profile. Pepper showed the highest average content in total sugars and organic acids. Fructose and glucose were the major sugar compounds in the three species, although in pepper and tomato sucrose was present only in trace amounts. Citric acid was the major organic acid in pepper and tomato, while in eggplant it was malic acid. Pepper and eggplant had the highest total antioxidant activity. Vitamin C content was much higher in pepper than in tomato and eggplant, while eggplant accumulated high concentrations of chlorogenic acid. Furthermore, eggplant was the species with higher content in most minerals, particularly for K, Mg and Cu, while pepper was the richest in Fe. Due to their complementary nutritional profiles, a combined regular consumption of the three vegetables would supply more than 20% of the Dietary Reference Intake of several of the analysed phytochemicals. The large diversity within each species is of interest for selecting varieties with better nutritional and organoleptic profiles, as well as for breeding new cultivars. ; This work has been funded by the European Union's Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme under grant agreement No. 677379 (Linking genetic resources, genomes and phenotypes of Sola-naceous crops; G2PSOL) . Elena RosaMartinez is grateful to the Spanish Ministerio de Economia, Industria y Competitividad for a pre-doctoral grant ...