SummaryTwo different cultivation systems, aeroponics and hydroponics in greenhouse beds, were compared for the production of potato minitubers. Plants in the aeroponic system showed increased vegetative growth, delayed tuber formation and an extended vegetative cycle of about seven months after transplanting. Therefore in 1999, two production cycles were obtained with the hydroponic system, but only one with the aeroponic system. However, compared with total production in hydroponics, the tuber yield per plant in the aeroponic system was almost 70% higher and tuber number more than 2.5 fold higher. Average tuber weight was reduced by 33% in the aeroponic system. Advantages and possible problems with the aeroponic system for minituber production are discussed.

Soil health can be defined as the continued capacity of a specific kind of soil to function as a vital living system, within natural or managed ecosystem boundaries, to sustain plant and animal productivity, to maintain or enhance the quality of air and water environments, and to support human health and habitation. Because of the conflicting pressures increasingly applied to the soil, it is clear that relevant indicators are urgently needed to assess and monitor soil health. Biological indicators of soil health offer certain advantages over physicochemical methods. Among the various biological indicators that have been proposed to monitor soil health, soil enzyme activities have great potential to provide a unique integrative biological assessment of soils and the possibility of assessing the health of the soil biota. Besides, soil enzyme activities provide an easy, relatively rapid, and low cost procedure to monitor soil health. Nevertheless, soil enzyme activities also present some limitations and must always be considered in conjunction with other biological and physicochemicals measurements if we are to diagnose soil health correctly.

The effects of variety and season on several organoleptic and nutritional quality parameters (i.e., dry weight (dw), total sugars, soluble solid compounds, titratable acidity (TA), electrical conductivity (EC), juiciness, firmness, vitamin C (vit C), total phenolic compounds, hydrophilic antioxidant capacity and minerals) of five different varieties of tomatoes (i.e., Jack, Cabrales, Jaguar, Iker and Nevada) grown in two crop cycles (spring and autumn) were studied. Each variety presented its own specific characteristics regarding the chosen parameters. Firmness, TA and EC were season dependent, whereas soluble solids content did not change between cycles. In some varieties, the dw, juiciness and total sugars were affected by climatic conditions. The total phenolic compounds and the hydrophilic antioxidant capacity were variety dependent in both cycles. By contrast, the vit C content was variety dependent only in the autumn cycle. Similarly, these latter parameters (phenolic compounds, hydrophilic antioxidant capacity and vit C) were also season dependent, showing higher values in the spring than in the autumn cycle. The effect of tomato variety and season on mineral contents is also discussed. Those tomatoes grown in the spring cycle had better quality according to the organoleptic parameters studied here as well as to a higher antioxidant capacity. The percentages of the recommended dietary allowances supplied by the studied tomatoes were not significantly affected by variety or season, despite differences in their physicochemical compositions.

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