Pitaya, an Attractive Alternative Crop for Mediterranean Region

Abstract

While the ongoing global warming and the economic crisis threaten horticultural and ornamental products production in the Mediterranean region, new challenges and opportunities for renewing plant material occur. Pitaya has great potential as a new crop for Mediterranean growers: it consumes little water and it adapts well to the high temperatures present in the greenhouse. Moreover, the market shows increasing demand of new, healthy exotic fruits and the fruit of these crops are worldwide appreciated as a super fruits. The aim of this study was to investigate the potential of introducing a new type of product that in addition to the aesthetic value can combine functional nutritional characteristics, through a whole chain approach, in order to develop basic knowledges and technical information that may lead to the commercial production of pitaya by small-scale farmers in Italy. The results of this study report and discuss various aspects to support the establishment of pitaya cultivation, such as its propagation by cuttings and micropropagation, greenhouse cultivation practices (through the clarification of the sprouting and flowering phenology as well as the fruit maturation period), while providing also information on the sensory properties and the antioxidant levels which naturally occurring in these fruits.

Climate Change Scenarios and the Dragon Fruit Climatic Zoning in Brazil

“…On the other hand, temperatures below 18 ºC cause fruit drop and increase the time for fruit development (Nerd and Mizrahi, 1998;Nerd et al, 2002). While high temperatures, above 26 ºC, promote a reduction in productivity and abortion of ower buds (Nerd and Mizrahi, 1998;Nerd et al, 2002;Zee et al, 2004;Mizrahi, 2014;Trivellini et al, 2020).…”

“…The pitaya or dragon fruit is an exotic fruit culture attractive to the consumer due to its eccentric appearance and its nutritional, antioxidant and anti-in ammatory bene ts (Tsai et al, 2019;Trivellini et al, 2020). Its agricultural and economic potential has promoted the expansion of cultivation to different regions of Brazil with varied climatic conditions.…”

Nutritional Analysis of Red-Purple and White-Fleshed Pitaya (Hylocereus) Species

“…Increasing awareness of the benefits of plant products to ensure adequate intake of macronutrients, dietary fiber, vitamins, micronutrients and phytochemicals that are very important to human health is increasingly widespread among the population. It has been reported that pitaya, which is very rich in bioactive substances such as betacyanins, phenolic compounds, polysaccharides and terpenoids, can be consumed as a preventive agent against cancer, obesity, type 2 diabetes and other metabolic disorders [18][19][20]. Recently, the identification and content of these phytochemicals in different plant products are of great importance due to their various positive effects on human health.…”

“…It is also associated with high antioxidant capacity of bioactive compounds, such as polyphenols, flavonoids and betacyanins, that have important functions for human health [12,28,[30][31][32]. Some epidemiological studies have shown that pitaya has various bioactivities such as antioxidant, anticancer, antimicrobial, anti-hyperlipidemic, anti-diabetic, hepatoprotective, and wound healing [6,12,17,19,33,34]. Therefore, pitaya appears to have many important compounds.…”

Breeding an underutilized fruit crop: a long-term program for Hylocereus

“…The peel is spineless in all the species with the exception of the yellow pitaya, Hylocereus megalanthus , which has large thorns that cover the peel (these thorns are easily removed upon fruit ripening) [ 9 , 11 ]. Hylocereus species and hybrids are currently cultivated in Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, China, India, Mexico, the USA, the Caribbean region, Australia, Brazil, and Israel and also in many other countries on a small scale [ 1 , 12 , 13 ].…”