Productivity and nutritional and nutraceutical value of strawberry fruits (Fragaria x ananassa Duch.) cultivated under irrigation with treated wastewaters

Abstract

BACKGROUNDAgriculture represents a productive sector typically characterized by a high water demand, whereas freshwater (FW) availability is a problem of increasing concern in the world and FW resources are becoming insufficient for sustaining agricultural irrigation. The reuse of treated wastewaters (TWWs) for crop irrigation could be an efficient tool for reducing water shortage. Hence, the present study evaluated the food quality of Fragaria x ananassa (cultivar Camarosa) fruits irrigated with four types of treated wastewaters (TWWs). Strawberries were analysed for yield, sucrose, fructose, glucose, total soluble polyphenols (TSP), total monomeric anthocyanins (TMA), and antiradical and antioxidant capacity. In addition, a targeted quantification of the most representative phenolic compounds of strawberry was performed.RESULTSTWWs complied the Italian ministerial decree 185/2003 for wastewater reuse, with very few exceptions, mainly represented by chloride concentrations (258–643 mg L–1 versus a legal threshold of 250 mg L–1). The reuse of TWWs reduced fruit yield (10–26%) compared to irrigation with tap water as a control. Irrigation with TWWs gave also rise to the decrease of total sugars (14–26%), TSP (2–10%) and TMA (29–49%). Individual phenolic acids, flavonols and flavanols were quite stable in response to the irrigation with TWWs, whereas anthocyanidins decreased significantly.CONCLUSIONAlthough TWWs negatively affected fruit quality, the nutritional and nutraceutical parameters determined in the present study were in line with data previously reported for strawberries purchased in the market or cultivated in research orchards, thus suggesting that the use of TWWs does not prevent the fruit marketability. © 2020 Society of Chemical Industry

Assessment of the impact of irrigation with treated wastewater at different dilutions on growth, quality parameters and contamination transfer in strawberry fruits and soil: Health risk assessment

“…They verified the valid alternative for the irrigation using tertiary TWW of strawberry crops, even with sprinklers. Renai et al (2021) showed that nutritional and nutraceutical quality determined by total soluble polyphenols and total monomeric anthocyanins concentrations in strawberries produced using tertiary TWWs irrigation included in the range of previously reported values for Camarosa fruits purchased in the market or cultivated in research.…”

Effects on strawberry plants of cadmium and glufosinate ammonium contaminated water

“…Mediterranean area suffer for water scarcity and climatic changes will exacerbate this situation (IPCC, 2021). Since water demand in strawberry is very high, alternative source of water like wastewater will be precious (Pedrero et al, 2018;Renai et al, 2021). Strawberry is normally produced in protected cultivation or in open eld.…”

Liquid Chromatographic Quadrupole Time-of-Flight Mass Spectrometric Untargeted Profiling of (Poly)phenolic Compounds in Rubus idaeus L. and Rubus occidentalis L. Fruits and Their Comparative Evaluation

“…Briefly, about 500 mg dry weight (d.w.) raspberry aliquots were mixed with 5 mL of acetone/10 mM NaF water/acetic acid (70:29.7:0.3, v / v / v ) and then vortexed for 30 s, sonicated in ice bath at controlled temperature (~0 °C) for 5 min and centrifuged at 8000× g for 10 min. This extraction protocol was replicated four times and its efficiency evaluated by measuring spectrophotometrically total soluble polyphenols (TSP) and total monomeric anthocyanins (TMA), as reported by Renai et al [ 26 ] (see Section 2 of the Supplementary Materials for full details), using calibration curve ranges of 5–10 µg of procyanidin B1 and 20–300 µg of cyanidin-3- O -sophoroside, respectively. The results show that the fourth extraction allowed for recovering 3.6–6.5% and 3.0–5.8% of TSP and TMA determined with three extractions.…”