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The effectiveness of conservation agriculture (CA) and other soil management strategies implying a reduction of tillage has been shown to be site-dependent (crop, clime and soil), and thus any new soil and crop management should be rigorously evaluated before its implementation. Moreover, farmers are normally reluctant to abandon conventional practices if this means putting their production at risk. This study evaluates an innovative soil and crop management (including no-tillage, cover crops and organic amendments) as an alternative to conventional management for rainfed cereal cropping in a calcareous soil in a semi-arid Mediterranean climatic zone of Navarra (Spain), based on the analysis of soil water retention curves (SWRCs) and soil structure. The study was carried out in a small agricultural area in the municipality of Garínoain (Navarre, Spain) devoted to rainfed cereal cropping. No other agricultural area in the whole region of Navarre exists where soil and crop management as proposed herein is practiced. Climate is temperate Mediterranean, and the dominant soil is Fluventic Haploxerept. Within the study area there is a subarea devoted to the proposed soil and crop management (OPM treatment), while there is another subarea where the soil and crop management is conventional in the zone (CM treatment). OPM includes no-tillage (18 years continuous) after conventional tillage, crop rotation, use of cover crops and occasional application of organic amendments. CM involves continuous conventional tillage (chisel plow), mineral fertilization, no cover crops and a lower diversity of crops in the rotation. Undisturbed soil samples from the topsoil and disturbed samples from the tilled layer were collected for both systems. The undisturbed samples were used to obtain the detailed SWRCs in the low suction range using a HYPROP©device. From the SWRCs, different approaches found in the literature to evaluate soil physical quality were calculated. The pore-size distribution was also estimated from the SWRCs. Disturbed samples were used in the laboratory to assess soil structure by means of an aggregate-size fractionation and to perform complementary analysis from which other indicators related to soil functioning and agricultural sustainability were obtained. The approaches evaluated did not show clear differences between treatments. However, the differences in soil quality between the two forms of management were better observed in the pore size distributions and by the analysis of the size distribution and stability of soil aggregates. There was an overabundance of macropores under CM, while the amount of mesopores (available water) and micropores were similar in both treatments. Likewise, more stable macroaggregates were observed in OPM than in CM, as well as more organic C storage, greater microbial activity, and biomass. The proposed management system is providing good results regarding soil physical quality and contributing also to the enhancement of biodiversity, as well as to the improvement in water-use efficiency. Finally, our findings suggest that the adoption of the proposed practice would not result in a loss in yields compared to conventional management. This study was partially supported by the Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (Government of Spain) via research project CGL2015-64284-C2-1-R and PID2020-112908RB-I00 funded by 568 MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033/FEDER “Una manera de hacer Europa”.

Previous studies have reported that dietary sphingomyelin could inhibit early stages of colon cancer. Lactic acid–producing bacteria have also been associated with an amelioration of cancer symptoms. However, little is known about the potential beneficial effects of the combined administration of both sphingomyelin and lactic acid–producing bacteria. This article analyzes the effect of a diet supplemented with a combination of the probiotics Lacticaseibacillus casei and Bifidobacterium bifidum (108 CFU/ml) and sphingomyelin (0.05%) on mice with 1,2-dimethylhydrazine (DMH)-induced colon cancer. Thirty-six BALB/c mice were divided into 3 groups: one healthy group (group C) and two groups with DMH-induced cancer, one fed a standard diet (group D) and the other fed a diet supplemented with sphingomyelin and probiotics (DS). The number of aberrant crypt foci, marker of colon cancer development, was lower in the DS. The dietary supplementation with the synbiotic reversed the cancer-induced impairment of galactose uptake in enterocyte brush–border–membrane vesicles. These results confirm the beneficial effects of the synbiotic on the intestinal physiology of colon cancer mice and contribute to the understanding of the possible mechanisms involved. This study was supported by the Government of Spain grant number AGL 2006–1029-C02-01/ALI, CIBER (CB12/03/30002) and the Department of Innovation, Business and Employment of the Government of Navarra (Spain).

Wheat is one of the most important crops worldwide, and thus the use of remote sensing data for wheat monitoring has attracted much interest. Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) observations show that, at C-band and VV polarization, wheat canopy attenuates the surface scattering component from the underlying soil during a significant part of its growth cycle. This behavior needs to be accounted for or corrected before soil moisture retrieval is attempted. The objective of this paper is to develop a new method for wheat attenuation correction (WATCOR) applicable to Sentinel-1 VV time series and based solely on the information contained in the time series itself. The hypothesis of WATCOR is that without attenuation, VV backscatter would follow a stable long-term trend during the agricultural season, with short-term variations caused by soil moisture dynamics. The method relies on time series smoothing and changing point detection, and its implementation follows a series of simple steps. The performance of the method was compared by evaluating the correlation between backscatter and soil moisture content in six wheat fields with available soil moisture data. The Water Cloud Model (WCM) was also applied as a benchmark. The results showed that WATCOR successfully removed the attenuation in the time series, and achieved the highest correlation with soil moisture, improving markedly the correlation of the original backscatter. WATCOR can be easily implemented, as it does not require parameterization or any external data, only an approximate indication of the period where attenuation is likely to occur. This work was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation through project PID2019-107386RB-I00 / AEI / 10.13039/501100011033 and doctoral grant (BES-2017-080560).

Tesis doctoral presentada para lograr el título de Doctor por la Universidad Pública de Navarra, Departamento de Agronomía, Biotecnología y Alimentación, Programa de Doctorado en Biotecnología, Las plantas son metaorganismos que regulan su desarrollo y metabolismo en respuesta a diferentes estímulos externos. Conviven con microorganismos emisores de compuestos que difunden a través del suelo tales como azúcares, proteínas, exopolisacáridos, sideróforos, ácidos grasos, ácidos orgánicos, aminoácidos y hormonas que modifican la fotosíntesis, el metabolismo y el crecimiento de las plantas (Philippot et al., 2013; De-la-Peña and Loyola-Vargas, 2014; Backer et al., 2018). Los microorganismos beneficiosos también emiten compuestos volátiles (VCs) que fomentan el crecimiento, la captación de nutrientes y la fotosíntesis, modulan la arquitectura de la raíz, activan la respuesta de defensa de la planta e incrementan su resistencia al estrés salino y la sequía (Ryu et al., 2003; Zhang et al., 2008; Splivallo et al., 2009; Zhang et al., 2009; Gutiérrez-Luna et al., 2010; Kanchiswamy et al., 2015; Park et al., 2015; Ledger et al., 2016). Estudios llevados a cabo por el grupo de investigación en el que he realizado mi tesis doctoral demostraron que las bacterias y los hongos fitopatógenos también emiten VCs con propiedades bioestimulantes (Sánchez-López et al., 2016b). Cambios en el crecimiento, la fotosíntesis, el desarrollo y el metabolismo de la planta inducidos por VCs microbianos están asociados a grandes variaciones en el transcriptoma, el proteoma y el redox-proteoma de la planta (Sánchez- López et al., 2016b; Ameztoy et al., 2019, 2021). Tales variaciones sugieren que la respuesta de la planta a los VCs microbianos está regulada tanto a nivel transcripcional como no-transcripcional. Con el fin de profundizar en los mecanismos que median la relación entre la planta y los microorganismos, en este trabajo investigué el papel que juega el transportador de hexosas fosfato plastidial (GPT2) inducible por VCs en la respuesta de la planta modelo de laboratorio Arabidopsis thaliana a VCs emitidos por el hongo fitopatógeno Altenaria alternata. Además, investigué el papel que juega en dicha respuesta el residuo de cisteína 95 de la fructosa bifosfatasa plastidial (cFBP1), un enzima del ciclo de Calvin-Benson cuya actividad está sujeta a cambios en el estado redox inducibles por la luz. En el capítulo 1 de esta tesis presento los resultados de mi investigación sobre el papel que juega GPT2 en la respuesta de las plantas a VCs microbianos. Para realizar esta investigación, analicé y comparé el crecimiento, la fotosíntesis y el proteoma de plantas wild type (WT), mutantes carentes GPT2 (gpt2-1), mutantes carentes PGI1 (pgi1-2) y doble mutante pgi1-2gpt2-1 cultivadas en presencia o ausencia de VCs fúngicos. Además, caractericé la respuesta a estos compuestos de plantas pgi1-2/gpt2-1 que expresan GPT2 bajo el control de un promotor específico de haces vasculares. Finalmente, caractericé el patrón de expresión de GPT2 en plantas que expresan el gen reportero GUS bajo la acción de la secuencia promotora de GPT2. Los resultados obtenidos mostraron que, de manera similar a lo que ocurre en plantas WT, los VCs fomentan el crecimiento, la fotosíntesis y la acumulación de citoquininas activas y almidón en plantas pgi1-2 y gpt2-1. Tal respuesta fue reducida en plantas pgi1-2gpt2-1 y se revirtió a WT al expresar GPT2 en haces vasculares., Estudios comparativos de los proteomas de plantas pgi1-2 y pgi1-2gpt2-1 mostraron que GPT2 regula la expresión de proteínas relacionadas con la fotosíntesis. Es más, los estudios de expresión mostraron que GPT2 se expresa en haces vasculares y está sujeto a complejos mecanismos de regulación. Globalmente, los resultados presentados en este capítulo indican que en condiciones en las cuales la actividad de PGI está reducida, la respuesta de la planta a VCs microbianos conlleva una regulación de la expresión de proteínas relacionadas con la fotosíntesis a través de mecanismos en los que GPT2 juega un papel importante en la provisión de sustrato necesario para la producción de citoquininas en haces vasculares. Trabajos llevados a cabo en el grupo de investigación en el que he realizado este mi tesis mostraron que la exposición a VCs microbianos conlleva cambios globales en el redox-proteoma de las plantas (Ameztoy et al., 2019). Tales cambios incluían la reducción de residuos de cisteína altamente conservados a lo largo de la evolución de enzimas del ciclo de Calvin-Benson. En el capítulo 2 presento los resultados de mi investigación sobre el papel que juega el residuo de cisteína 95 de la cFBP1 en su actividad, en la fotosíntesis y en la respuesta de las plantas a VCs microbianos. Para realizar esta investigación, comparé las propiedades electroforéticas y cinéticas de cFBP1 WT y una forma mutada en la que el residuo de cisteína 95 fue sustituido por un residuo de serina (C95S). Además, comparé la fotosíntesis y el crecimiento de plantas de Arabidopsis cfbp1 carentes de cFBP1 endógena que expresan ectópicamente formas WT o C95S de cFBP1. Los resultados mostraron que el residuo de cisteína 95 juega un papel importante en la actividad de cFBP1 y en la fotosíntesis, pero no en el crecimiento de Arabidopsis., Beca predoctoral de la Universidad Pública de Navarra; Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (MICINN) y Agencia Estatal de Investigación (AEI)/10.13039/501100011033/(proyectos BIO2016-78747-P y PID2019-104685GB-100).

We present a novel approach to harmonic disturbance removal in single-channel wind turbine acceleration data by means of time-variant signal modeling. Harmonics are conceived as a set of quasi-stationary sinusoids whose instantaneous amplitude and phase vary slowly and continuously in a short-time analysis frame. These non-stationarities in the harmonics are modeled by low-degree time polynomials whose coefficients capture the instantaneous dynamics of the corresponding waveforms. The model is linear-in-parameters and is straightforwardly estimated by the linear least-squares algorithm. Estimates from contiguous analysis frames are further combined in the overlap-add fashion in order to yield overall harmonic disturbance waveform and its removal from the data. The algorithm performance analysis, in terms of input parameter sensitivity and comparison against three state-of-the-art methods, has been carried out with synthetic signals. Further model validation has been accomplished through real-world signals and stabilization diagrams, which are a standard tool for determining modal parameters in many timedomain modal identification algorithms. The results show that the proposed method exhibits a robust performance particularly when only the average rotational speed is known, as is often the case for stand-alone sensors which typically carry out data pre-processing for structural health monitoring. Moreover, for real-world analysis scenarios, we show that the proposed method delivers consistent vibration mode parameter estimates, which can straightforwardly be used for structural health monitoring. This work has been partially funded by Grant TED2021-130646B-I00 (UNDERVINE) by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 and by the European Union NextGeneration EU/PRTR and by Grant PC044-045 (CUALVID) by Gobierno de Navarra (0011-1383-2022-000000). F. J. Abad is a beneficiary of the postgraduate scholarship funded by INIA (FPI-INIA-2016).

La hoja de olivo (Olea europea L.) es un residuo de la industria oleícola que puede llegar a suponer hasta un 5 % de la masa de aceituna que se recibe en las almazaras. Sin embargo, su concentración en compuestos fenólicos, con una elevada capacidad antioxidante, podría suponer la valorización de este residuo en la industria alimentaria. El objetivo principal de esta tesis doctoral fue la valorización de la hoja de olivo mediante la aplicación del extracto encapsulado de sus compuestos fenólicos como antioxidante en aceite de fritura. Para la obtención del extracto de hoja de olivo (EHO), se abordó la caracterización y estabilización de las hojas mediante diferentes métodos de secado (estufa, estufa a vacío, liofilización y secado al aire) y se optimizó la extracción de los compuestos fenólicos mediante extracción sólido-líquido convencional (ESL), extracción sólido-líquido asistida por ultrasonidos (EAU) y extracción con CO2 supercrítico (EFS). Además, se investigaron dos tecnologías para la encapsulación de EHO, dispersión y atomización (CDA) y emulsión doble y atomización (CEDA). Se determinó el efecto antioxidante de las CDA y CEDA sobre aceite de girasol refinado. Finalmente, se investigó el efecto de la incorporación de EHO encapsulado en aceite de fritura sobre las características y la aceptación sensorial de patatas fritas. Entre las hojas de olivo caracterizadas, se seleccionaron las hojas de ‘Arbequina’ ecológicas secadas al aire. La EAU fue el método más efectivo en la extracción de compuestos fenólicos de la hoja de olivo con capacidad antioxidante. Las CDA y CEDA desarrolladas aumentaron la estabilidad oxidativa y térmica del aceite de girasol. Las CDA, además, mejoraron la estabilidad durante la fritura del aceite de girasol en un 26,2 % respecto al aceite sin antioxidantes y en un 10,5 % respecto al aceite con tertbutilhidroquinona (TBHQ). Por último, la incorporación de EHO en forma de CDA al aceite de girasol no afectó a la aceptación sensorial de las patatas fritas. Por tanto, según los resultados expuestos en esta tesis doctoral, la cápsula de EHO (CDA) desarrollada en esta investigación podría ser una alternativa natural a los antioxidantes sintéticos utilizados actualmente en la industria alimentaria. Olive (Olea europaea L.) leaf is a residue of olive industry that could suppose up to the 5 % of the olive’s mass that is received in the olive mills. However, its concentration in phenolic compounds, with high antioxidant capacity, could entail the valorization of this residue in the food industry. The main objective of this doctoral thesis was the valorization of the olive leaf through the application of the encapsulated extract of its phenolic compounds as an antioxidant in frying oil. To obtain the olive leaf extract (EHO), the characterization and stabilization of the leaves were addressed by different drying methods (oven, vacuum oven, freeze-drying and airdrying) and the extraction of phenolic compounds was optimized by conventional solidliquid extraction (ESL), ultrasound-assisted solid-liquid extraction (UAE) and supercritical CO2 extraction (EFS). In addition, two technologies for EHO encapsulation, dispersion and spray-drying (CDA) and double emulsion and spray-drying (CEDA), were investigated. The antioxidant effect of CDA and CEDA on refined sunflower oil was determined. Finally, the effect of incorporating encapsulated EHO in frying oil was investigated on the characteristics and sensory acceptance of French fries. Among the olive leaves characterized, air-dried organic 'Arbequina' leaves were selected. The EAU was the most effective method in the extraction of phenolic compounds from the olive leaf with antioxidant capacity. The CDA and CEDA developed increased the oxidative and thermal stability of sunflower oil. The CDA also improved the stability during frying of sunflower oil by 26.2 % compared to the oil without antioxidants and by 10.5 % compared to the oil with tertbutylhydroquinone (TBHQ). Finally, the incorporation of EHO as CDA to sunflower oil did not affect the sensory acceptance of the French fries. Therefore, according to the results presented in this doctoral thesis, the EHO capsule (CDA) developed in this research could be a natural alternative to the synthetic antioxidants currently used in the food industry. Este trabajo ha sido financiado por el proyecto 0011-1408-2017-000023 de convocatoria de Doctorados Industriales 2018-2020 de Gobierno de Navarra. Programa de Doctorado en Agroalimentación (RD 99/2011) Nekazaritzako Elikagaietako Doktoretza Programa (ED 99/2011)

The aim of the study was to determine the profile of bioactive compounds in cocoa residues (mucilage and bean shells), and to evaluate their antioxidant activity in two cocoa varieties, Nacional X Trinitario type (Fine Aroma) and the variety CCN-51. The extraction of phytonutrients from the residues was carried out selectively. The characterization and quantification of the total polyphenol content (TPC), and the total flavonoid content (TFC) were determined by UV–VIS spectrophotometry. High-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) was used to determine the phenolic profile and methylxanthines. The antioxidant activity was evaluated by the methods of 2-azinobis (3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) cation bleaching (ABTS), ferric-reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) and oxygen radical absorbance capacity (ORAC). The exudate mucilage samples from Nacional X Trinitario-type cocoa presented the highest content of TPC 105.08 mg gallic acid equivalents (GAE)/100 mL, TFC 36.80 mg catechin equivalents (CE)/100 mL, catechin (CAT) 35.44 mg/g, procyanidins (PCB2: 35.10; PCB1: 25.68; PCC1: 16.83 mg/L), epicatechin (EPI) 13.71 mg/L, caffeine (CAF) 0.90% and theobromine (TBR) 2.65%. In the cocoa bean shell, the variety CCN-51 presented a higher content of TPC (42.17 mg GAE/100 g) and TFC (20.57 mg CE/100 g). However, CAT (16.16 mg/g), CAF (0.35%) and TBR (1.28%) were higher in the Nacional X Trinitario cocoa type. The EPI presented no significant differences between the two samples studied (0.83 and 0.84 mg/g). The antioxidant activity values (ABTS, FRAP and ORAC methods) were higher in the samples of CCN-51 than in the Nacional X Trinitario type. The bean shell samples presented antioxidant values of 171.32, 192.22 and 56.87 mg Trolox equivalents (TE)/g, respectively, and the bean shell samples presented antioxidant values of 167.06, 160.06 and 52.53 mg TE/g, respectively. The antioxidant activity (ABTS, FRAP and ORAC) of the residues was correlated with the bioactive compounds of the mucilage and bean shells, showing a strong positive correlation (

El uso de concentrados proteínas lácteas como ingredientes alimentarios va en aumento debido a su alto valor nutricional y funcional. Una buena estrategia para la obtención de estos concentrados es la filtración por membranas, ya que permite separar y concentrar componentes concretos de la leche, pero manteniendo su estructura nativa. Este es el caso de los concentrados (MCC) o aislados de caseína micelar (MCI), los cuales han sido parcialmente separados de las proteínas del suero, lactosa y minerales solubles y finalmente secados por pulverización. Sin embargo, estos concentrados proteicos en polvo deben dispersarse y disolverse para desempeñar su función como ingredientes alimentarios, lo cual presenta un problema debido a su difícil reconstitución. Como alternativa, su manejo en forma líquida supondría una importante ventaja competitiva, pero se debe tener en cuenta que su manipulación en forma líquida los hace altamente vulnerables al deterioro microbiológico y a otros tipos de alteraciones. Por todo ello, en esta Tesis Doctoral se ha explorado el comportamiento y estabilidad de estos concentrados líquidos tratados por altas presiones; así como, su combinación con una barrera adicional antibacteriana como es la nisina. También se ha recurrido a esta tecnología no térmica para tratar mezclas de bases lácteas para la elaboración de yogures con alto contenido en proteína. Además, en las instalaciones de FrieslandCampina Innovation Centre (Wageningen, Países Bajos), se ha profundizado en el estudio del efecto de las sales secuestrantes, concretamente el hexametafosfato de sodio (SHMP) y citrato trisódico (TSC), sobre soluciones de MCI, así como en el efecto que tiene el SHMP sobre estas soluciones cuando son tratadas térmicamente y su estabilidad en el tiempo. En cuanto a los hallazgos más relevantes, indicar que el tratamiento de los concentrados de caseína micelar líquidos (LMCC) a 600 MPa durante 5 minutos ha conseguido garantizar la calidad microbiana, sin embargo, a esas altas presiones se producen procesos de fraccionamiento y reagrupación en las estructuras micelares que repercuten en la textura final. No obstante, se ha visto que la adición de nisina a los LMCC permite reducir la presión aplicada a 450 MPa alcanzado los niveles de reducción microbiana obtenidos a 600 MPa, pero sin afectar las propiedades fisicoquímicas de los concentrados. Respecto a los yogures elaborados con LMCC tratados tanto térmicamente como por altas presiones, se ha comprobado que ambos han presentado gran capacidad de retención de agua y firmeza, pero se han observado diferencias entre los dos tratamientos en cuanto a la viscosidad del yogur (batido), resaltando la potencialidad del tratamiento no térmico. Como aspectos relevantes de las investigaciones con MCI, se ha comprobado que ambas sales secuestrantes (TSC y SHMP) inducen la disrupción de la micela de caseína, pero su modo de acción es distinto. Así pues, se ha hipotetizado que TSC forma complejos solubles de Ca-Citrato solubilizando el fosfato inorgánico de la micela, mientras que SHMP actúa como agente peptizante induciendo a la disrupción del fosfato cálcico micelar, pero no solubilizándolo. Además, cuando el SHMP es añadido a una solución de MCI y calentado a distintas combinaciones de temperatura y tiempo, simulando las condiciones industriales, se produce una hidrólisis del SHMP que provoca un descenso acusado del pH y de la viscosidad. No obstante, estas soluciones con SHMP han mostrado muy buena estabilidad durante su almacenamiento, demostrando su capacidad como agente estabilizante. The use of milk protein concentrates as ingredients is increasing due to their excellent functional and nutritional value. A good strategy for obtaining these concentrates is the use of membrane filtration as it allows to separate and concentrate specific compounds of milk maintaining their native structure. This is the case of micellar casein concentrates (MCC) or isolates (MCI), which have been partially separated from whey proteins, lactose and soluble minerals and finally spray-dried. However, these powder protein concentrates have to be dispersed and dissolved before their use to perform their function as food ingredients, which presents a problem due to their difficult reconstitution. Alternatively, their use in liquid form would provide an important completive advantage, nevertheless, their handling in liquid form makes them highly vulnerable to microbiological spoilage and other alterations. This dissertation, therefore, set out to explore the behaviour and stability of these liquid concentrates treated by high-pressure processing as well as their combination with an antibacterial such as nisin. This non-thermal technology has also been used to treat dairy bases for high-protein content yogurt manufacture. In addition, during the predoctoral stay carried out in FrieslandCampina Innovation Centre (Wageningen, The Netherlands), it has been studied in depth the effect of sequestering salts: sodium hexametaphosphate (SHMP) and trisodium citrate (TSC) on MCI solutions, as well as the heat-induced changes of SHMP on MCI and their stability over time. Concerning the most relevant findings, the treatment of liquid micellar casein concentrates (LMCC) at 600 MPa for 5 minutes managed to guarantee microbial quality; however, at these high pressures, fractionation and regrouping processes occurred in the micellar structures that affected the final texture. It was also found that the addition of nisin to LMCC allowed reducing the pressure applied to 450 MPa reaching a similar microbial reduction level that the one obtained at 600 MPa but without affecting the physicochemical properties of the concentrates. Concerning the yogurts made with LMCC treated both thermally and by high pressure, it was found that both showed high water retention capacity and firmness, and the differences were observed between the two treatments in terms of yogurt viscosity (stirred), highlighting the potential of the non-thermal treatment. As the most relevant findings of the research carried out with MCI, it has been demonstrated that both sequestering salts induced the micelle disruption but their mechanism differed. Thus, it has been hypothesized that TSC forms soluble Ca-Citrate complexes by solubilizing the inorganic phosphate in the micelle, while SHMP acts as a peptizing agent inducing the disruption of micellar calcium phosphate, but not solubilizing it. Furthermore, when SHMP was added to an MCI solution and heated at different combinations of temperature and time, simulating industrial conditions, hydrolysis of SHMP occurred resulting in a marked decrease in pH and viscosity. However, these solutions with SHMP showed very good stability during storage, demonstrating its ability as a stabilizing agent. Para la realización de esta tesis doctoral, Arantza García obtuvo una ayuda predoctoral otorgada por el Instituto de Investigación IS-FOOD, adscrito a la Universidad Pública de Navarra (Resolución 1385/2017), así como dos ayudas para la realización de la estancia predoctoral otorgadas por el Gobierno de Navarra (Nº expediente: 0011-35642021-000015) y por Erasmus+ (CampusIberus), y que tuvo lugar en FrieslandCampina Innovation Centre, Wageningen (Países Bajos). La primera parte de este trabajo (Block 1) se incluye en el proyecto de investigación OPTICASEINAPPLY (Nº expediente: 0011-1365-2017-000173), financiado por el Gobierno de Navarra (Servicio de Innovación del Departamento de Desarrollo Económico del Gobierno de Navarra). Programa de Doctorado en Agroalimentación (RD 99/2011) Nekazaritzako Elikagaietako Doktoretza Programa (ED 99/2011)

Entre las estrategias para manejar la disfagia orofaríngea (DO) asociada a la parálisis cerebral (PC) se incluye la alimentación basada en platos de textura modificada (PTM). Si bien se han realizado diversos estudios sobre alimentos particulares, poco se sabe sobre las características de los PTM desde el punto de vista analítico y tecnológico. Por ello, los objetivos de la presente tesis fueron (1) establecer las características texturales de los PTM destinados a la DO, (2) desarrollar un método para elaborar PTM orientados a la DO asociada a la PC y (3) definir las características sensoriales y la aceptabilidad de los PTM orientados a la PC. Finalmente, se consideró oportuno (4) efectuar una revisión bibliográfica sobre los métodos instrumentales y sensoriales de uso frecuente en el análisis textural de los alimentos destinados a la DO con objeto de identificar los más adecuados para los ámbitos clínico y tecnológico. Para la caracterización instrumental de los PTM aptos para la DO, se recurrió al análisis mediante viscosímetro y texturómetro a diferentes velocidades. Para el diseño de los PTM orientados a la DO asociada a la PC, se desarrolló un método de cocinado, triturado y mezclado con aditivos alimentarios para que fueran termoestables y de mayor vida útil. Se texturizaron 5 platos habituales en la dieta de personas con PC y se analizaron instrumentalmente con texturómetro (5 mm/s) y mediante un análisis sensorial descriptivo con logopedas expertas en DO. También se evaluó la aceptación por personas afectadas con DO y PC y la caracterización general y particular de cada PTM recurriendo a jueces no expertos, consumidores, mediante el método Check-all-thatapply (CATA). En cuanto a la revisión sistemática, se aplicó el método PRISMA. Se estableció una clasificación de la viscosidad y la textura en tres niveles de PTM. Se generaron 5 PTM clasificados como aptos por las logopedas expertas en DO siendo sus características principales: bajos niveles de firmeza, adhesividad y restos, valores medios de cohesividad y altos de fluidez y puntuación de aptitud de deglución. Además, fueron aceptados por personas con DO y PC. Se identificaron atributos para definir de forma general o particular los diferentes platos. Por último, se propusieron métodos y sus parámetros para diferentes tipos de alimentos para la disfagia, sólidos, semisólidos o líquidos. Es necesario seguir investigando y generando nuevos PTM con características nutricionales y organolépticas adecuadas los requerimientos de las personas con DO asociada a la PC. Para ello será necesario desarrollar métodos de caracterización estandarizados, de manera consensuada y multidisciplinar, con el fin de facilitar el trabajo en la industria de alimentos para la DO y en los campos clínicos y de la investigación. Strategies to manage oropharyngeal dysphagia (OD) associated with cerebral palsy (CP) include feeding based on texture-modified dishes (TMD). Although several studies have been conducted on specific foods, little is known about the characteristics of TMDs from an analytical and technological point of view. Therefore, the objectives of the present tesis were (1) to establish the textural characteristics of TMDs intended for DO, (2) to develop a method to elaborate DOoriented TMDs associated with CP, and (3) to define the sensory characteristics and acceptability of CP-oriented TMDs. Finally, it was considered opportune (4) to carry out a literatura review of the instrumental and sensory methods frequently used in the textural analysis of foods intended for OD in order to identify the most suitable ones for the clinical and technological fields. For the instrumental characterization of TMDs suitable for OD, it resorted to viscometer and texturometer analysis at different speeds. For the design of CP-associated OD-oriented TMDs, a method of cooking, grinding and mixing with food additives was developed to make them thermostable and with a longer shelf life. Five dishes commonly found in the diet of people with CP were texturized and analyzed instrumentally with a texturometer (5 mm/s) and by descriptive sensory analysis with expert OD speech therapists. Acceptance by people affected with OD and CP and the general and particular characterization of each TMD were also evaluated using nonexpert judges, consumers, by means of the Check-all-that-apply (CATA) method. As for the systematic review, the PRISMA method was applied. A classification of viscosity and texture into three levels of TMD was established. Five TMDs were generated and classified as suitable by the expert in OD speech therapists, their main characteristics being: low levels of firmness, adhesiveness and residue, medium values of cohesiveness and high values of fluidity and suitable texture score. In addition, they were accepted by people with OD and CP. Attributes were identified to define in a general or particular way the different dishes. Finally, methods and their parameters were proposed for different types of dysphagia foods, solid, semisolid or liquid. It is necessary to continue researching and generating new TMDs with nutritional and organoleptic characteristics appropriate to the requirements of people with CP-associated OD. This will require the development of standardized characterization methods, in a consensual and multidisciplinary way, in order to facilitate the work in the OD food industry and in the clinical and research fields. Las actividades investigadoras de la presente tesis doctoral se han realizado en el marco del proyecto de 'Platos de Base Proteica Texturizados, Nutritivos, Saludables y Adaptados a la Disfagia' (código expediente 0011-1365-2017-000132), Ayudas para la realización de proyectos de I+D, 2017-2019 (Departamento de Desarrollo Económico, Gobierno de Navarra), cofinanciado por el Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional (FEDER) a través del programa Operativo FEDER 2014-2020 de Navarra. Contrato predoctoral Universidad Pública de Navarra (UPNA) y Fundación Bancaria Caja Navarra (FBCAN). Programa de Doctorado en Agroalimentación (RD 99/2011) Nekazaritzako Elikagaietako Doktoretza Programa (ED 99/2011)

Experimento/Capitulo 1. Se sabe que las tecnologías modernas como HPP y SVCOOK mejoran la calidad de la carne y los productos cárnicos. Experimento/Capitulo 2. Se estudió el efecto del procesado no térmico a alta presión hidrostática (HPP) y su combinación con la técnica de cocción sous vide (HPP+SVCOOK) sobre las características fisicoquímicas de las hamburguesas de ternera elaboradas con tapas de solomillo (biceps femoris) obtenidas de terneros de raza Pirenaica pertenecientes a la IGP Ternera de Navarra. Las muestras de hamburguesas se sometieron a 13 combinaciones de tratamiento de tres presiones HPP (350, 475, 600 MPa) durante 5, 10, 15 min, seguidas de 20 combinaciones de tratamiento con SVCOOK a tres temperaturas de cocción (55, 60 o 65 °C). Los resultados obtenidos pusieron de manifiesto que las condiciones de procesado para optimizar las características de reducción de la dureza y las pérdidas por cocción, las hamburguesas de ternera deben tratarse con HPP a 350 MPa durante 10 min. y cocinarse al vacío a 55 °C. Experimento/Capitulo 3. Se estudiaron los efectos de la técnica HPP y HPP+SVCOOK en las características fisicoquímicas de las hamburguesas híbridas y de origen vegetal y se compararon con las hamburguesas de ternera. Todas las muestras de las diferentes formulaciones se trataron a presión y temperatura en condiciones similares. Las hamburguesas híbridas tratadas con HPP+SVCOOK mostraron valores similares a las hamburguesas de ternera en los parámetros de color y textura, mientras que la mayoría de los parámetros fisicoquímicos de las hamburguesas a base de plantas fueron diferentes (P < 0.05) de las hamburguesas de ternera e híbridas. La tecnología dual ayuda a desarrollar nuevos productos híbridos con características fisicoquímicas comparables a las de las hamburguesas de ternera. Experimento/Capitulo 4. Se evaluaron las características fisicoquímicas y sensoriales de las hamburguesas. Se probaron emulsiones hidrogelificadas y de soja en hamburguesas de ternera, híbridas y vegetales (6 formulaciones). Como formulación de referencia se utilizaron empanadas de ternera con grasa dorsal de cerdo. Todas las muestras fueron tratadas con HPP y HPP+SVCOOK en las condiciones de procesamiento optimizadas (350 MPa, 10 min., 55 °C). Se detectaron cambios significativos (P < 0,05) en los parámetros fisicoquímicos en las muestras HPP y HPP+SVCOOK. Las diferencias en los parámetros fisicoquímicos y sensoriales de las hamburguesas HPP+SVCOOK fueron mínimas. Se obtuvieron resultados muy aceptables al sustituir la gras por una emulsión de soja o hidrogel podría llevarse a cabo en hamburguesas HPP+SVCOOK. Experimento/Capittulo 5. Se evaluó el efecto de la aplicación de HPP+SVCOOK y el agente antimicrobiano carvacrol (150 ppm) sobre la estabilidad de anaquel (días 0, 7 y 14) de productos cárnicos, vegetales e híbridos formulados con emulsión de soya. Los parámetros de textura de las hamburguesas híbridas se comportaron de manera similar a las hamburguesas de ternera durante los 14 días. También se observaron efectos limitados en los parámetros fisicoquímicos debido a la adición de carvacrol. El estudio microbiano no indicó crecimiento de organismos de descomposición más allá del límite aceptable, lo que hace que los tratamientos HPP+SVCOOK sean efectivos y seguros. Experiment Chapter 1. Modern technologies like high-hydrostatic pressure processing (HPP) and sous-vide cooking (SVCOOK) are known to improve the quality of meat and meat products. Currently there are few studies where the combined effect of these technologies have been investigated. Experiment Chapter 2. The effects of non-thermal HPP and its combination with SVCOOK (HPP+SVCOOK) on physicochemical traits of veal patties elaborated with top sirloin caps (biceps femoris) derived from local Pyrenean bullocks, were investigated. The patties were subjected to 13 treatment combinations of three HPP pressures (350, 475, 600 MPa) for 5, 10, 15 min., followed by 20 treatment combinations with subsequent SVCOOK at three cooking temperatures (55, 60 or 65 °C). For yielding the optimum processing results in reduced hardness and cooking loss, veal patties should be HPP-treated at 350 MPa for 10 min., and sous-vide cooked at 55 °C. Experiment Chapter 3. The effects of HPP and HPP+SVCOOK technique on the physicochemical characteristics of plant-based and hybrid patties were investigated and compared with the veal patties. Samples of the different formulations were pressure and temperature treated at similar conditions as the veal patties. The HPP+SVCOOK treated hybrid patties were similar to veal patties in color and texture parameters, whereas most of the physicochemical parameters of plant-based patties were significantly different (P < 0.05) from veal and hybrid patties. The dual technology aids in developing novel hybrid products with physicochemical characteristics comparable to those of veal patties. Experiment Chapter 4. The physicochemical and sensory traits of patties were evaluated. Hydrogelled and soya emulsions were tested in veal, hybrid, and plant-based patties (6 formulations). Veal patties with pork backfat were used as reference formulation. All samples were HPP and HPP+SVCOOK treated at the optimized processing conditions (350 MPa, 10 min., 55 °C). Significant changes (P < 0.05) in physicochemical parameters were detected in HPP and HPP+SVCOOK samples. The differences in physicochemical and sensory parameters of HPP+SVCOOK patties were minimal. Successful fat replacement using either one of the soy or hydrogelled emulsion could be conducted in HPP+SVCOOK patties. Experiment Chapter 5. The effect of the application of HPP+SVCOOK and antimicrobial agent, carvacrol (150 ppm), on the shelf stability (0th, 7th, 14th day) of meat, plant-based and hybrid products formulated with soy emulsion was evaluated. The texture parameters of the hybrid patties behaved similarly to the veal patties during the 14 days. Limited effects in the physicochemical parameters due to the addition of carvacrol were also noted. The microbial study indicated no growth of spoilage organisms beyond the acceptable limit rendering the HPP+SVCOOK treatments effective and safe. This project has received funding from the European Union's H2020 Research and Innovation Program under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant (MSCA grant agreement No 801586). It includes a 36-month full time contract at UPNA under the Iberus Talent programme, cofounded by MSCA grant. This project belongs to the Campus Iberus action group - Platos 5ª Gama - dishes prepared based on circular economy. Programa de Doctorado en Agroalimentación (RD 99/2011) Nekazaritzako Elikagaietako Doktoretza Programa (ED 99/2011)

16 páginas, 8 figuras, This study aimed to standarize a protocol for obtaining a bioactive extract from broccoli (Brassica oleracea var. italica) crop residues, that is suitable for application on an industrial scale and effective in reducing plant disease incidence. For this purpose, the influence of several extraction factors in the glucosinolate (GSL) content was studied with leaves collected from two conventional broccoli fields and two organic broccoli fields. The analysis showed that lyophilization had no influence on the GSL content. Storage of plant material under two different temperatures (− 20ºC and − 80ºC) had no influence on the GSLs content of the extracts. Phytotoxicity of the extracts was studied with six different plant seeds, and also cytotoxicity was determined with human liver cells in vitro. The extracts were phytotoxic at dilutions above 10%, while cell toxicity was low. Extracts concentrations of 0.1%, 1% and 2% were tested in vitro against eight plant pathogenic fungi and two oomycetes in solid and in liquid media. The extracts reduced the growth of several plant pathogenic fungi at 2% dilution by up to 38.37% against Alternaria alternata and up to 46.55% against Sclerotinia sclerotiorum. When combined with myrosinase enzyme the effect of the extracts was enhanced, reaching inhibition values of 67.06% against A. alternata in solid medium and 68.52% against Rhizoctonia solani in liquid medium. In contrast, the same extracts increased the growth of the plant pathogenic oomycetes Pythium ultimum and Phytophthora cactorum. The effect of the same extracts in the free leaving larvae, J2s, of the plant-parasitic nematode (PPN) Meloidogyne javanica was not obvious. Minor significant differences were obtained but with no clear dose-response in nematode mortality, and no inhibition of eggs hatching was observed. These results show the industrial potential of using broccoli residues to obtain extracts with biopesticide activity against plant pathogenic fungi., D.E. is beneficiary of an Industrial Doctorate (DIN2018-009852) by the State Research Agency of Spain. Open access funding provided by University of Valladolid.

Synthetic nitrogen (N) fertilizers and their increased production and utilization have played a great role in increasing crop yield and in meeting the food demands resulting from population growth. Nitrate (NO3−) is the common form of nitrogen absorbed by plants. It has high water solubility and low retention by soil particles, making it prone to leaching and mobilization by surface water, which can seriously contaminate biological environments and affect human health. Few methods exist to measure nitrate in the soil. The development of ion selective sensors provides knowledge about the dynamics of nitrate in the soil in real time, which can be very useful for nitrate management. The objective of this study is to analyze the performance of three commercial probes (Nutrisens, RIKA and JXCT) under the same conditions. The performance was analyzed with respect to electrical conductivity (EC) (0–50 mS/cm) and nitrate concentration in aqueous solution and in sand (0–180 ppm NO3−) at 35% volumetric soil moisture. Differences were shown among probes when studying their response to variations of the EC and, notably, only the Nutrisens probe provided coherent accurate measurements. In the evaluation of nitrate concentration in liquid solution, all probes proved to be highly sensitive. Finally, in the evaluation of all probes’ response to modifications in nitrate concentration in sand, the sensitivity decreased for all probes, with the Nutrisens probe the most sensitive and the other two probes almost insensitive. This study was developed within the framework of project 011-1365-2020-000075 CropStick: “Sentinel of salts, pH, nitrogen and nutrients, and deep percolation”, financed by the Government of Navarre.

Grape growing regions are facing constant warming of the growing season temperature as well as limitations on ground water pumping used for irrigating to overcome water deficits. Trellis systems are utilized to optimize grapevine production, physiology, and berry chemistry. This study aimed to compare 6 trellis systems with 3 levels of applied water amounts based on different replacements of crop evapotranspiration (ETc) in two consecutive seasons. The treatments included a vertical shoot position (VSP), two modified VSPs (VSP60 and VSP80), a single high wire (SH), a high quadrilateral (HQ), and a Guyot pruned VSP (GY) combined with 25%, 50%, and 100% ETcwater replacement. The SH had greater yields, whereas HQ was slower to reach full production potential. At harvest in both years, the accumulation of anthocyanin derivatives was enhanced in SH, whereas VSPs decreased them. As crown porosity increased (mostly VSPs), berry flavonol concentration and likewise molar % of quercetin in berries increased. Conversely, as leaf area increased, total flavonol concentration and molar % of quercetin decreased, indicating a preferential arrangement of leaf area along the canopy for overexposure of grape berry with VSP types. The irrigation treatments revealed linear trends for components of yield, where greater applied water resulted in larger berry size and likewise greater yield. 25% ETcwas able to increase berry anthocyanin and flavonol concentrations. Overall, this study evidenced the efficiency of trellis systems for optimizing production and berry composition in Californian climate, also, the feasibility of using flavonols as the indicator of canopy architecture.

Soils store an important amount of carbon (C), mostly in the form of organic matter in different decomposing stages. Hence, understanding the factors that rule the rates at which decomposed organic matter is incorporated into the soil is paramount to better understand how C stocks will vary under changing atmospheric and land use conditions. We studied the interactions between vegetation cover, climate and soil factors using the Tea Bag Index in 16 different ecosystems (eight forests, eight grasslands) along two contrasting gradients in the Spanish province of Navarre (SW Europe). Such arrangement encompassed a range of four climate types, elevations from 80 to 1420 m.a.s.l., and precipitation (P) from 427 to 1881 mm year–1. After incubating tea bags during the spring of 2017, we identified strong interactions between vegetation cover type, soil C/N and precipitation affecting decomposition rates and stabilization factors. In both forests and grasslands, increasing precipitation increased decomposition rates (k) but also the litter stabilization factor (S). In forests, however, increasing the soil C/N ratio raised decomposition rates and the litter stabilization factor, while in grasslands higher C/N ratios caused the opposite effects. In addition, soil pH and N also affected decomposition rates positively, but for these factors no differences between ecosystem types were found. Our results demonstrate that soil C flows are altered by complex site-dependent and site-independent environmental factors, and that increased ecosystem lignification will significantly change C flows, likely increasing decomposition rates in the short term but also increasing the inhibiting factors that stabilize labile litter compounds. This work was supported by the Public University of Navarre; the Spanish Ministry of Science [grant numbers AGL2016-76035-C2, PID2020-116786RB-C32] and the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness [grant BES-2017-080326]. Open access funding provided by the Public University of Navarre.

Most university students do not follow recommendations for fruit and vegetable intake, with a consequent increase in the prevalence of cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors. The aim of this study was to compare obesity prevalence and biomarkers of metabolic status between Italian and Spanish university students, in relation with the consumption of fruits and vegetables. Food consumption, adherence to a Mediterranean diet (MD), level of physical activity (PA), blood glucose, total cholesterol, triglycerides and ketones, blood pressure, and body composition were evaluated. Among CVD risk factors, only glucose was significantly higher in Spaniards (SP), and only 3.1% of SP presented ketosis. SP had a higher percentage of energy from fat. Although adherence to MD and fruit and vegetable consumption did not differ between Italians and SP, students who consumed at least four servings of fruit and vegetables (FV group) showed better values for pressure and metabolic parameters than the no FV group. We observed an association between consumption of fruit and PA. Students who consumed more vegetables than fruit reported a better body composition profile and lower glucose concentrations. As previously suggested, in addition to PA, two servings of fruit and three servings of vegetables per day should be recommended.

Tesis doctoral presentada para lograr el título de Doctor por la Universidad Pública de Navarra, Departamento de Agronomía, Biotecnología y Alimentación, Programa de Doctorado en Biotecnología, [ES] La brucelosis es una zoonosis mundialmente extendida con importantes repercusiones económicas y sanitarias tanto para la ganadería como para el ser humano. Existen doce especies distintas de Brucella con distinta preferencia de hospedador; entre ellas, B. melitensis (bovino), B. abortus (pequeños rumiantes) y B. suis (porcino) son las más frecuentes en el ganado doméstico, y a excepción de B. suis bv2, suponen un grave riesgo para el ser humano. La vacunación de los animales es una herramienta esencial para reducir la infección en los mismos y, así, evitar la transmisión al ser humano. La infección en pequeños rumiantes es ocasionada por las especies Brucella melitensis y B. ovis; la primera de ellas produce abortos a final de gestación en hembras gestantes y la segunda, orquitis y epididimitis en machos con la consecuente reducción de la fertilidad. La cepa atenuada B. melitensisRev1 es la única vacuna recomendada desde hace más de 60 años contra la brucelosis en pequeños rumiantes. Pese a su extendido empleo y demostrada eficacia, Rev1 posee ciertos inconvenientes que recomiendan la búsqueda de una vacuna alternativa más segura que, idealmente, pueda aplicarse en animales gestantes. En este contexto, en el grupo de Brucelosis del IdAB-CSIC, se han desarrollado dos candidatos de Brucella melitensis mediante deleción en fase del gen wzm (16MΔwzmy Rev1Δwzm) involucrado en el sistema de dos componentes Wzm/Wztr es responsable de la exportación del polisacárido O al periplasma bacteriano para completar la biosíntesis del LPS liso., [EN] Brucellosis is a worldwide zoonosis with important economic and health implications for both livestock and humans. There are twelve different Brucella species with different host preference; among them, B. melitensis(ovine), B. abortus(bovine) and B. suis(porcine) are the most frequent in domestic livestock,supposinga serious risk to humans. Vaccination of animals is an essential tool to reduce infection and thus, toprevent transmission to humans. Infection in small ruminants is caused by Brucella melitensisand B. ovisspecies; the former causes abortions at the end of gestation in pregnant females and the latter, orchitis and epididymitis in males with the consequent reduction of fertility. The attenuated strain B. melitensisRev1 is the only vaccine recommended for more than 60 years tocontrol of brucellosis in small ruminants. Despite its widespread use and proven efficacy, Rev1 has certain drawbacks that recommend the search for a safer alternative vaccine that, ideally, can be applied in pregnant animals. In this context, in the Brucellosis group of the IdAB-CSIC, two Brucella melitensiscandidates have been developed by phase-deletion of the wzmgene (16MΔwzmand Rev1Δwzm) involved in the two-component Wzm/Wzt system responsible for the export of the O polysaccharide to the bacterial periplasm forbiosynthesis of the smooth LPS., Contrato de formación de Doctorados Industriales de Gobierno de Navarra (convocatoria 2016), cofinanciado por CSIC y desarrollado en el IdAB. Los trabajos realizados han sido financiados por los proyectos de investigación RTI2018-098658-B-C21 del Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (Agencia Estatal de Investigación) y PT068-2018 y PT007 2019 del Departamento de Universidades, Innovación y Transformación Digital de Gobierno de Navarra.

The lipopolysaccharide (LPS) O-polysaccharide (O-PS) is the main virulence factor in Brucella. After synthesis in the cytoplasmic membrane, O-PS is exported to the periplasm by the Wzm/Wzt system, where it is assembled into a LPS. This translocation also engages a bactoprenol carrier required for further biosynthesis pathways, such as cell wall biogenesis. Targeting O-PS export by blockage holds great potential for vaccine development, but little is known about the biological implications of each Wzm/Wzt moiety. To improve this knowledge and to elucidate its potential application as a vaccine, we constructed and studied wzm/wzt single- and double-deletion mutants, using the attenuated strain Brucella melitensis Rev1 as the parental strain. This allowed us to describe the composition of Brucella peptidoglycan for the first time. We observed that these mutants lack external O-PS yet trigger changes in genetic transcription and in phenotypic properties associated with the outer membrane and cell wall. The three mutants are highly attenuated; unexpectedly, Rev1Δwzm also excels as an immunogenic and effective vaccine against B. melitensis and Brucella ovis in mice, revealing that low persistence is not at odds with efficacy. Rev1Δwzm is attenuated in BeWo trophoblasts, does not infect mouse placentas, and is safe in pregnant ewes. Overall, these attributes and the minimal serological interference induced in sheep make Rev1Δwzm a highly promising vaccine candidate., This work was funded by Agencia Estatal de Investigación of the Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades (AGL2014-58795-C4-2-R and RTI2018-098658-B-C21), Gobierno de Navarra (PT040-2018 and PT007-2019) projects. SM-B contracts were granted by the FEDER 2016–2018 program of Garantía Juvenil and by an UPNA pre-doctoral fellowship 2018–2022. IP-U Doctorados Industriales contract was cofounded by Gobierno de Navarra and CSIC. Research in the FC lab was supported by The Swedish Research Council (VR), The Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation (KAW), The Laboratory of Molecular Infection Medicine Sweden (MIMS), and The Kempe Foundation. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.

This research aimed to evaluate the nutritional composition, in vitro digestibility, and gas production kinetics of 15 vegetable by-products generated by the agri-food industry compared with corn silage as a reference raw material. Nutritional characterization and in vitro ruminal fermentation tests were performed to determine in vitro organic matter digestibility and digestible energy values, short-chain fatty acids, and the gas production profile. Results indicate that vegetable by-products were more degradable, more extensively fermented, and fermented at a faster rate than corn silage. Going one step further in the valorization of these by-products in animal feed, the second part of the research aimed to compare the novel ration designed for calf fattening with a conventional one. An artificial rumen unit was used to obtain nutrient disappearance, rumen fermentation parameters, and gas production of rumen digesta. Very slight differences were observed between both experimental rations, with their composition being the main difference. Most of the unitary vegetable by-products and all mixes, as real examples of by-product generation in the agri-food industry, have higher digestibility and a greater nutritional value than corn silage. These by-products showed the potential to be used in ruminant-ensiled rations and could replace part of the ingredients in conventional diets. This research was funded by the Government of Navarra and the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) in the framework of the call for R & D projects with BEEF + project “Carne saludable a través de la economía circular” (0011-1365-2020-000288), I.G. Industrial PhDs 2020 (0011-1408-2020-000009) and S.L.-E. Universidad Pública de Navarra post-graduate scholarships (UPNA-2022).

En esta tesis se plantean dos líneas de investigación que han quedado recogidas en los tres trabajos científicos que la conforman: • Capítulo 1) La primera línea de investigación desarrolla un modo de cuantificar económicamente la pérdida del servicio ecosistémico de aprovisionamiento ligado a la expansión de B. rupestre, con el objetivo de sensibilizar a los sectores implicados y fomentar acciones medioambientales dirigidas a promover la conservación de los pastos de montaña, ecosistemas ambiental y económicamente valiosos. Para ello, se realizó una adaptación del método de valoración económica por sustitución y se llevaron a cabo inventarios florísticos en cubiertas de alta y baja diversidad florística. El registro de estos datos nos permitió generar unos valores pastorales transformables en cantidad de forraje disponible para los animales, tras un detallado cálculo de la superficie viable de ser pastada (200,05 ha tras excluir las zonas con grandes pendientes). Con censos de animales y con información detallada y exhaustiva del consumo de energía que tiene cada tipo de animal que pasta las estivas del valle (ovejas, vacas y caballos) se determinaron las raciones de alimento necesarias en una temporada de pastoreo estival (50007 raciones) y su coste monetario (21146€; 107€/ha). De este modo, se estimó el coste que supone la pérdida del valor de aprovisionamiento debido a la expansión de B. rupestre y que va ligado en este caso a la pérdida de riqueza y diversidad florística de las comunidades vegetales que lo constituyen. • Capítulo 2 y 3) La segunda línea de investigación engloba dos trabajos en los que se caracteriza la desconocida comunidad de hongos endófitos de individuos de B. rupestre desarrollándose en comunidades de alta y baja diversidad florística. El estudio de los microorganismos en su ambiente natural es una disciplina relativamente nueva, dado que su interés se ha centrado tradicionalmente en las enfermedades que afectan a los humanos, los animales o las plantas. Sin embargo, los grandes avances tecnológicos y científicos de las últimas décadas nos están permitiendo conocer su altísima diversidad y las complejas redes ecológicas en las que están involucrados. El conocimiento sobre los hongos endófitos, que crecen en el interior de casi todas las plantas sin desarrollar enfermedades, está demostrando numerosas ventajas adaptativas que estos pueden llegar a conferir a su huésped ante numerosas situaciones de estrés (salinidad, herbivorismo, patógenos, etc.). This thesis encompasses two research lines comprised in three scientific papers: • Chapter 1) First chapter quantifies economically the loss of the provisioning service related to the B. rupestre expansion, with the aim of raising awareness among stakeholders and promote environmental actions for grassland restauration. For this purpose, we adapted the substitution economic approach, that we based on field floristic surveys done in high-diversity and low-diversity grasslands. The data collected allowed the estimation of the pastoral values, that were related to energy values and eventually to animal feed rations (50007 rations). We estimated the available surface for grazing (200.05 ha excluding steep slopes) and we compiled summer livestock censuses for determining the energy needs of each type of animal (sheep, cows and horses). Eventually, we estimated the economic cost of the loss of the provisioning service related to the B. rupestre expansion (21146€; 107€/ha). • Chapter 2 and 3) The second line of research encompasses two papers that characterize the fungal endophytic community of B. rupestre from plants developing in communities of high and low- floristic diversity. The study of microorganisms in their natural environment is a new discipline, considering that the research has usually focused on human, animal or plant diseases. The technological and scientific advances in the last decades have broadened our knowledge on the high diversity and the complex ecological networks in which they are involved. In particular, the study of fungal endophytes, which grow inside plants without developing diseases, is demonstrating the numerous adaptive advantages they confer to their host in different stressing situations (salinity, herbivory, pathogens, etc.). Ayudas de nueva solicitud para la Formación de Personal Investigador en la Universidad Pública de Navarra, convocatoria 2017. Ayudas de movilidad de doctorado 2021 para la realización de una estancia internacional en la Universidad de Camerino (Italia). Interreg Sudoe Programme, European Regional Development Fund, Open2preserve Project 108 (SOE2/P5/E0804). Libera 2017, SEO y Ecoembes - Apadrinamiento de espacios naturales. La degradación de los ecosistemas pascícolas de la Selva de Irati: Comportamiento invasivo de especies endémicas bajo condiciones de cambio global. Libera 2018, SEO y Ecoembes-Apadrinamiento de espacios naturales. La degradación de los ecosistemas pascícolas: ZEC Roncesvalles-Selva de Irati. Proyecto de investigación en centros escolares (Gobierno de Navarra, 2018). Formando futuras investigadoras: introduciendo la ciencia ecológica y ambiental al mundo escolar. Programa de Doctorado en Agrobiología Ambiental (RD 99/2011) Ingurumen Agrobiologiako Doktoretza Programa (ED 99/2011)

Plant-parasitic nematodes (PPNs) are an important damaging biotic agent for numerous crops around the world, causing serious losses directly and indirectly. Cultural and chemical control strategies were mainly used to PPNs management. However, the choice of chemical nematicides is strictly limited in the agrosystems due to their toxicity, their impact to the environment and, therefore, banning policies. The main lines of action of biological control strategies for nematode control, are based on the development of antagonist microorganism formulations and the use of plant extracts with nematicidal potential. There are many plant secondary metabolites with effective nematicidal potential. In this sense, glucosinolates (GSLs) and, especially, glucosinolate hydrolysis products (GHPs) show relevant nematicidal activity. The effects through which these compounds control nematodes, both direct and indirect are diverse, such as toxicity, anti-hatching effect or promotion of competing saprophytic nematodes or nematophagous bacteria populations. The present work compiles many of the studies that describe the use of GSLs and GHPs as nematicides in agriculture, through very diverse strategies that range from crop rotation with Brassicales to the direct application of GSLs and GHPs to the soil. The authors present GSLs and GHPs as a more sustainable and suitable alternative in nematode control, remarking the need to further research in the modes of action and the impact on environment., DE is beneficiary of an Industrial Doctorate (DIN2018-009852) by the State Research Agency of Spain. This work was supported by the Spanish Government (RED2018-02407-T) and PID2019-105924RB-I00 (MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033) by the “European Union”; and by the Castilla-La Mancha Government (SBPLY/17/180501/000287), to CE.

Feed supplementation with α-linolenic acid (ALA) and linoleic acid (LA) increases their content in muscle, ALA increases n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids and decrease n-6/n-3 ratio in muscle, and LA increases rumenic acid. However, high LA supplementation may have negative effects on lambs'lipid oxidative stability of meat. When the sources of ALA and LA are fed as fresh forage, the negative effects are counterbalanced by the presence of other bioactive compounds, as vitamin E (mainly α-tocopherol) and polyphenols, which delay the lipid oxidation in meat. There is a wide consensus on the capability of vitamin E delaying lipid oxidation on lamb meat, and its feed content should be adjusted to the length of supplementation. A high dietary inclusion of proanthocyanidins, phenolic compounds and terpenes reduce the lipid oxidation in muscle and may improve the shelf life of meat, probably as a result of a combined effect with dietary vitamin E. However, the recommended dietary inclusion levels depend on the polyphenol type and concentration and antioxidant capacity of the feedstuffs, which cannot be compared easily because no routine analytical grading methods are yet available. Unless phenolic compounds content in dietary ingredients/supplements for lambs are reported, no specific association with animal physiology responses may be established. This review was funded by Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities of Spain (Grant numbers: INIA RTA2017–00008-C02–01 and − 02), and the Technology Transfer Operation of the Rural Development Program of Catalonia 2014–2020 (Government of Catalonia and the European Regional Development Funds, Grant code 01.02.01).

In Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana), the plastidial isoform of phosphoglucose isomerase (PGI1) mediates photosynthesis, metabolism, and development, probably due to its involvement in the synthesis of isoprenoid-derived signals in vascular tissues. Microbial volatile compounds (VCs) with molecular masses of, This work was supported by the Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (MCIN) and Agencia Estatal de Investigación (AEI)/10.13039/501100011033/ (grants BIO2016-78747-P, PID2019-104685GB-100 and PID2019-107657RB-C22) and the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport of the Czech Republic and the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) project entitled “Plants as a tool for sustainable global development” (No. CZ.02.1.01/0.0/0.0/16_019/0000827).

In the year 2011, the FAO estimated that food loss and waste reached one third of the total food produced worldwide. Since then, numerous studies have been published characterizing this problem and reflecting on its repercussions, not only social, but also environmental. Food wastage triggers unnecessary greenhouse gas emissions, deforestation or loss of biodiversity. This study aims to quantify the water-related benefits associated with food loss and waste reduction by studying the Food Bank of Navarra (FBN). For this purpose, the water footprint assessment manual has been followed. First, the water footprint of the activities of the FBN has been analysed for the year 2018 (scenario with the FBN). A comparative analysis has been carried out between the scenario with the FBN and a theoretical scenario without the action of the FBN. This has allowed us to highlight the benefits associated with the activity of this entity. The FBN not only avoided the waste of 2.7 thousand tons of food suitable for consumption in 2018, but also avoided the unnecessary use of more than 3.2 million m3 of freshwater. As a result of the present investigation, it can be stated that promoting food banks, which avoid food waste, would be an effective way to contribute to the protection and conservation of water resources. The project leading to these results has received funding from ‘la Caixa’ and Caja Navarra Foundation, under agreement LCF/PR/PR13/51080004. The project was awarded with a Research Initiation Grant of the Public University of Navarra, for its collaboration with the Institute for Innovation and Sustainable Development in Food Chain (ISFOOD).

Apple cider-making has a long tradition in many northern Spanish regions, such as Gipuzkoa in the Basque Country. The production in this region is largely based on traditional local cider cultivars for which very little information is available on their pollination requirements, resulting in a generalized low productivity of the orchards. In this work the self-(in)compatibility, S-alleles and pollen quality have been studied for the main cider varieties grown in Gipuzkoa, which represent a wide genetic diversity. The S-RNase genotype of 25 cultivars is firstly reported here, which allows allocating the cultivars in their corresponding incompatibility group. All the S-alleles have been previously described, being S26, S3 and S5 the most frequently found. Regarding pollen quality triploid cultivars, as expected, showed lower viability (80%) and germination (>30%) rates, it is noteworthy the low performance of ‘Urtebete’, very similar to that of triploids. Self-compatibility tests both in vitro and in situ showed low rates of fruit set and, together with an upper position of the stigmas related to stamens, reveal a low degree of self-compatibility for most cultivars. Surprisingly, two cultivars called ‘Moko’ and ‘Txalaka’, showed certain selfcompatibility with around 7% fruit set. All in all, the results will enable to improve traditional varieties orchard design as well as the profitability of apple cider farms in the region. This work was financially supported by Diputación Foral de Gipuzkoa/Gipuzkoako Foru Aldundiaren (contract nº 2019907195) and by PID2019-108081RR-C22 funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033.

Producción Científica, Agriculture nowadays is facing many challenges, with among the most important to be able to feed the increasing human population through more sustainable and environmentally friendly production. In this context, the use of microorganisms has been extensively studied, both with fungi such as Trichoderma spp. and with bacteria, such as Bacillus spp. or Pseudomonas spp. While inoculation with these microorganisms has a positive effect on crops, their combination offers even greater potential as plant growth promoters and as biocontrol agents, with diverse mechanisms that are thoroughly considered in this review. Synergies between Trichoderma and bacteria cause more benefits than the sum of their parts, and this makes them a promising alternative for managing crops and controlling diseases or pests in modern agriculture. However, more studies are needed to determine the specific mechanisms of this synergistic effect in certain lines of research, since there is extensive data about their use as plant growth promoters or biocontrol agents against diseases and certain pests, but little or no information is available about their use against diseases caused by viruses or the effect on plant tolerance to abiotic stresses., Agencia Estatal de Investigación (industrial doctorate DIN2018-009852)

In Ethiopia there is a severe calcium nutrient deficiency problem. Cereals are appropriate vehicles for food fortification along with eggshell powder (EP), a waste product, which contains a high amount of Ca. The objective of the current study was to enrich injera (Ethiopian flat bread from cereal teff) with EP to improve Ca content and to assess its effect on quality parameters. Injera was prepared by adding 4.5% and 9% EP to the teff flour (injera I4.5 and I9.0, respectively). The fortification resulted in significantly increased bioavailable Ca from 16.1 mg/100 g (control) to 742.7 mg/100 g (I4.5) and 1743.1 mg/100 g (I9.0). With the consumption of 200 g of injera, an adult could meet 60% of the recommended dietary allowance (RDA) of Ca from I4.5 and 140% of Ca RDA from I9.0. The addition of eggshell powder affected pH, titratable acidity, color and texture. However, there was no significant effect on moisture content, aw, viscosity, microbial quality, and eye characteristics. Current research revealed that fortification of injera with EP could be a good source of total and bioavailable Ca without significant deleterious effects on the key physico-chemical quality parameters of injera. Authors wish to mention Women for Africa Foundation and International Relations and Cooperation Office from Universidad Pública de Navarra for the financial support of Mrs. Fekadu.

Background and aims: grafting in viticulture has been essential since the advent of the phylloxera crisis at the end of the 19th century, but relatively little is known about the relevance of the quality of the connection at the grafting junction on the behaviour of grafted grapevines. Methods and results: an experimental procedure comparing omega grafted vines with complete alignment of the scion and the rootstock (CA) and vines with partial alignment (PA) was developed. Three complementary trials were carried out in the nursery, in the field and under controlled conditions. The CA vines increased the success rate in the nursery. Vine growth was significantly affected by the alignment between the rootstock and scion both in the nursery and in their first year of establishment in a commercial vineyard and in a potted trial, although these differences dissipated in years 2 and 3 under commercial vineyard conditions. The CA graft also maintained a higher level of leaf gas exchange, but such differences did not correspond to those in the hydraulic conductivity across the graft union itself. Conclusions: the degree of alignment of the grafted vine material affected vine development, but a better understanding of the role of vascular connections in different graft types and qualities is needed. Significance of the Study: to the best of our knowledge, this is the first scientific study that developed an experimental procedure for assessing the implication of the alignment at the grafting point on grapevine physiology and water use. This work was performed with the financial support of the Department of Economic Development of the Government of Navarra (Vit-Feet, Ref.: 0011-1365-2018-000106 and Best-Feet, Ref.: 0011-1365-2021-000068 projects co-funded with FEDER funds) and with the project EFA 324/19-VITES QUALITAS 65% co-funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) through the Interreg Program V-A Spain-France-Andorra (POCTEFA 2014-2020). Dr Diana Marín is beneficiary of postgraduate scholarship funded by Universidad Pública de Navarra (FPI-UPNA-2016). Dr Francisco J. Abad is beneficiary of postgraduate scholarship funded by INIA (FPI-INIA-2016). Ana Villa-Llop is beneficiary of an Industrial pre-doctoral contract of the Government of Navarra (Ref. 283E/2020). Dr Nazareth Torres is beneficiary of a Juan de la Cierva post-doctoral contract from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (JdC-Formation 2020). The Government of Navarra financed Dr Marín's stay in Bordeaux through the call for ‘predoctoral grants for international mobility for 2019’. Open access funding provided by Universidad Pública de Navarra.

Natural plant extracts have emerged as a potential alternative to sulphites in minimally processed potatoes. The aim of this study was to evaluate the inhibitory capacity of various plant extracts on potato polyphenol oxidase (pPPO) and to optimize the extraction conditions for preventing browning in fresh-cut potatoes (cv. Monalisa). Fifteen aqueous plant extracts were characterized by their total phenolic content (TPC), antioxidant activity (AA) and their pPPO. Clove extract showed the highest TPC and AA among all plant extracts. Garlic, green tea and wheat bran and, clove and marjoram have a pPPO inhibition >50% at the lowest (1–25 g GAE L−1 extract) and highest (200–350 g GAE L1 extract) range of TPC, respectively. The green tea extract was selected for further evaluation due to its high capacity to inhibit pPPO activity regardless of the solution concentration. The optimum extraction conditions and treatment concentration were 55 °C, 7 min and 50 mL L1 of original extract solution. These conditions guaranteed the conservation of fresh-cut potato colour mainly preventing the reduction of luminosity parameter. Green tea extract controlled browning in fresh-cut potatoes (cv. Monalisa) for 14 days when stored at 4 °C. Gloria Bobo is grateful to the Educational Department of the Government of Navarre (Spain) for the PhD Scholarship. This material is based upon research supported by the Public University of Navarre (Spain).

In dairy industry there has always been great concern about the microbial and protein quality of liquid milk protein fractions obtained by microfiltration (MF). The objectives of research were to study the impact of MF on the evolution of protein and microbial quality of microfiltered milk (MFM), liquid micellar casein concentrates (LMCC) and serum permeates (SP) during storage at 4 °C. This study was carried out with three different batches of milk using diafiltration. Samples were characterized by physicochemical properties; evolution of microbial load and protein (RP-HPLC). Ceramic MF (pore size 1.4 μm) did not change the protein profile, but reduced microbial load by up to 2 log CFU/mL. Polymeric MF (pore size 0.1 μm) was not a sterilizing process since all samples from the permeate presented bacterial growth after 6 days. Protein degradation was observed after 13 days at 4 °C in all studied products. Caseins (CN) were much more affected than whey proteins. β-CN A2 content was reduced by 25–50%, αs1-CN by 30% and β-CN A1 by 10–30%.; κ-CN was the most stable casein. The contents of the whey proteins remained unaltered for 21 days. Protein degradation was likely due to the action of endogenous and bacterial enzymes. This research was supported by the Government of Navarra (Servicio de Innovación del Departamento de Desarrollo Económico del Gobierno de Navarra) through the projects: INTEGRAPROMILK (expedient number 0011-1365-2017-000085) and OPTICASEINAPPLY (expedient numbers 0011-1365-2017-000146 and 0011-1365-2017-000173).

Wine grape production is challenged by forecasted increases in air temperature and droughts due to climate change and photoselective overhead shade films are promising tools in hot viticulture areas to overcome climate change related factors. The aim of this study was to evaluate the vulnerability of ‘Cabernet Sauvignon’ grape berries to solar radiation overexposure, optimize shade film use for preserving berry composition. An experiment was conducted for two years with four shade films (D1, D3, D4, D5) with differing solar radiation spectra transmittance and compared to an uncovered control (C0). Integrals for leaf gas exchange and mid-day stem water potential were unaffected by the shade films in both years. At harvest, berry primary metabolites were not affected by treatments applied in either year. Despite precipitation exclusion during the dormant seasons in shaded treatments, and cluster zone temperatures reaching 58°C in C0, yield was not affected. Berry skin anthocyanin and flavonol composition and content were measured by C18 reversed-phase HPLC. In 2020, total skin anthocyanins (mg·berry-1) in the shaded treatments were 27% greater than C0 during berry ripening and at harvest. Conversely, flavonol content in 2020 decreased in partially shaded grapevines compared to C0. Berry flavonoid content in 2021 increased until harvest while flavonol degradation was apparent from veraison to harvest in 2020 across partially shaded and control grapevines. Untreated control showed lower di- to tri-hydroxylated flavonol ratios closer to harvest. Our results provided evidence that overhead partial shading of vineyards mitigate anthocyanin degradation by reducing cluster zone temperatures and is a useful tool in combatting climate change in hot climate regions. A graduate student stipend was provided to LM from University of California Davis during the execution of the trial

En la actualidad, la población europea aprecia más riesgos que beneficios en el uso de plantas transgénicas en alimentación. Mediante el desarrollo de una estrategia de aprendizaje basado en proyectos de divulgación científica (artículos y charlas) por estudiantes universitarios se ha identificado un aumento del conocimiento autónomo y de vocaciones sobre divulgación científica. Por otro lado, el desarrollo de las charlas de divulgación para estudiantes preuniversitarios ha aumentado el conocimiento sobre divulgación y biotecnología vegetal, promoviendo la elección futura de estudios superiores en biotecnología. At present, the European population sees more risks than benefits in the use of transgenic plants in food. Through the development of a learning strategy based on science dissemination projects (articles and talks) by university students, an increase in autonomous knowledge and vocations in science popularisation has been identified. On the other hand, the development of outreach talks for pre-university students has increased the knowledge of outreach and plant biotechnology, promoting the future choice of higher studies in biotechnology.

To achieve sustainability in the wine industry, by-products from winery operations are being diverted from waste streams and turned into beneficial use. Grape seed tannin (SeedT) and skin tannin (SkinT) extracts were used to modify the properties of gelatin films, and to prepare active/intelligent films. The SeedT extract showed a higher phenolic content (similar to 440 mg gallic acid (GA)/g extract) and antioxidant inhibition (similar to 20 %) than the SkinT extract (14 mg GA/g extract, 2 % antioxidant inhibition), while both extracts presented colour variations with an increase of solution pH. The addition of extracts into the gelatin formulation resulted in coloured and transparent films with lower wettability (water contact angle increased up to 92 degrees) and higher UV-light absorbance (secondary antioxidant function) properties. The films were capable of releasing tannins by up to 20 % which led to antioxidant inhibition values of up to 13 % (primary antioxidant function). The addition of SkinT tannins into the films provided the films with a pH indicator ability (intelligent function). The authors would like to thank the State Research Agency of Spain within the Juan de la Cierva - Incorporation action (IJC2019-039697I) and the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE, Biocide Toolbox programme).

To find renewable and sustainable alternatives to reduce the severe environmental impact of single-use synthetic plastic packaging, glucose-crosslinked gelatin films containing different amounts of chitin nanowhiskers (CNWs) were prepared. CNWs were first prepared by acid hydrolysis of chitin from shrimps, and characterized (morphological and thermal properties), before their addition into film-forming formulations. The films were heat-treated to promote the chemical crosslinking Maillard reaction (MR), between glucose and gelatin. The films then became less soluble (from 100% to ∼10%), thermally more stable, had a notably improved UV–vis light absorption capacity, and presented significantly enhanced tensile strength (from 42 to 77 MPa) and Young's modulus (from 1476 to 2921 MPa), however, they also became less flexible (from 17% to 7%) and transparent. These property alterations were mainly related to changes in crystallinity, the MR and to a lesser extent, to the formation of noncovalent (electrostatic and hydrogen bonding) interactions between CNWs and gelatin. Furthermore, due to the formation of MR products, the films turned yellow/dark brown and released antioxidant compounds (inhibition ∼33%) while immersed in water, which gave the films their active properties (stabilization of free radicals). These films have considerable potential as reinforced active packaging films for renewable food packaging applications., The authors would like to thank the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment of New Zealand (MBIE, Biocide Toolbox programme) and the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (projects PID2019-108361RB-I00 and AGL2017-84161-C2-1-R) for funding. A.E. thanks the State Research Agency of Spain within the Juan de la Cierva - Incorporation action (IJC2019-039697I).

Fertilization, either in the form of organic or inorganic, always affects plant growth, yield, and nutritional quality of fruit crops. Further, the efficacy of fertilizers depends on various factors, including the area, climatic conditions, and cultivars. Rawalakot has ideal climatic conditions for growing strawberries. However, no studies related to the impact of different soil amendments on the growth habit and fruit quality of strawberries have been conducted so far. Therefore, in this study, different combinations of organic (farmyard manure (FYM) and poultry manure (PM)) and inorganic (urea) (N 150 kg/ha) fertilizers were used for comparison of growth pattern and postharvest quality of strawberry cv. Chandler. The organic and inorganic fertilizer regimes showed comparatively better results in terms of all the parameters studied. However, plants grown on soils amended with FYM equivalent to 75 kg N per ha + PM equivalent to 75 kg N per ha and FYM equivalent to 50 kg N per ha + PM equivalent to 50 kg N per ha + urea 50 kg N per ha showed 41% and 28% more survival percentage compared to control. Furthermore, the number of leaves, number of flowers, number of fruits, and yield were significantly high in plants grown on amended soil. Moreover, a significantly high amount of total soluble solids (10.0°Brix), titratable acidity (1.18%), ash (0.84%), fiber (3.03%), total phenols (7.61 μg gallic acid/g fresh weight), total flavonoids (7.93 mmol quercetin/100 g fresh weight), and total antioxidants (0.60 activity of FeSO4 mg/g fresh weight) was noted in comparison with control. Similarly, a combined treatment of FYM, PM, and urea also showed good results in terms of all the growth and fruit quality parameters as compared with other fertilizer regimes as well as control. However, the overall results of this study revealed that strawberries grown on soil amended with a combined dose of FYM equivalent to 75 kg N per ha + PM equivalent to 75 kg N per ha could be a potential dose for maximum yield and better quality fruits of strawberry.

Microfiltration and diafiltration were conducted to obtain 3 distinct levels of liquid micellar casein concentrates from raw skim milk: 8, 10 and 11.5 g casein/100 g. All the concentrates were subjected to 300, 450 and 600 MPa for 5 min. The physicochemical and microbiological changes in the matrix were studied and compared with their untreated counterparts on the day of production and after storing the samples for 7 d at 10 °C. Slight changes in pH were correlated with pressurization; the higher the pressure the greater the decrease in pH. For the least concentrated sample, changes were more noticeable. Furthermore, changes in particle size mainly occurred as a consequence of pressurization but also depended on casein concentration: aggregation and disruption phenomena were observed in the most concentrated samples. In terms of microbial quality, 600 MPa was the only treatment capable of achieving effective microbial control. This research was supported by the Governement of Navarra (Servicio de Innovación del Departamento de Desarrollo Económico del Gobierno de Navarra) through the project OPTICASEINAPPLY (expedient number 0011-1365-2017-000173 ).

Simple Summary The richness (number of species) of the fungi kingdom is estimated at 1.5 million species, but the vast majority remains unknown. Many of them inhabit plants—the so-called fungal endophytes—and may establish different types of interactions with their host plant. Fungal endophytes have been traditionally studied by letting them grow in appropriate culturing media in petri dishes, but novel massive DNA sequencing techniques which do not require a cultivation step (metabarcoding) are gaining ground. Both techniques were applied and compared to characterize the mycobiome of plants of a tall grass (Brachypodium rupestre) growing in high-mountain grasslands with different plant diversity (low and high). The two methods showed similar trends comparing endophyte richness between plant tissue types (root > rhizome > shoot) and between grasslands (low-diversity > high-diversity). However, the metabarcoding identified almost six times more endophyte species than the culturing although the most isolated fungal species via culturing, Omnidemptus graminis, was not recognized via metabarcoding. We conclude that the complementation of both techniques is still the best option to obtain a complete characterization of the fungal endophytic assemblage of the plant species. Abstract Fungal endophytes develop inside plants without visible external signs, and they may confer adaptive advantages to their hosts. Culturing methods have been traditionally used to recognize the fungal endophytic assemblage, but novel metabarcoding techniques are being increasingly applied. This study aims to characterize the fungal endophytic assemblage in shoots, rhizomes and roots of the tall grass Brachypodium rupestre growing in a large area of natural grasslands with a continuum of anthropized disturbance regimes. Seven out of 88 taxa identified via metabarcoding accounted for 81.2% of the reads (Helotiaceae, Lachnum sp. A, Albotricha sp. A, Helotiales A, Agaricales A, Mycena sp. and Mollisiaceae C), revealing a small group of abundant endophytes and a large group of rare species. Although both methods detected the same trends in richness and fungal diversity among the tissues (root > rhizome > shoot) and grasslands (low-diversity > high-diversity grasslands), the metabarcoding tool identified 5.8 times more taxa than the traditional culturing method (15 taxa) but, surprisingly, failed to sequence the most isolated endophyte on plates, Omnidemptus graminis. Since both methods are still subject to important constraints, both are required to obtain a complete characterization of the fungal endophytic assemblage of the plant species.

En la presente tesis se ha examinado la variabilidad genética de varios aislados de campo del nucleopoliedrovirus de Chrysodeixis includens (ChinNPV). Los resultados obtenidos revelan la gran variabilidad presente en los aislados naturales de ChinNPV, confirma las diferencias existentes entre dos variantes genotípicas procedentes de esos aislados y, lo más importante, parecen identificar a la variante ChinNPV-K como generadora de variabilidad en esos aislados. En conclusión, hemos encontrado una gran variabilidad en aislados naturales de ChinNPV, con una sola variante que muestra un papel clave en la generación de esta diversidad de manera dependiente de la concentración. In the present thesis, the genetic variability of field-collected isolates of Chrysodeixis includens nucleopolyhedrovirus (ChinNPV) was examined. These results have revealed the great variability present within natural ChinNPV isolates, confirm the differences between two different genetic variants from these isolates and, more important, appear to identify the ChinNPV-K variant as a generator of variability in these isolates. In conclusion, a great variability has been revealed within ChinNPV natural isolates, with a single variant showing a key role in the generation of this diversity in a concentration-dependent manner. Beca predoctoral UPNA Programa de Doctorado en Biotecnología (RD 99/2011) Bioteknologiako Doktoretza Programa (ED 99/2011)

Climate change models predict lower precipitation and higher air temperatures that will negatively affect viticultural regions. Irrigation of vineyards will be crucial for mitigating abiotic stress during the growing season. However, the environmental impact of irrigation requires consideration for ensuring its sustainability in the future. We evaluated the standard irrigation practices on grapevine water use efficiency, berry flavonoid composition, vineyard water footprint, and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi-grapevine symbiosis in two seasons with contrasting amounts of precipitation. The irrigation treatments consisted of weekly replacement of 25, 50, and 100% of crop evapotranspiration (ETc) during two growing seasons. Irrigation in grapevine vineyards mitigated the water scarcity when precipitation during the dormant season was not sufficient. The results provided field data supporting that despite the low rainfall recorded in one of the seasons, increasing the amount of irrigation was not advised, and replacing 50% ETc was sufficient. In this treatment, berry composition was improved with increased contents of total soluble solids, anthocyanins, and flavonols, and a stable flavonoid profile without an economic decrease in yield. In addition, with 50% ETc, the mycorrhizal symbiosis was not compromised and water resources were not highly impacted. Altogether, our results provide fundamental knowledge for viticulturists to design an appropriate irrigation schedule under the future warming scenarios with minimal environmental impact in semi-arid regions facing warming trends. The authors acknowledge the University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources for providing partial funding during the execution of the trial. A graduate stipend was provided to RY and EK.

Nowadays, the meat industry requires non-destructive, sustainable, and rapid methods that can provide objective and accurate quality assessment with little human intervention. Therefore, the present research aimed to create a model that can classify beef samples from longissimus thoracis muscle according to their tenderness degree based on hyperspectral imaging (HSI). In order to obtain different textures, two main strategies were used: (a) aging type (wet and dry aging with or without starters) and (b) aging times (0, 7, 13, 21, and 27 days). Categorization into two groups was carried out for further chemometric analysis, encompassing group 1 (ngroup1 = 30) with samples with WBSF < 53 N whereas group 2 (ngroup2 = 28) comprised samples with WBSF values 53 N. Then, classification models were created by applying the partial least squares discriminant analysis (PLS-DA) method. The best results were achieved by combining the following pre-processing algorithms: 1st derivative + mean center, reaching 70.83% of correctly classified (CC) samples and 67.14% for cross validation (CV) and prediction, respectively. In general, it can be concluded that HSI technology combined with chemometrics has the potential to differentiate and classify meat samples according to their textural characteristics. This research was funded by Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional, program FEDER 2014-2020 of Navarra, and by the Government of Navarra (project 0011-1365-2019-000091). Open Access funding was provided by Universidad Pública de Navarra. This work was also supported by the Spanish Ministry MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033/FEDER, via Project No. RTI2018-094475-B-I00.

Esta tesis engloba tres trabajos científicos que se centran en los efectos del desacoplamiento de los regímenes de las perturbaciones fuego y pastoreo en los suelos y en la dinámica de la vegetación. En resumen, los resultados de esta memoria doctoral resaltan el riesgo asociado al desacoplamiento de las prácticas de fuego y pastoreo y sus consecuencias para el ciclo del N terrestre y el mantenimiento de la biodiversidad de las comunidades de pasto. La investigación recomienda promover el herbivorismo guiado después de las quemas con el propósito de ejercer un control suficiente sobre determinadas especies problemáticas, y así evitar el uso recurrente de las quemas controladas en los pastos de montaña, lo que puede conllevar efectos negativos en suelos, en vegetación y en el ciclo de nutrientes esenciales. Dado el actual escenario de cambio global, que implica el cambio climático y los cambios de uso de suelos, es necesario comprender los regímenes de gestión tradicionales que preservan la biodiversidad en los paisajes culturales de las zonas de montaña, y planificar así de forma más adecuad a las prácticas que permitan mantener los mecanismos y los procesos que constituyen la base de los paisajes resilientes. This PhD thesis encompasses three scientific works that focus on the effects of the decoupling regimes of fire and herbivory disturbances on the soils and on the dynamics of the vegetation. Altogether, the results of this doctoral dissertation highlight the risk associated to the decoupling of the burning and grazing practices and their consequences to the N terrestrial cycle and the maintenance of the community biodiversity. Eventually, the promotion of a targeted herbivory after burnings with the purpose of exerting enough control on particular troublesome species is recommended: it delays the application of controlled burnings in mountain grasslands, which recurrence and intensity may imply undesired effects in the soils, the vegetation and the N cycle. Given the current global change scenario (climate change and changing land-uses), it is necessary to understand traditional management regimes that preserve biodiversity in cultural landscapes of mountain areas, and to apply suitable emulating practices that maintain mechanisms and processes that constitute the basis of the resilient landscapes. Ministry of Science and Innovation of the Spanish Government (CGL2010-21963 and CGL2011-29746 projects); Interreg Sudoe Programme, European Regional Development Fund, Open2preserve Project (SOE2/P5/E0804); Grant from the Rural Development Programme 2007-2013 of the Navarre Government; Fellowship ‘Ayudas de nueva solicitud para la Formación de Personal Investigador en la Universidad Pública de Navarra para el año 2015’ from the Universidad Pública de Navarra; Mobility grants from `III Convocatoria de becas a la excelencia de la Fundación Bancaria Caja Navarra (curso 2017-2018)’ and `Convocatoria de ayudas para la realización de prácticas en empresas o instituciones europeas en el marco del programa: Erasmus prácticas 2018-2019’. Programa de Doctorado en Agrobiología Ambiental (RD 99/2011) Ingurumen Agrobiologiako Doktoretza Programa (ED 99/2011)

The inefficient production of nucleopolyhedrovirus occlusion bodies (OBs) can limit the commercialization of virus-based insecticides. The production of OBs in SfMNPV-infected Spodoptera frugiperda fourth instars was compared among groups of larvae that were frozen (−20 °C) immediately following death, or subjected to a 9-day period of post-mortem incubation at 5 °C or 15 °C. Incubation at 15 °C resulted in a ∼40% increase in total OB production and OBs per mg larval weight, compared to the −20 °C and 5 °C treatments. OBs from the 5 °C treatment were ∼10% smaller in cross sectional area and small OBs (

Core collections (CCs) constitute a key tool for the characterization and management of genetic resources (GR). When the institutions involved in GR preservation decide to define a CC, they frequently prefer to select accessions based not only on strictly objective criteria, but also to add others following expert knowledge considerations (popularity, prestige, role in breeding history, or presence of phenotypic features of interest). The aim of this study was to evaluate the implications of approaches that combine formal analytical procedures and expert knowledge on the efficiency of CC definition through a case study to establish a pear CC from the Swiss National Pear Inventory. The CC had to represent a maximum of the genetic diversity, not to exceed 150 accessions, and required to include a priority set (SPPS) with 86 genotypes selected based on expert knowledge. In total, nine strategies were evaluated, resulting of combining compositions of the dataset sampled, sampling sizes and methods. The CCs sampled by mixed approaches provided similar scores, irrespective of the approach considered, and obtained similar efficiency in optimizing the genetic diversity retained. Therefore, mixed approaches can be an appropriate choice for applications involving genetic conservation in tree germplasm collections. This project was funded through the Federal Office for Agriculture FOAG within the NPA-PGRFA.

The combined effect of high pressure (HP) processing and the addition of nisin on the microbial quality of liquid micellar casein concentrates (LMCCs) at two different concentrations (7 and 10%) were investigated. Two pressure levels were applied (300 and 450 MPa over 5 min) with three different nisin levels (0, 250, and 500 IU mL 1). Microbial and physicochemical quality were studied at day 0 and after 7 days at 10 C. Results indicated that low-intensity HP treatment (300 MPa) alone or in combination with nisin was not effective enough to limit microbial growth after storage (10 C, 7 days). However, 450 MPa HP treatment combined with nisin addition showed efficiency in bacterial control, without affecting physicochemical properties (acidity, pH, and colour). It has been proved that nisin has the potential to enhance the bacteriological effectiveness of HP processing and thus extend the self-life of LMCCs without altering their physicochemical properties. This work was supported by the Governement of Navarra (Servicio de Innovación del Departamento de Desarrollo Económico del Gobierno de Navarra) through the project OPTICASEINAPPLY (expedient number 0011-1365-2017-000173).

Background: Vineyard-living microbiota play a relevant role in supporting grapevine health and adaptation to changing environments and determining the biological quality of soils that strongly influence the wine quality and characteristics. However, management practices may shape the abundance and interactions of bacteria and fungi in vineyard soils. We conducted this experiment to assess whether the vineyard soil microbiome was altered by different management practices with the use of biostimulants (arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) inoculation vs. non-inoculated) and/or irrigation management (full irrigated vs. half irrigated). Results: Bacterial and fungal communities in vineyard soils were shaped by both time course and soil management (i.e. use of biostimulants or irrigation). Regarding alpha diversity, fungal communities were more responsive to treatments whereas changes on beta diversity were mainly recorded in the bacterial communities. Edaphic factors rarely influenced bacterial and fungal communities. Microbial network analyses suggested that the bacterial associations were weaker than the fungal ones under half irrigation and that the inoculation with AMF led to the increase of positive associations between vineyard soil-living microbes. Conclusion: Our results indicated different sensibilities within microbial communities living in vineyards, as well as, how they changed during the season, and in response to management practices. Moreover, results highlighted the need of more studies leading with the effect of management practices, especially the addition of AMF, to cropping systems to fully understand the factors that drive their variability, strengthen beneficial microbial networks and achieved a better soil quality that improves crop performance.

Los grandes costes asociados a la producción masiva de baculovirus hacen necesaria la búsqueda de productos sinérgicos que reduzcan la cantidad de materia activa. En la presente tesis, se expresó y produjo un factor sinérgico con gran potencial para formulaciones basadas en baculovirus utilizando un sistema de expresión de baculovirus. El principal logro del trabajo es que la producción in vivo de sobrenadante con enhancinas utilizando sistemas de expresión basados en baculovirus puede utilizarse para mejorar la eficacia de los insecticidas biológicos contra plagas de lepidópteros, reduciendo la materia activa de los bioinsecticidas y haciéndolos competitivos comercialmente en comparación con los productos químicos. The increased costs associated with baculovirus mass-production urge the search for synergistic products that reduce the amount of active matter. In the present thesis, a synergistic factor with great potential for baculovirus-based formulations was expressed and produced using a baculovirus expression system. The main achievement of the present thesis is that the in vivo production of solubilized enhancins using baculovirus-based expression systems can be used to improve the efficacy of biological insecticides against lepidopteran pests, reducing the active matter of bioinsecticides and making them commercially competitive with chemicals. Beca predoctoral de la Universidad Pública de Navarra y posteriormente obtuvo contratos como ayudante de proyecto a cargo del proyecto AGL2017-83498-C2-1-R. Programa de Doctorado en Biotecnología (RD 99/2011) Bioteknologiako Doktoretza Programa (ED 99/2011)

18 Pags.- 2 Tabls.- 1 Fig. © 2020 The Authors. Australian Journal of Grape and Wine Research published by John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd on behalf of Australian Society of Viticulture and Oenology Inc. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution‐NonCommercial‐NoDerivs License, which permits use and distribution in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non‐commercial and no modifications or adaptations are made., Viticulture is facing emerging challenges not only because of the effect of climate change on yield and composition of grapes, but also of a social demand for environmental‐friendly agricultural management. Adaptation to these challenges is essential to guarantee the sustainability of viticulture. The aim of this review is to present adaptation possibilities from the soil‐hidden, and often disregarded, part of the grapevine, the roots. The complexity of soil–root interactions makes necessary a comprehensive approach taking into account physiology, pathology and genetics, in order to outline strategies to improve viticulture adaptation to current and future threats. Rootstocks are the link between soil and scion in grafted crops, and they have played an essential role in viticulture since the introduction of phylloxera into Europe at the end of the 19th century. This review outlines current and future challenges that are threatening the sustainability of the wine sector and the relevant role that rootstocks can play to face these threats. We describe how rootstocks along with soil management can be exploited as an essential tool to deal with the effects of climate change and of emerging soil‐borne pests and pathogens. Moreover, we discuss the possibilities and limitations of diverse genetic strategies for rootstock breeding., This work is framed in the networking activities of RedVitis (AGL2015‐70931‐REDT) and RedVitis 2.0 (AGL2017‐90759‐REDT), funded by the State Research Agency (AEI) of the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation. Ms Diana Marín is beneficiary of postgraduate scholarship funded by Universidad Pública de Navarra (FPI‐UPNA‐2016). Dr Juan Emilio Palomares‐Rius acknowledges the State Research Agency (AEI) of the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation for the ‘Ramon y Cajal’ Fellowship RYC‐2017‐22228 and Dr David Gramaje acknowledges Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness for the ‘Ramon y Cajal’ Fellowship RYC‐2017‐23098.

16 páginas, 10 figuras, 5 tablas, The plant microbiome is likely to play a key role in the resilience of communities to the global climate change. This research analyses the culturable fungal mycobiota of Brachypodium rupestre across a sharp gradient of disturbance caused by an intense, anthropogenic fire regime. This factor has dramatic consequences for the community composition and diversity of high-altitude grasslands in the Pyrenees. Plants were sampled at six sites, and the fungal assemblages of shoots, rhizomes, and roots were characterized by culture-dependent techniques. Compared to other co-occurring grasses, B. rupestre hosted a poorer mycobiome which consisted of many rare species and a few core species that differed between aerial and belowground tissues. Recurrent burnings did not affect the diversity of the endophyte assemblages, but the percentages of infection of two core species -Omnidemptus graminis and Lachnum sp. -increased significantly. The patterns observed might be explained by (1) the capacity to survive in belowground tissues during winter and rapidly spread to the shoots when the grass starts its spring growth (O. graminis), and (2) the location in belowground tissues and its resistance to stress (Lachnum sp.). Future work should address whether the enhanced taxa have a role in the expansive success of B. rupestre in these anthropized environments., MD and LM got funding through two UPNA’s doctorate scholarships. The research was supported by three projects financed by Ecoembes-SEO/Birdlife (Libera 2017), “la Caixa” Foundation and CAN foundation (LCF/PR/PR13/51080004), and the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation and FEDER funds (AGL2016-76035-C2-1R).

The selection of genotypes best adapted to environmental conditions has traditionally focused on agronomic and grape composition parameters. However, to classify the genotypes most adapted to climate change conditions, the aim must be to focus on the ecophysiological responses that will ultimately determine their performance. The variability in water use efficiency of 13 Grenache genotypes over three-seasons was assessed under field conditions at leaf, grape and plant level. Results showed a significant effect of genotype at all three levels, and despite the large interannual variability there was a remarkable consistency among levels. Furthermore, using genotype-specific regressions it was possible to identify significant differences in the intrinsic water use efficiency response of each genotype as a function of the vine water status. The relationship between net photosynthesis and stomatal conductance, as well as carbon isotope discrimination in grapes, were also confirmed as reliable physiological indicators for selecting grapevine genotypes to future environmental conditions. Therefore, the proposed multi-level methodology was useful to quantify the intracultivar variability and the identification of more and less efficient genotypes within Grenache. I. Buesa acknowledges the funding of his postdoctoral position to Margalida Comas program (European Social Fund and the Government of the Balearic Islands). This study received the financial support of Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness with FEDER co‐funding [WANUGRAPE. AGL2017‐83738‐C3‐1R].

Esta tesis plantea tres objetivos que se desarrollarán en tres capítulos independientes, correspondientes a sus respectivas publicaciones. Por un lado, se ha caracterizado la presencia y replicación de SRLV en macrófagos procedentes de granulomas inducidos tras la vacunación con formulaciones basadas en hidróxido de aluminio, el adyuvante más común en las vacunas ovinas. En segundo lugar, se ha analizado una población de más de 1000 individuos en diferentes sistemas de producción y razas e infectados por diferentes cepas de SRLV. Se ha realizado un estudio serológico y molecular con las herramientas disponibles en el comercio y se ha analizado la asociación de parámetros productivos, en granjas de carne y leche, con la presencia de infección. Por último, se han analizado poblaciones ovinas correspondientes a cuatro razas de importancia productiva teniendo en cuenta su estado sanitario y el genotipo de la proteína TMEM154, uno de los candidatos más prometedores para su implantación en programas de selección genética. This thesis addresses three objectives that will be developed in three independent chapters corresponding to their respective publications. In the first one, SRLV presence and replication has been demonstrated in macrophages within granulomas induced after inoculation with aluminium-based vaccines, the most common adjuvant in ovine vaccines. Second, a population of more than 1000 sheep belonging to different production systems, breeds and infected by different SRLV strains has been analyzed serologically and molecularly using commercially available tools, in association to productive traits in meat and dairy farms. Finally, sheep corresponding to four different breeds relevant for the sheep industry have been analyzed taking into account their infectious status and the TMEM154 (E35K) genotype, one of the most promising candidates for genetic selection programs. Proyectos de investigación ‘Adyuvantes vacunales alternativos en enfermedades infecciosas ovinas para hacer frente a los efectos adversos derivados del hidróxido de aluminio como adyuvante’, RTI2018-096-172-B-C31; ‘Inmunidad innata en procesos inmunomediados, ASIA ovino y lentivirosis animales’, MINECO AGL 2013-49137-C3-1; ‘Epidemiología molecular y control innato de las infecciones lentivirales en el ganado Navarro’, Gobierno de Navarra. Plan de Desarrollo Rural (PDR). Programa de Doctorado en Biotecnología (RD 99/2011) Bioteknologiako Doktoretza Programa (ED 99/2011)

Background The increasing demand for food production has led to a tenfold increase in nitrogen (N) fertilizer use since the Green Revolution. Nowadays, agricultural soils have been turned into high-nitrifying environments that increase N pollution. To decrease N losses, synthetic nitrification inhibitors (SNIs) such as 3,4-dimethylpyrazole phosphate (DMPP) have been developed. However, SNIs are not widely adopted by farmers due to their biologically limited stability and soil mobility. On the other hand, allelopathic substances from root exudates from crops such as sorghum are known for their activity as biological nitrification inhibitors (BNIs). These substances are released directly into the rhizosphere. Nevertheless, BNI exudation could be modified or even suppressed if crop development is affected. In this work, we compare the performance of biological (sorghum crop) and synthetic (DMPP) nitrification inhibitors in field conditions. Results Sorghum crop BNIs and DMPP prevented an increase in the abundance of ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AOB) without affecting the total bacterial abundance. Both nitrification inhibitors maintained similar soil NH4+ content, but at 30 days post-fertilization (DPF), the sorghum BNIs resulted in higher soil NO3− content than DMPP. Even so, these inhibitors managed to reduce 64% and 96%, respectively, of the NO3−-N/NH4+-N ratio compared to the control treatment. Similar to soil mineral N, there were no differences in leaf δ15N values between the two nitrification inhibitors, yet at 30 DPF, δ15N values from sorghum BNI were more positive than those of DMPP. N2O emissions from DMPP-treated soil were low throughout the experiment. Nevertheless, while sorghum BNIs also maintained low N2O emissions, they were associated with a substantial N2O emission peak at 3 DPF that lasted until 7 DPF. Conclusions Our results indicate that while sorghum root exudates can reduce nitrification in field soil, even at the same efficiency as DMPP for a certain amount of time, they are not able to prevent the N pollution derived from N fertilization as DMPP does during the entire experiment. Graphic Abstract