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Valorization of Traditional Italian Walnut (Juglans regia L.) Production: Genetic, Nutritional and Sensory Characterization of Locally Grown Varieties in the Trentino Region

Authors :
Erica A. Di Pierro
Pietro Franceschi
Isabella Endrizzi
Brian Farneti
Lara Poles
Domenico Masuero
Iuliia Khomenko
Francesco Trenti
Annarita Marrano
Urska Vrhovsek
Flavia Gasperi
Franco Biasioli
Graziano Guella
Luca Bianco
Michela Troggio
Source :
Plants, Vol 11, Iss 15, p 1986 (2022)
Publication Year :
2022
Publisher :
MDPI AG, 2022.

Abstract

Juglans regia (L.) is cultivated worldwide for its nutrient-rich nuts. In Italy, despite the growing demand, walnut cultivation has gone through a strong decline in recent decades, which led to Italy being among the top five net importing countries. To promote the development of local high-quality Italian walnut production, we devised a multidisciplinary project to highlight the distinctive traits of three varieties grown in the mountainous region Trentino (northeast of Italy): the heirloom ‘Bleggiana’, a second local accession called local Franquette and the French cultivar ‘Lara’, recently introduced in the local production to increase yield. The genetic characterization confirmed the uniqueness of ‘Bleggiana’ and revealed local Franquette as a newly described autochthonous variety, thus named ‘Blegette’. The metabolic profiles highlighted a valuable nutritional composition of the local varieties, richer in polyphenols and with a lower ω-6/ω-3 ratio than the commercial ‘Lara’. ‘Blegette’ obtained the highest preference scores from consumers for both the visual aspect and tasting; however, the volatile organic compound profiles did not discriminate among the characterized cultivars. The described local varieties represent an interesting reservoir of walnut genetic diversity and quality properties, which deserve future investigation on agronomically useful traits (e.g., local adaptation and water usage) for a high-quality and sustainable production.

Details

Language :
English
ISSN :
11151986 and 22237747
Volume :
11
Issue :
15
Database :
Directory of Open Access Journals
Journal :
Plants
Publication Type :
Academic Journal
Accession number :
edsdoj.0337ef145b8e4b4399a7ad9a96017d6f
Document Type :
article
Full Text :
https://doi.org/10.3390/plants11151986