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Fruit products certified by quality labels should guarantee high levels of consumer acceptance, despite the unavoidable variability arising from growing conditions and postharvest responses. The quality of ‘Abate Fetel’ pear (Pyrus communis L.) fruit was studied, after short or long cold storage, by analysis of physicochemical, texture and flavour traits, to investigate factors affecting consumer acceptance. Fruit from three orchards differing in location and design, monitored during 10d of ripening at 20°C, softened progressively to reach and exceed firmness adequate for consumption. Change in colour, in particular hue angle, paralleled softening. Sensory traits were investigated by evaluating fruit of three different firmness levels within the range of acceptable eating quality. Firmness differences were clearly perceived both by expert judges and by consumers, but did not influence the degree of liking. ‘Abate Fetel’ pear can maintain acceptable eating quality at 20°C for 4–8d after 13 weeks storage at −1°C, or 2–6d after 23 weeks storage at −1°C. Changing texture parameters were perceived at eating, without compromising overall quality. Production system affected intrinsic quality parameters such as total soluble solids concentration, but did not influence consumer acceptance. In consumer tests conducted after 13 weeks of cold storage, high scores were recorded, with a 86% acceptance frequency and more than 40% of scores reflecting “like very much” or “like extremely”. After 23 weeks of cold storage a decrease in degree of liking was observed. The overall value of ‘Abate Fetel IGP Emilia-Romagna’ quality label was confirmed by consumer evaluations. However, the decrease in consumer acceptance after 23 weeks of cold storage indicates that caution should be used in using long storage durations. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Collections of deletion mutants are important tools for functional genomics in crops. In order to establish an efficient physical γ-ray-based mutagenesis protocol and estimate the frequency of induced chromosome deletion events in apple, we mutagenized a total of 338 leaves of the apple cultivar 'Golden Delicious' with a range of irradiation doses (from 0 to 30 Gy). After in vitro culture and regeneration, a total of 248 plantlets were genotyped by a custom-made 384 SNP-based array suited to identify homozygous regions, corresponding to chromosome deletions produced by the irradiation and/or the in vitro culture treatments. With this approach, we identified nine multi-SNP chromosome deletions corresponding to 3.7 % of all regenerated plantlets and ranging from one to 44 cM (0.1-20.2 Mb). Chromosome deletions were also observed at mildly, not significantly lower frequency in plantlets regenerated from non-irradiated leaves. Our results confirm the possibility to generate apple plants with sizeable deletions of known dimension and location, opening the way to creating a collection of deletions spanning the apple genome useful for functional genomics. The high frequency of deletions apparently caused by somaclonal variation deserves further investigation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights: [•] I AD is better related with mechanical properties than the h° of the ground color. [•] Compression strength is the least related mechanical property correlated with I AD and h°. [•] At flesh firmness <40N, the needle probe behavior is less correlated with the I AD of the skin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: To evaluate the production potential of fiber nettle crops in Tuscany (Italy), a German clone of fiber nettle was cultivated during 2006–2007. Although a longer experimentation is essential, the two first years of trials showed that the German clone used also seems to give good results in term of growth and fiber yield in an environment like central Italy, with higher temperatures and generally lower rainfall. Indeed the stalk mean dry matter obtained was about 15.4Mgha−1 with a mean fiber content of about 11% of stalk dry matter, and the resulting fiber yield was 1696kgha−1, comparable to or higher than those reported in the literature. The differences in chemical, physical and mechanical characteristics of fibers extracted from different portions of stalks seemed to indicate an intrinsic heterogeneity of the fibers along the stem. Fiber mean diameter values ranged from 47 to 19μm and fiber length from 43 to 58mm moving from stalk bottom to top. Tensile strength of the bottom part of the stalk was much lower than that of the other parts, with mean values of about 24 and 60cNtex−1, respectively. More constant mean values along the stalk were found for the elongation parameter (2.3–2.6%). Lignin content decreased moving toward the stalk top from about 4.4% to 3.5%. These physical–mechanical characteristics confirmed the potential of the fibers of nettle cultivated in Tuscany to be used for textile purposes. Indeed they were similar to hemp fibers in diameter, lignin content and elongation, and similar to flax or cotton in tensile strength. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Highlights • The original three-factor model of the Taste scale of the HTAS was not confirmed. • The Health scale was effective in differentiating subjects according to their healthy attitudes by clustering. • Attitudes towards health are positively associated with liking and familiarity with healthy diet. • More interest in convenience increased the probability to be less interested in health. • More interest in product information and food quality increased the probability to be more interested in health. Abstract The purpose of the current study, was to apply and validate the factor structure of the Health and Taste Attitude Scales in an Italian adult sample of 1224 subjects, recruited on a national basis in order to characterise consumers' food-related attitudes with weak and strong connotations of health and taste. Both exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis were used to evaluate the factor structure of the three sub-scales of Health (General health interest, Light product interest, Natural product interest) and three sub-scales of Taste (Craving for sweet foods, Using foods as a reward, Pleasure). Results showed that the internal structure was similar to the theoretical proposal, with two exceptions for the Taste scale. The Pleasure sub-scale presented strong problematic loadings and consequently was removed from the model. The Craving for sweet foods sub-scale was split into two new underlying constructs describing attitudes towards craving for sweet food based on their own experience and attitudes towards other-people's craving. The three Health sub-scales were used as a basis for the derivation of consumers clusters. Three groups of subjects with different interest in food-related health (Low, Medium, and High Interest) were identified. This segmentation confirmed an association between positive attitudes towards health and liking and familiarity with selected food groups. People more convenience-oriented and less interested in product information and food quality had higher probability to have a lower interest in food-related health. Subjects with higher positive attitudes towards using foods as a reward had a higher probability to belong to the cluster with lower interest in food-related health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wild cherry (Prunus avium L.) shoots were cultured in closed vessels on a proliferation medium and the volatile substances released during incubation at photosynthetic photon flux density of 30 μmol m-2 s-1 were determined. Ethylene and CO2 started forming at the beginning of the incubation period an linear relationship between their formation was observed even at high CO2 concentrations. After 30 days of culture, CO2 reached a concentration of 30%. Shoots released ethanol and acetaldehyde after several days of incubation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]