What was the challenge/problem addressed?

Cretan chestnuts are uniformly referred to as ‘Maronia of Crete’, although there is a scattering of various sub-varieties with different local names. A characteristic feature of Cretan chestnuts is the ripening season of the fruit, which has excellent nutritional and commercial characteristics and is produced in high yields, which is why the crop has attracted the interest of producers the recent years. Tomēr, chestnut producers often import propagating material from mainland Greece or abroad, which leads to the genetic erosion of the valuable local ‘varieties’ and at the same time involves the risk of the introduction of various diseases.

Tāpēc, chestnut producers and their advisors in the local cooperative were addressed to scientists from the Mediterranean Agronomic Institute of Chania (MAICh) and together created an Operational Group to find answers to their knowledge gap on:

  1. a) the varieties (identification in terms of genetic material/genotype and tree characteristics/ phenotype) in order to choose the best one for future plantations and
  2. b) the best cultivation practices for the (selected) trees, including precision farming technics (use of temperature and humidity sensors etc.).

 

Kā jūs atrisinājāt problēmu?

The chestnut farmers claim that there are four local chestnut cultivars, thus the project’s main objectives are to determine whether there are distinct genetic identity and disseminate the best and environmental-friendly cultivation practices for each one of the cultivars.

MAICh scientists have undertaken the analysis of genetic material of trees (lab analysis) as well of trees’ characteristics following farmers’ suggestions, in collaboration with their cooperatives and advisors. The next steps are the establishment of pilot plantations with the selected trees/ varieties and the determination of the best, environmental-friendly cultivation practices (which is important vis-à-vis climate change which is already obvious in Crete). The last step is the production of new, high added value products based on the organoleptic properties of the selected chestnut varieties.

 

Kas ir novatorisks jūsu praktiskajā gadījumā?

The case combines characteristics of a technical, market and organizational innovation.

Kādi ir veiksmes faktori problēmas risināšanā?

The collaboration among farmers, advisors and farmers is an essential factor for the completion of project’s objectives.

Gūtās mācības

  • The scieentific results obtained with nSSR and EST-SSR markers, showed high level of diversity for the Cretan chestnut cultivars.
  • Considering the analysed genotypes from a small geographic area of the Region of Chania, the polymorphism level was notable.
  • The four Cretan chestnut cultivars could be divided into two groups. Katharokastania and Rogdiani are relatively low number multilocus genotype cultivars; whereas, Koutsakera and Stroviani can be described as high number multilocus genotype cultivars.
  • The results from the morphological analysis of chestnut fruits and leaves exposed that the most variable traits are the angle between minor and major axes of a fitted ellipse in fruit, the leaf feretY, the fruit feretangle, the leaf feretX, the fruit feretY and the fruit feretX.
  • According to the primarly scientific results, the Cretan chestnut germplasm might be a reservoir of genetic diversity that should be further investigated by complementary studies including flowering characteristics, chemical quality attributes and genetic analysis.

 

What role does the advisor or advisory service play with the practical case?

The role of advisors is to establish communication channels between farmers and researchers, explain the new knowledge and build farmers capacity to implement new practices.

Vai jūsu pieeja var tikt pārnesta un/vai pielāgota citiem jauninājumu izaicinājumiem un reģioniem?

Jā

Paredzamā nododamība mērogā no 1 Ļoti svarīga būs arī Štīrijas Lauksaimniecības kameras loma pēc projekta beigām, lai rezultātus izplatītu pēc iespējas plašāk 5

(kur 1 ir viegli un 5 ļoti grūti)

1

 

Par dalīšanos pieredzē par labo praksi, lūdzu sazinieties

Panagiotis Kalaitzis

panagiot@maich.gr , +302821035030

Link to external information

1.https://cretanbusiness.gr/%CE%B5%CF%81%CE%B5%CF%85%CE%BD%CE%B7%CF%84%CE%B9%CE%BA%CF%8C-%CF%80%CF%81%CF%8C%CE%B3%CF%81%CE%B1%CE%BC%CE%BC%CE%B1-%CE%BA%CE%B1%CF%83%CF%84%CE%B1%CE%BD%CE%B9%CE%AC%CF%82/

  1. https://www.mdpi.com/1999-4907/12/12/1659#:~:text=