UNIVERSITY OF AGRONOMIC SCIENCE AND VETERINARY MEDICINE BUCHAREST FACULTY OF AGRICULTURE Ph.D. Thesis Abstract Biological, agronomical and sanogene properties of Ribes nigrum L. and Ribes rubrum L. species and their impact on THESIS SCIENTIFIC SUPERVISOR Prof. Univ. PhD. Bălan Viorica PhD. STUDENT Eng. Manole Carmen Gabriela Bucharest, 2013
Keywords: bio-agronomical, sanogene, Ribes nigrum L., Ribes rubrum L. One of the most complex definitions of the sustainable development was the one presented in 1972 during the UNO Conference on Environment, regarding the fulfilling the nowadays needs without compromising the fulfillment of the future generation needs, included in the works of the World Commission on Environment and Development (The Brundtland Report), in 1987. Therefore, today the focus on the multidisciplinary approach synergy between agriculture, horticulture and health domains is nothing but a follow-up and an extension of the old medieval traditions, health plants relationship preceding the written history. Lately, the nutrition, diet, health informative messages and the concerns related to healthier life habits are continuously growing. The smart food selections, as well as the healthy life habits, are the most important factors of limiting the risk of various diseases occurrence and certainly improving the life quality. In order to support this concept, the World Health Organization and Food Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, through their Health World Report from 2002, underlined the link between the low consumption of fruits and vegetables and the occurrence of certain diseases, i.e. IHD (ischemic cardiac disease) of 31% and cardiovascular accidents of 11% [Joceline Pomerleau and team, 2004]. Thus, the interest in the plants species with sanogene properties is more and more high, among which species as Ribes, as well as Ribes nigrum L. and Ribes rubrum L are to be found. This particular interest is the result of the benefits associated to their fruits consumption and the possibility of exploiting, for therapeutic purposes, the elements related to the plant morphology and architecture [E. Oprea, 2008, J. Liobicas, 2008, K. Ikuta, 2012, Mitchell and team, 2011]. Therefore, extended researches of certain countries as New Zeeland, Poland, Japan, Great Britain, etc., have led to the usage of fruits, buds and leaves of these species both in the nutrition and therapeutic domains. Herewith, our country geographical location and climate have always ensured exceptional favorable conditions for cultivating fruits trees and scrubs [N. Cepoiu, 2000]. Regarding this aspect, the Romanian flora includes in its structure various endemic and relict plants species, among which medicinal plants species and those with high sanogene and nutrition value being found, i.e. Ribes nigrum L. and Ribes rubrum L species. For exploiting the favorable natural conditions and the bio-base of the fruit scrubs species, available at the University of Agronomic Sciences and Veterinary Medicine - Bucharest, the 1
approached and developed research subject of this PhD. thesis is included in the present development and exploiting trends within an intensive of the black currant agriculture productions. Through the approached topic, this subject represents an original asset, by introducing personal researches results and contributions related to the biological, agronomical and sanogene properties of six breeds (Tinker, Deea, Roxia, Abanos, Elita 124, Kzvana) of Ribes nigrum L. species and five breeds (Elite, Rolan, Jonkheer van Tets, Det Van, Tatran) of Ribes rubrum L. species, as well as their impact on. One of the two purposing in selecting this is that, although on the global level, there is an intensive interest in growing and exploiting the nutritional and therapeutic features of the Ribes nigrum L. and Ribes rubrum L. species production, in Romania, their consumption and exploiting rates are only in their incipient stage. The second reason, which actually represents also the research objective, was to establish the biological and agronomical characteristics of certain breeds of the above mentioned species, as well as the bio-physical and bio-chemical characteristics levels of the fruits with sanogene and nutritional values, on different ripening stages, originated from breeds of Ribes nigrum L. and Ribes rubrum L. species, the way these characteristics can be useful in obtaining the nutraceutical products and highlighting the breeds which meet a high amount of bioagronomical and nutritional characteristics. Therefore, the researches objectives of this PhD. thesis are the following: 1. Establishing the growing and fructifying characteristics of six breeds belonging to Ribes nigrum L. species and five breeds belonging to Ribes rubrum L. species, studied within the research lot of the bio-basis of the University of Agronomic Sciences and Veterinary Medicine - Bucharest (UASVMB). 2. Establishing the bio-physical and bio-chemical characteristics level of the fruits with sanogene and nutritional roles of certain new-introduced breeds of the Ribes nigrum L. and Ribes rubrum L species. 3. Recommending the Ribes nigrum L. and Ribes rubrum L. breeds which proved having a large amount of positive characteristics and features regarding the biological, agronomical, sanogene and nutritional aspects, as well as the way these characteristics can be used and exploited for obtaining the nutraceutical products. The PhD. thesis includes seven chapters, as described below. 2
Chapter I of the Thesis: General information and aspects regarding the sustainable development analyzes important aspects of the national and international legislation regarding the agriculture sustainable development. In the same time, this Chapter introduces several aspects related to the rational food scope and importance in maintaining and improving the life quality, thus, the undergoing and already finalized global main programs are underlined herein. In this Chapter, the importance and role of the Ribes nigrum L. and Ribes rubrum L. species are to be found, in order to maintain the biodiversity, ecological balance and health. Chapter II of the Thesis: Species diversity within Ribes genus, their origins and spreading, includes important aspects regarding the species within Ribes genus. Ribes genus that is introduced here includes around 150 diploid species sorted by category, including Ribes rubrum L., Ribes nigrum L., Ribes aureum Pursh, Ribes uva-crispa L, Ribes alpinum L. species, to be found in various areas in the world. Within Ribes genus, there are some individual species that were created in time and which are specific to some countries geographical areas and traditions. One example is Russia, with its freezing-resistant species (R. dikuscha Fisch, R. pauciflorum Turcz, R. fontaneum Boczkarn, R. procumbens Pall, R. manschuricum (Maxim.) Kom, R. pallidiflorum Pojark., R. palczewskii Jancz.) and mites-resistant species (R. pauciflorum, R. procumbens). This Chapter also introduces a sequence dedicated to the species origins and spreading, as my own researches objective, i.e. Ribes nigrum L. and Ribes rubrum L. Chapter III of the Thesis: The growing of black currant (Ribes nigrum L.) and red currant (Ribes rubrum L.) and their objective in the fruit-growing economy, on the global and national levels includes data regarding the requirements on the environment conditions of the breeds of the Ribes nigrum L. and Ribes rubrum L. species, currant cultivated surfaces, areas and productions, on the worldwide and national levels. As per the statistics carried out by the Food and Agriculture Organization for 2010 2011 for the currant-cultivated areas, it can be concluded that on the European level, Poland contributes with around 16-18% of the total cultivated surface, followed by Ukraine, France and Great Britain. On the global level, the largest surface cultivated with currant is Russia, of about 51,000 ha. Among the non-european countries, the largest currant-cultivated surface is owned by the New Zeeland, covering 1,200 ha. Regarding the production, presently, Poland is by far the world s largest currant producer. 3
This chapter introduces also the main breeds sorts of the Ribes nigrum L. and Ribes rubrum L. species promoted in the main cultivating countries on the global and national levels. Thus, on the European level, the most cultivated breeds sorts are the black currant, i.e.: Ojebyn, Titania, Ben Lemond, Ben Alder, Ben Tiran, Ben Gope, Ben Gairn, Tiben, Tisel, out of which, in Poland, as the main cultivating country, the following breeds sorts are grown: Foxendown, Ceres, Tiben, Ores, Czereszniewa, Ben Gairn, Ben Hope, Ruben, Gofert, Foxendown, Ben Alder, Ben Lemond, Bona, Big Ben and in the Russian Federation there are breeds sorts for large productions i.e. Venera, Vospominanie, Dar Smol yaninovoy, Iskushienie, Ocharovanie with productions of 10-12 tons/ha and breeds with high level of vitamin C (over 250 mg/100g) i.e. Amurski korservnny, Ozherelie, Sevchanka, Sumrak. Chapter IV of the Thesis: Synthesis of the actual results of the researches regarding the biological, agronomical and sanogene characteristics of the Ribes nigrum L. and Ribes rubrum L. species introduces the actual status of knowledge within the researched domain and the scientific basis of own researches. According to the specialized works, the plants design depends on the nature and relative arrangement of its components, representing the shape of the balance between the endogen growing processes and exogenous constrains exerted by the environment. Regarding the plant as a whole, the architectural analysis represents a global, dynamic and on several development levels of the plants approach. Thus, for each species, for each development level and in any environment condition, based on the architecture complexity, various qualitative and quantitative observations are carried out for the morphological or even anatomical characteristics, for different entities populations [D. Barthelemy and team, 2007]. Characteristics and features as the ripening size and type of the fruits, number of shoots, fruits efficiency per plant and the predisposition to diseases and pests are the most important pomological features, best describing the currant breeds phenotypic diversity [W. Madry, 2010]. Chapter V of Thesis: Experimental researches regarding the biological and agronomical features of certain breeds of the Ribes nigrum L. and Ribes rubrum L species. includes the analysis of few plants architecture and production elements of the studied breeds. The researches were carried out for two experimental lots located in the UASVM Bucharest bio-basis. The representative type of the lots has the following geographical coordinates: 44 28 10 N and 26 04 00 N. By analyzing the characteristics of the plant volume, shoots number, cluster number; the obtained results contribute to the scientific foundation of the biological 4
resources fund diversification within the species with sanogene features. Also, this Chapter introduces the agronomical features of the breeds of Ribes nigrum L. and Ribes rubrum L. species, including the analysis of certain production elements (raceme, berries weight, clusters weight), of the productivity and production quantity (production/breed and production/breed/ha) if these are grown in the plain area of Bucharest. From the bio agronomical point of view of the Ribes nigrum L. species, Deea and Roxia breeds stood out, and out of the Ribes rubrum L. species: Elite and Rolan breeds. Chapter VI of the Thesis: Experimental researches regarding the sanogene features of certain breeds of the Ribes nigrum L. and Ribes rubrum L. species includes the results related to the production quality, regarding the bio-physics and bio-chemical characteristics analysis of the fruits with sanogene and nutritional role for the studied breeds, as well as the way these can be used and exploited for obtaining the nutraceutical products. The biological material that was used included samples of fruits from various ripening levels, originated from the studied breeds of the Ribes nigrum L. and Ribes rubrum L species. To this effect, the established working protocol targeted the qualitative and quantitative calculation of the content of active biological compounds and an antioxidant capacity, as well as the relations among them. From the sanogene point of view, breeds as Abanos, Deea and Kzvana stood out within the Ribes nigrum L. species and Tatran and Elite breeds from the Ribes rubrum L species. Chapter VII of the Thesis: General conclusions and recommendations includes the conclusions and recommendations resulted based on own researches. Thus, the advantage of exploiting the bio-agronomical and sanogene characteristics for obtaining the nutraceutical products can be directed towards the plants architecture elements, i.e. leaves, antioxidants sources and essential oils, used as teas and traditional drinks, out of which the Rolan and Jonkheer van Tets breeds of the Ribes rubrum L. species and Deea, Roxia and Kzvana breeds of the Ribes nigrum L species stood out. From the bio-physical and bio-chemical elements of the fruits quality point of view, with applications in the food and pharmaceutical industries, the Abanos, Deea and Kzvana breeds from the Ribes nigrum L. species and Tatran and Elite breeds are to be found. Based on the results obtained within this Thesis, on the centralized conclusions, published scientific papers, having a positive impact, we recommend as having a high consumption rate the fruits rich in active biological compounds, critical to our lives, from the valuable Ribes nigrum L., and Ribes rubrum L. breeds, by increasing the cultivated areas and therefore of the obtained 5
productions, rational development of the fields favorable for growing and developing these scrubs, breeds multiplication with a large number of positive characteristics. 6
Bibliography 1. Joceline Pomerleau, Karen Lock, Cecile Knai, Martin McKee et al., 2004, Effectiveness of interventions and programs promoting fruit and vegetable intake, electronic publication only; 2. Oprea Eliza, Radulescu V., Balotescu C., et al., 2008, Chemical and biological studies of Ribes nigrum L. buds essential oil, Biofactors Vol. 34, p. 3 12; 3. Liobikas Julius, Liegiute S., Majiene D., Trumbeckaite S., Bendokas V., Kopustinskiene D. M., Siksnianas T., Anisimoviene N., 2008, Antimicrobial activity of anthocyanin-rich extracts from berries of different Ribes nigrum varieties, Journal of Horticulture and vegetable growing, Vol. 27, p. 59 66; 4. Kazufumi Ikuta, Koichi Hashimoto, Hisatoshi Kaneko, Shuichi Mori, Kazutaka Ohashi, Tatsuo Suzutani, 2012, Anti-viral and anti-bacterial activities of an extract of blackcurrants (Ribes nigrum L.), Journal of Microbiology and Immunology, Vol. 56, p. 805 809; 5. C. Mitchell, M. R. Brennan, J. V. Cross, and S. N. Johnson, 2011, Arthropod pests of currant and gooseberry crops in the U.K.: their biology, management and future prospects, Agricultural and Forest Entomology, Vol. 13, p. 221 237; 6. N. Cepoiu, 2000, Applied fruit growing, Agriculture Sciences Publishing House, Bucharest; 7. D. Barthelemy and Y. Caraglio, 2007, Plant architecture: A dynamic, multilevel and comprehensive approach to plant form, structure and ontogeny, Annals of Botany, Vol. 99, p. 375-407; 8. Wieslaw Madry, Stanislaw Pluta, Leszek Sieczko and Marcin Studnicki, 2010, Phenotypic diversity in a sample of blackcurrant (Ribes nigrum L.) cultivars maintained in the fruit breeding department at the Research Institute of Pomology and Floriculture in Skierniewice, Poland, Journal of Fruit and Ornamental Plant Research, vol. 18, p. 23 37. 7