Preprint Communication Version 1 Preserved in Portico This version is not peer-reviewed

Innovative Tools for the Nitrogen Fertilization Traceability of Organic Farming Products

Version 1 : Received: 1 June 2023 / Approved: 2 June 2023 / Online: 2 June 2023 (11:29:22 CEST)

A peer-reviewed article of this Preprint also exists.

Fabroni, S.; Bontempo, L.; Campanelli, G.; Canali, S.; Montemurro, F. Innovative Tools for the Nitrogen Fertilization Traceability of Organic Farming Products. Horticulturae 2023, 9, 723. Fabroni, S.; Bontempo, L.; Campanelli, G.; Canali, S.; Montemurro, F. Innovative Tools for the Nitrogen Fertilization Traceability of Organic Farming Products. Horticulturae 2023, 9, 723.

Abstract

In the last decades, consumers are increasingly interested in organic products and they strongly demand for reliability of the traceability of the organic products they use to buy and eat. Different researches have been carried out over the years to investigate on new and reliable systems to test the authenticity of products obtained using organic cultivation methods. The monitoring of some chemical components, derived from primary and/or secondary metabolism, in horticultural organic and conventional products, has highlighted the diversity induced by the two production techniques while the difference in fertilization practices has been shown to impact on the isotopic distribution of some elements, with particular reference to nitrogen. An integrated system is proposed to validate, through the acquisition of isotopic data and other chemical and biochemical parameters, the authenticity of organic products. This approach is intended to be coupled to the application of chemometric multivariate analysis of isotopic data combined with other quality and nutraceutical parameters, giving the possibility to discriminate organic from conventional products, thanks to the different isotopic signature impressed by the different nitrogenous source combined with the qualitative pattern of the crops, significantly affected by the different treatments. The main perspectives of the presented integrated approach, based on the combined use of chemometric and analytical tools, are linked to the feasibility of applying a reliable system to authenticate productions obtained with organic fertilizers (organic agriculture) respect to those obtained with the use of synthetic fertilizers (conventional agriculture), protect and valorize virtuous farmers and support political stakeholders and decision makers to counteract food fraud.

Keywords

organic horticultural practices and production; chemical metabolites; isotopic ratios; multivariate analysis; chemometrics

Subject

Biology and Life Sciences, Agricultural Science and Agronomy

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