Abstract
The present work was carried out to evaluate the effects of irrigation with two different municipal wastewaters (secondary-treated wastewater (SW) and tertiary-treated wastewater (TW)) compared to freshwater (FW) on main qualitative parameters of three different classes of globe artichoke (main, secondary, and processing heads). The experimental trial was conducted in Southern Italy (Apulia region) for two cropping cycles (GS1 and GS2) using ‘Violetto di Provenza’ as cultivar. The artichoke heads were analyzed for proximate composition (dry matter, total sugar, total fat, ash, and total protein), percentage of edible part, mineral profile (sodium, potassium, magnesium, calcium, copper, iron, nickel, zinc, chloride, nitrate, phosphate, and sulphate) and polyphenolic acids content (caffeoylquinic acids and flavones). Both SW and TW treatments caused an increase of the percentage of the edible part, head protein contents, and mineral elements of the main and processing heads. Moreover, SW statistically increased the caffeoylquinic acid derivatives and the trans-ferulic acid content, while both SW and TW the flavones content. Finally, according to the multivariate analysis adopted, in our experimental conditions, the mineral component of the heads, such as chloride, potassium, copper, and zinc content, had a greater weight in the separation of FW, SW, and TW. On the other hand, the polyphenolic 5-O-caffeoylquinic acid, trans-ferulic acid, and 1,5-di-O-caffeoylquinic acid had a greater weight in the separation of the head class groups (main, secondary, and processing). Moreover, the trans-ferulic acid content of the heads was related both to the irrigation water type and to the different head classes.
Highlights
Worldwide water availability is decreasing, especially in semi-arid Mediterranean areas in which, due to climate change, the frequency and severity of prolonged periods of drought as well as strong seasonal variation in the water budget are predicted [1]
The aim of this work was to evaluate the effects of drip irrigation with two different municipal wastewaters and tertiary-treated wastewater, tertiary municipal wastewater (TW)) compared to freshwater (FW) on proximate composition, mineral, and polyphenolic profile of different classes of globe artichoke grown under Mediterranean climate conditions
The rainfall distribution was not uniform during both growing seasons, and rainy days were more concentrated in the winter season than in the spring and summer, with about 390 mm for GS1 and about 300 mm for GS2 (Table S1, Supplementary Materials)
Summary
Worldwide water availability is decreasing, especially in semi-arid Mediterranean areas in which, due to climate change, the frequency and severity of prolonged periods of drought as well as strong seasonal variation in the water budget are predicted [1]. The reduced availability of water resource is the main reason for the increasing trend in wastewater reuse in agriculture worldwide [2,3]. This practice could ensure the transfer of nutrients, such as nitrogen, phosphorus, macro, and micro-minerals into agricultural soil, that represent a good source of nutrients needful for plant growth, yield, and quality [4,5]. Micro minerals are beneficial for the plant growth and metabolism at lower concentrations, but become toxic when exceed the requirement [3,6,7] In a multi-year study, carried out on vegetable crops rotation (processing tomato, fennel, and lettuce) with two types of water (conventional and treated wastewater), no significant differences in crop production and accumulation of micro minerals in soil and in plants were detected [12]
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