The possibility of exploiting traditional apple cultivars for the production of apples and apple juice with the reduced patulin content

Apples are among the most popular fruits, however, the commonly found mold, P. expansum invades wounded apples, causing the decay and ensuing the production of patulin, a mycotoxin that negatively affects human health. Currently there are no satisfactory strategies for reducing the patulin concentration in apples and apple products. However, compared to commercial apple cultivars, traditional cultivars have higher amount of polyphenolic compounds, important compounds in the defense of plants against stress conditions, also traditional variates possess higher antioxidant activity and a gene profile that makes them more resistant to climate conditions, plant diseases and other forms of abiotic stress. Given the obvious advantages over the commercial apple cultivars and the lack of fundamental research in this area, with an emphasis on conservation of biodiversity and ecological production, the project proposal implies applied research of traditional apple cultivars with the aim of determining the possibility of exploiting traditional apple cultivars for apple and apple juice production with reduced patulin content. Researches include determining the influence of environment conditions during fruit growth, apple storage and physico-chemical properties on P. expansum and the subsequent production of patulin in apples and apple juice. For assessing the resistance of selected apple cultivars, the inoculation of the fruit with P. expansum will be performed and the production of patulin will be monitored. Due to the extensive research within the project, the project proposal encompasses the employment of a PhD student as well as the defense of the doctoral dissertation during the project. The obtained results will be used by scientists who are researching strategies for reducing patulin content in apple and apple products, and will also set a good basis for selecting suitable traditional selective crops for the purpose of producing blue mold-resistant organic production.