Young Minds Award Winners
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Stefania Bennici is a researcher at the University of Catania (Italy), where she is investigating the molecular mechanisms of sterility in citrus to ensure the production of seedless fruits. In citrus species, seedlessness is one of the most appreciated quality traits, especially for fresh fruits. Most commercial citrus cultivars exhibit some level of parthenocarpy which, […]10 March 2025 -
Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) is one of the most widely grown warm season vegetable crops for both fresh consumption and processing. The present study aims to evaluate tomato leaf curl disease (ToLCD) resistant genotypes for processing. In this study, a set of 46 genotypes, including a control (‘Punjab Chhuahra’), were evaluated for resistance to disease […]10 March 2025 -
Hikaru Ishikawa is a Ph.D. student at the United Graduate School of Agriculture Sciences, Iwate University in Japan, where she is currently studying berry color variation in grapes. In Japan, the berry skin color of grapes varies from green to red and black. Grapes with red skins show a red color due to the presence […]14 December 2024 -
Climate change leads to unpredictable epidemiological disturbances, intensifying the multi-disease and pest challenges in fruit tree orchards, leading to significant damage and economic losses. With an urgent need to reduce the application of phytosanitary products, alternative and durable solutions must be found. As such, disease resilience is an appealing concept that still needs to be […]14 December 2024 -
The story of vegetable cultivation in Romania is one filled with resilience, cultural influences and ongoing transformation. It stretches back thousands of years to the Dacians, the ancient people who grew peas, faba beans and lentils, long before modern farming techniques even existed. With the arrival of the Romans in the 2nd century AD, new […]14 December 2024 -
Yaiza G. Padilla is a biotechnologist specializing in the abiotic stress tolerance mechanisms of horticultural plants and plant breeding for climate change adaptation. She is a postdoctoral researcher in the Horticulture Department at IVIA in Spain, where she studies heat and cold stress tolerance mechanisms of pepper plants to obtain tolerant genotypes that could be […]14 December 2024 -
In recent years, a new high-density model requiring low-vigor cultivars has been proposed for renewed olive growing. The aim of the present work was to evaluate the adaptability of Italian cultivars to high-density cultivation. The study began in 2015 in central Italy in an irrigated olive orchard with trees planted at 5×2 m. The cultivars […]14 December 2024 -
Attiq ur Rehman is a research scientist at the Natural Resources Institute Finland (Luke) and a PhD candidate at the University of Helsinki, under the supervision of Dr. Tuuli Haikonen. With a robust background in plant breeding and genetics, his doctoral research focuses on strawberry pre-breeding, utilizing advanced genomic tools to explore novel allelic and […]14 December 2024 -
Consumers appreciate strawberries for their nutritional quality and characteristic flavour. While the distinct flavour can be attributed to the balance between the content of sugars and organic acids as well as the aromatic compounds, the nutritional quality is attributed to the phenolic compounds and ascorbic acid, which also contribute to the antioxidant capacity of the […]14 December 2024 -
MPlums, as climacteric fruits, undergo significant physiological changes during postharvest storage, primarily influenced by ethylene production and respiration. This study investigated the effects of storage temperature and duration on the physiological and structural changes of the two most popular cultivars in the Hungarian market. The ‘Stanley’ and ‘Elena’ plums were stored at temperatures of 1, […]14 December 2024