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Browsing by Subject "Yacon"

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    A cropping system for yacon (Smallanthus sonchifolius Poepp. Endl.) : optimizing tuber formation, yield and sugar composition under European conditions
    (2020) Kamp, Larissa; Graeff-Hönninger, Simone
    The demand of healthy food is constantly increasing in Germany, as well as in developed countries in general. Here "healthy" is not clearly defined but it is often associated with foods indicating a low caloric value and further health-promoting benefits such as a high proportions of dietary fiber, phenols or antioxidants. In contrast, the proportion of obese people and the number of chronic diseases such as diabetes type II and obesity are increasing. As a result, the European Commission recommended to reduce the sugar content and the caloric value of food products, especially in sweetened beverages, breakfast cereals and dairy products by 10%. In general, a distinction can be made between artificial and natural sweeteners. Natural sweeteners such as honey, agave nectar or rapadura occur naturally and do not have to be artificially produced or synthesized. Disadvantages here are the high production costs as well as the high calorie value which is similar to conventionally used sugar. Artificial sweeteners, on the other hand, which are also known as "high-intensity sweeteners", have been artificially produced or synthesized. Examples are aspartame, saccharin or sucralose. They often have a lower calorie value (except for sugar alcohols such as xylitol or sorbitol) and are more economical to produce, which makes them particularly attractive for food producers. However, artificial sweeteners are suspected of being harmful to health or even carcinogenic. As a result, the consumer acceptance of artificial sweeteners is decreasing and the demand for natural sweeteners as alternatives is increasing. A possible alternative as a natural sweetener is yacon (Smallanthus sonchifolius). Yacon is a tuberous root crop native to the Andean region. The roots store carbohydrates mainly as fructooligosaccharides (FOS). These FOS cannot be digested by the human intestinal tract, and therefore do not cause a noticeable increase of blood glucose level. In addition, high amounts of fiber, phenols and antioxidants lead to further health promoting benefits. So far, yacon has been cultivated mainly in the Andean region in smallholder structures. Therefore, there are several open questions regarding the cultivation of yacon in Europe, especially in the area of propagation, choice of genotypes and adapted nitrogen fertilization. Especially the propagation is an important factor, as it is normally done by seedlings of mother plants or single rhizome pieces, both with pre-cultivation in the greenhouse. This is expensive and leads to a price of 3.60 € for young plants. In addition, the influence of genotype and amount of nitrogen fertilization on tuber yield and sugar composition has not been investigated yet. These open questions regarding the cultivation of yacon in Europe outline the following objectives: • to evaluate differences between direct planting and pre cultivation of rhizomes in two ways with regard to yacon growth, development, tuber yield formation and cost distribution; • to investigate the yield potential of different yacon genotypes with regard to tuber yield, sugar yield and tuber composition under the given climatic conditions of Europe; • to determine the influence of different nitrogen levels on nitrogen uptake, tuber yield formation and amount of monosaccharides and polysaccharides as well as total sugar; • to investigate the environmental impact and the production costs of different yacon cultivation systems to determine the most sustainable cultivation method. To achieve the objectives, field trials were carried out a from 2016 to 2018. As a result, four scientific publications were developed, which formed the body of this thesis. Publication I focused on the differences between a propagation with pre-cultivation in the greenhouse (DSAB), rhizome pieces with pre-cultivation in the greenhouse (RP1) and a direct planting of rhizome pieces (RP2) in agronomic and economic terms. RP1 achieved the highest yield with 29.8 t ha 1 FM and differed significantly from the other treatments with 21.3 and 17.8 t ha-1 FM (DSAB and RP2, respectively). With regard to the cost per kg of produced yacon, RP1 was also convincing, which can be explained by a high tuber yield and comparatively low propagation costs. DSAB was the most expensive treatment and is therefore not recommended. Contrary to that RP2 has a high potential for mechanization and yield increases. Publication II investigated the differences between nine different genotypes with respect to tuber yield and sugar composition. The three genotypes red-shelled, brown-shelled and Morado achieved the significantly highest tuber yields with 46.6, 43.5 and 41.6 t FM ha-1. Also the sugar contents were outstanding with up to 66% of the DM in the red-shelled genotype. As a result, the sugar yields of these three genotypes were highest with 2.2, 2.0 and 1.9 t ha-1 in the same order as the tuber yields. In Publication III the influence of different amounts of nitrogen fertilizer (0, 40 and 80 kg ha-1) on tuber yield, sugar composition and nitrogen uptake of the brown- and red-shelled genotype was investigated. Both genotypes reached highest tuber yields of 50 and 67 t FM ha-1 at the highest nitrogen fertilizer amount (brown- and red-shelled, respectively). Contrary to this responded the total amounts of sugar and FOS. Both decreased with increasing amounts of nitrogen. With decreasing amounts of FOS, the proportion of FOS with higher degree of polymerization (DP) increased. With regard to the nitrogen utilization efficiency of both, tubers and the entire plant, a nitrogen amount of 40 kg N ha-1 seems to be sufficient and recommendable. Publication IV examined the ecological and economic sustainability of the cultivation of two genotypes (brown- and red-shelled), each with pre-cultivation in the greenhouse and as direct planting, with three different nitrogen fertilizer levels. The aim was to investigate the environmental impact and production costs of different yacon cultivation systems. Considering the costs, the highest fertilizer amount (80 kg N ha-1) led to the lowest production costs and also to comparatively low environmental impacts per functional unit (1 kg FOS). The red-shelled genotype performed better, both in terms of cost and environmental impact. This was mainly due to higher tuber yields. Overall, the preceding publications showed that the cultivation of yacon in Europe is possible and offers new possibilities for farmers. Embedding yacon successfully into existing cropping systems and crop rotations seems to be possible. The farmer has the opportunity to establish a promising new crop with great value potential on his farm in order to cover the increasing demand for raw materials for natural sweeteners.