General objectives of Hortovitalis

The objective of Hortovitalis is to develop treatments against fungal diseases in horticultural crops, strawberries and red fruits, based on the application of biological control tools and during the post-harvest period to carry out sanitisation and treatment processes based on the use of emerging technologies free of synthetic chemicals and chlorine, such as washing with electrolysed water, UV-C radiation and treatment by nebulisation of biological control agents and antimicrobial plant extracts.

An Andalusian consortium

The project was developed over a period of 27 months starting in 2015, and involved an Andalusian consortium made up of the following companies.

• Miguel García Sanchez E Hijos S.A. (Coordinator)
• DOMCA, S.A.
• Ingro Maquinaria S.L.
• Agricola El Bosque S.L.

It has also been supported by the following research organisations:

• Tecnova Technology Centre
• Functional Food Development Research Centre Foundation (CIDAF)
• University of Granada.

Results of the Hortovitalis project

The results obtained have been very positive, reducing the incidence of pathogenic microorganisms in the crops analysed after the application of the new treatments and systems developed in the HORTOVITALIS project. The following achievements stand out: In Pre-harvest: - Reduction of the microbial load by 75% in cherry tomatoes and 65% in blackberry, thus significantly reducing the risk of microbial infections during cultivation. - Production increase of around 10%, which also implied an increase in plant length and thickness close to 20%. In Post-harvest: - 40% reduction of the microbial load in cherry tomato and blackberry. In the case of avocado, the presence of microorganisms decreased by 25%, these fruits also showed a significant improvement in external colour and internal texture.

Interconecta Programme