Compuestos bioactivos y producción de grelos y nabizasvariación fenotípica y ambiental.

Resumo

[EN] In Galicia (northwestern Spain), Brassica rapa subs. rapa L. includes turnip greens and turnip tops as main crops and are widely distributed and consumed in this region. Turnip greens are the leaves harvested in the vegetative period, while turnip tops are the fructiferous stems with the flower buds and the surrounding leaves. According to the particularities of Galician agriculture (small familiar farms and tradicional cultural practices), farmers obtain their own seeds for sowing. This process has led to a great number of landraces adapted to different conditions and uses all along Galician geography. This diversity makes them a promising source to find desirable properties, either from the standpoint of quality, production or resistance to stresses. In the present thesis the study of several agronomic, nutritional and sensory traits in 12 local varieties of B. rapa grown in different environments has been carried out. Overall, results showed that there is a great variability in the local B. rapa varieties, therefore, it was possible to select the most suitable varieties for turnip greens or turnip tops production and the varieties with enhanced and stable levels of health-beneficial compounds. The study of genotype × environment interaction allowed to determine the most stable varieties and also the suitable environments for fresh crop production. Besides, this work assessed the nutritional quality of turnip greens and turnip tops with the identification and quantification of health-beneficial compounds. On some of these compounds a detailed study to determine the effect of genotype, environment and procesing methods on the final concentrations of these metabolites was carried out. Furthermore, were defined the sensory attributes of turnip greens and turnip tops as well as their relationship with secondary metabolites. In conclusion, the data reported in this work may be usefull to deeper understanding about these crops, either for nutritional or sensory quality and its relationship with the culture environment or for selecting varieties for future breeding programs based on producers and consumers preferences.