STORAGE, PROCESSING AND ANALYTICAL RESEARCH IN HORTICULTURE

Principal research directions:

improvement and development of new, environmentally friendly low-energy technologies for long-term storage fruits and berries;
development of combinations of food coatings with bioactive substances to preserve the quality and extend the shelf life of fruits and berries;
creation of fruit and berries processing products with increased nutritional value by freezing, sublimation and other drying methods;

creation of new competitive food products of increased biological value (fruit drinks, concentrates, dry instant mixtures, table, including sparkling, dessert, liqueur wines, etc.);
development of scientific bases for the rational use of plants that are not widespread in the culture for the preparation of competitive food products of the "Health" type, including therapeutic and preventive purposes (medicinal fruit drinks, nectars, non-alcoholic balms, in particular for baby food, etc.);

improvement and development of new physiological methods of monitoring, formation of a data bank and forecasting conditions of plantations in various agroecological zones of Ukraine;
scientific and methodological support for conducting comprehensive fundamental and applied research on diagnostics of resistance of fruit and berry crops to abiotic environmental factors;

fundamental research on the problem of preservation, reproduction, assessment and control of soil fertility under fruit plantations;
study of soil-forming processes in garden cenoses under the influence of various reclamation and current methods of soil cultivation;
development of alternative fertilizer systems for gardens and nurseries.

Main achievements:

environmentally friendly technology for storing apple fruit using low oxygen concentrations;
optimal gas storage modes for 32 varieties of apple trees and 14 – pears;
criteria for the suitability of fruits of 25 varieties of berry crops for canning by the method of rapid freezing;
recommendations for the creation of plantations for the intended purpose (dessert, raw material) of berry crops in different regions of Ukraine;

more than 100 modern technologies and formulations of health products of increased biological value based only on natural, environmentally friendly components of local fruit and berry, spicy aromatic and medicinal raw materials;

express, informative instrumental methods for determining the impact of environmental stress factors, as well as methods for monitoring the state of plantations of fruit and berry crops, which make it possible to predict the potential productivity of plants depending on the influence of weather and climatic and biotic factors, accelerate the determination of the state of plantations and increase the efficiency of technological methods of cultivation, introduction into production of promising varieties of fruit crops with high environmental stability;
methods for determining the functional state of plants by photoinduction of chlorophyll fluorescence;
diagnostics of moisture supply and drought resistance of plants;

scientific bases of bonification of soils of the Forest Steppe and Polissya for apple trees;
systems for fertilizing fruit and berry crops based on the creation of the optimal level of nutrients in the soil;
ways to optimize the agrophysical properties of dark gray podzolic soils in horticulture;
methods of monitoring the state of soils and assessing their fertility;
technologies for the effective use of sod-podzolic sandy soils for fruit and berry crops;
methods of growing fruit and berry crops with extremely limited intake of radionuclides into products in the zone of enhanced radioecological control;
the minimum doses of mineral fertilizers and prolonged peeling of the garden row spacing are economically and environmentally justified.

In the work of the department - the State Prize of Ukraine in the field of science and technology, more than 100 gold, silver and bronze medals, 7 Grand Prix cups at international competitions and exhibitions.

Offer to customers:

assessment of the quality of fresh fruits and products of their processing by physical, organoleptic, biochemical indicators;
determination of the content of solids, soluble solids, sugars, organic acids, ascorbic acid, pectins, phenolic compounds (anthocyanins, flavonoids), chlorophylls, carotenoids;
selection of temperature, gas regimes and methods of storing fruits and berries;
information and advisory services in the field of storage and processing of fruit and berry products;

introduction of technologies and formulations for the manufacture of non-alcoholic (fruit drinks and nectars on a natural basis; medicinal phytobalms; canned food for children "Puree Ukrainian") and wine products (sparkling table wines, semi-dry and semi-sweet, strong and dessert varieties of fruit and berry, varietal liqueurs from rare and sparse plants; wine liqueur cocktails and nectars; honey wines and beverages) in industrial production at the enterprises of the non-alcoholic, canning, wine-making and alcoholic beverage industries;
development of regulatory and technical documentation for industrial enterprises of the non-alcoholic, canning, wine-making and alcoholic beverage industries, business plans and technical tasks for the design of fruit processing enterprises;

services provided using express, instrumental field and laboratory diagnostic methods:
analysis of plant damage by low temperatures, drought, waterlogging, soil nutrition conditions;
determination of compatibility of cultivar combinations;
bioanalysis for the presence of viral and bacterial diseases;
determination of pathogens of fungal and bacterial diseases of fruit, berry, nut, etc. crops;
consultations on the restoration of plantations after wintering, treatment of trees damaged by frost, sunburns, rodents and tillage tools, etc.;

consultations on cultivation of soils for fruit and berry plantations, row maintenance systems using various types of mulching materials, systems of foliar application of macro- and microelements in gardens and berries;
scientific and methodological support of the organo-mineral system of fertilization of fruit and berry plantations;
determination of the suitability of soils for gardening;
agrochemical analysis of soil and development on its basis of recommendations for bringing the content of the main macroelements to the optimal level;
analysis of plant samples for the content of macro- and microelements;
state tests of agrochemicals in the direction: biological assessment of agrochemicals on crops (grains, legumes, oilseeds, vegetables, technical, fruit, berry).

For information: e-mail: amlitovchenko@ukr.net – Olexandr Lytovchenko, Head of Department of Storage, Processing and Analytical Research in Horticulture, doctor.