Postharvest Group VCBT and BIOSYST/MeBioS from Belgium

VCBT, which corresponds, in their language, to the Flemish Center for Postharvest Technology, deals with research to meet the demand of Belgian horticultural producers. It works, like BIOSYST/MeBioS, dedicated to basic research, at the University of Louvain (Leuven). Briefly, VCBT KU Leuven. Its director is Bart Nicolai, about whom it is worth doing a little personal / professional explanation. With a background in both agricultural engineering and applied mathematics, he was participating in work at the University of Leuven when the Belgian horticultural co-operatives raised the need to create a research unit that could solve their problems. Bart Nicolai was asked to meet this challenge and since then, in 1997, he has been at it, as director of the center. His imprint is still visible and in works that are presented at congresses, the application of mathematics to explain processes is a characteristic of Grupo Postharvest VCBT KU Leuven. Two lines of dissemination of the resultsThe objectives of the Group are ?to provide post-harvest science, technology and consultancy to improve the post-harvest quality of fruit and vegetables in Flanders and worldwide?. The results of the work carried out to meet these objectives are disclosed through two clearly differentiated channels. Those carried out on behalf of VCBT are published in technical media, which reach the producer and technicians in Flanders, while the basic research of BIOSYST/MeBioS, intended for the whole world. It is disseminated through scientific journals, congresses and symposiums. The Flanders Center for Postharvest Technology (VCBT) was established in 1997 and is a public-private partnership between KU Leuven and Belgian fruit and vegetable cooperatives. Its mission is to create added value for Belgian horticultural cooperatives and their members by improving the post-harvest quality of fresh fruit and vegetables. It has ISO 17025 and GEP accreditations. The extension is part of its main activities and in charge of it is Ann Schenk. It covers individual or collective advice and the development of projects. Production and research in Belgium The main species produced in Belgium are pears (366,000 tons*), apples (219,000 tons), strawberries (51,000 tons), tomatoes (288,000 tons), leeks (135,000 tons), carrots (82,000 tons) and endive (33,000 tons). In Belgium there are 6 cooperatives in which their producers are grouped: - BelOrta, the main company, sells almost 50% of the total, with a value of around 500 million euros per year - BFV is a fruit auction that has plans to more closely collaborate with BelOrta - LTV is another fruit auction - REO, dedicated to outdoor vegetables - Hoogstraten, strawberry, bell pepper, cucumber, tomato.The VBT (Association of Belgian Horticultural Cooperatives) represents and defends, both nationally and internationally, the interests of these cooperatives with a total turnover of 1.1 billion Euro. In the different regions there are experimental stations, a total of six, specialized in the area's fruit and vegetable crops, to which is added VCBT, which centralizes post-harvest research.?The six stations are Proefcentrum Hoogstraten, Inagro, Provinciaal Proefcentrum voor de Groenteteelt Oost-Vlaanderen, Proefstation voor de Groenteteelt, pcfruit and Praktijkpunt Landbouw Vlaams Brabant. Research at VCBT KU Leuven The research covers locally produced fruits and vegetables as well as tropical and subtropical species, including tomato, lettuce, leek, apple, pear, strawberry, banana, kiwi and mango. Endive, which is also considered in research, is a product that is decreasing in consumer demand. They have industrial partners and part of the results obtained are invested in development cooperation. Activities include R&D in post-harvest biology and technology, extension services to the horticultural industry, training of students and staff, and knowledge transfer to developing countries. The installationsThe facilities available to VCBT KU Leuven include a laboratory, a high performance computer platform and the infrastructure to carry out storage tests.LaboratoryThe laboratory has four gas chromatography equipment - mass spectrometry, Gas chromatography?mass spectrometry, and a SIFT-MS (Selected ion flow tube mass spectrometry). The latter is capable of analyzing volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and inorganic gases in air in real-time.Other relevant equipment are:- 3 HPLC equipment, High Performance Liquid Chromatography, high resolution liquid chromatography- A central facility for X-ray computed tomography (XCT)- 3 universal testing equipment- 3 compact gas chromatographs with photoacoustic ethylene sensor- NIR spectrometers Computing platformIn the computational platform they have access to high performance computing (HPC) and software for Computational fluid dynamics (CFD), biostatistics, computational biology, 3D rendering, etc. StorageThe facilities for carrying out conservation tests include a Controlled Atmosphere pilot plant with 60 AC units (and ACD or DCA, dynamic controlled atmosphere), 4 DCA chambers, 2 rooms to assess shelf life, a hydrocooler, 8 Weiss temperature incubators and humidity controlled and another 6 temperature controlled incubators. The staffThe staff of VCBT KU Leuven is a professor, two research managers, four postdocs, 20 doctoral students, 10 technical and administrative, and 5 dedicated to extension. Main research topics applied to production (VCBT)Research in VCBT aims to solve practical problems facing postharvest storage. One of them is to know the optimum dates for harvesting the varieties; It is part of the evaluation of new varieties, as well as the optimal storage conditions for each of them. VCBT follows advances in technology by evaluating developments in storage technologies, including new sensors and energy reduction techniques. And it accompanies the market in its interest in diversifying the offer. Fundamental research topics include biofluidics, postharvest systems biology, postharvest quality, and engineering applications. In the laboratory, equipment is studied to evaluate the internal quality of the fruit based on usual methods in medicine and whose lower cost will also allow its use in agriculture. Main basic research topicsBasic research is carried out by BIOSYST/MeBioS, where progress is made in the knowledge of the physiology of fruits and vegetables and the mechanisms that regulate it. The microstructure of fruit and vegetable tissues varies between species and between varieties and its knowledge is prior to knowing the distribution of gases inside, for example, an apple. The tissue of Jonagold, Kanzi, and Braeburn differ, in turn different from a Conference pear. A multiscale model that they have developed predicts the gas gradient within the fruit. Gas distribution fluxes within the fruit change with oxygen concentration; what happens when going from 21 kPa to 0.2 kPa is studied, the latter limit that tends to be reached with the DCA. Other basic research topics that this group has recently worked on are the regulation of hypoxic metabolism, oxygen sensing, multiomic analysis of ethylene biosynthesis and signal transduction, kinetic models for ethylene signal transduction, rapid methods for the flavor analysis, flavor development during DCA, X-ray micro and nanotomography, fruit morphogenesis, and gas transport. Main topics in which basic research is appliedThe knowledge resulting from research in basic aspects allows working on the development of, for example, new storage concepts in which the aim is to reach the lower limit of admissible oxygen concentration for adequate conservation (LOL, lower oxygen limit). Work continues on DCA, a dynamic controlled atmosphere, in which the oxygen level is varied depending on the physiology of the fruit. The sensors used to determine hypoxia differ. Among them are the measurement of chlorophyll fluorescence, the measurement of ethanol that is generated in the tissues, or the measurement of the respiratory quotient. In fact, this line of research has led to the creation of the Optiflux spin-off. The control of the behavior of pome fruit in the chamber of different products based on aroma is another line of research. The results obtained from the analysis of aromatic compounds by classical GC-MS (gas chromatography - mass spectrometry) and the newer SIFT-MS (selected ion flow tube mass spectrometry) equipment are also compared. In selection and classification, equipment that identifies internal defects in fruit in two dimensions and in three dimensions is studied. The latter is carried out by means of equipment already widely used in medicine and whose cheapness practically already allows applications in the selection of fruits and vegetables. AI, Artificial Intelligence, is used in image capture techniques, for their processing and, from there, fine-tuning applications for the inspection of fresh and processed products. Intelligence in the postharvest supply chain takes into account the characteristics of the product, what happens in the distribution chain and, based on the interpretation of the data obtained, evaluate the distribution chain. It is of interest to comply with traceability and to identify the causes of potential quality losses. In the modeling of the factors that affect the quality, the statistical control of the process allows to create alerts when the parameters deviate from the desired ones, it allows to predict the quality, that is, the days of useful life that the product will have and also to predict the quality in relation to specific attributes of each product. Quality modeling allows for generic and specific information by product. The information is basic for the development of systems that guide decision-making. Digital twins make it possible to know the conditions that are occurring, for example, in a Dynamic Controlled Atmosphere cold room. In this way, the aim is to have an "intelligent" cold room, equipped with a station where oxygen, carbon dioxide, ethylene and volatiles are measured. The information is introduced in the digital twin and this allows decisions to be made to control the DCA camera. Applications that allow agriculture to be digitized are another field of study. Among them, the measurement of the level of maturation by means of portable spectrometers, etc. The Optiflux spinoffIn Dynamic Controlled Atmospheres, reaching the lowest level of oxygen that the fruit is capable of supporting requires measuring its vitality to avoid anoxic conditions. For this, three methods are used, chlorophyll fluorescence, ethanol level and respiratory quotient (RQ). The Optiflux spinoff, which emerged from VCBT KU Leuven, fixes a problem related to the latter method. Previously the RQ had measurement inaccuracies due to leaks. Optiflux developed a patented leak correction method that allows for reliable RQ measurements, even if the chamber is not completely leak-tight. Optiflux collects measurement data for oxygen, carbon dioxide, ethylene, ammonia and temperatures and uses this for the prediction of quality changes of fruit during long term storage as a decision support tool for cool store managers. A particularity, the world's largest collection of banana varietiesIt does not belong to Bart Nicolai's laboratory, but this researcher was kind enough to show it to us. It is a collection started by a Belgian researcher in the Congo that was later transferred to Belgium and is currently the largest collection of banana varieties in the world. It is managed by the Alliance Bioversity & CIAT, as part of a global program that seeks to protect the diversity of this species, one of the main fruits in world trade and a main food in many countries. The lead researcher at KU Leuven is Prof. Herv? Vanderschuren of the Tropical Crop Improvement Laboratory. From this collection, more than 60,000 samples have been sent to 200 institutions spread over 80 countries. The collection is maintained in both test tubes as well as cryogenic storage.* European Statistics Handbook, Fruit Logistica 2023 Pictures1 - Prof. Bart Nicolai in the control room of the experimental chambers equipped with AC2 - View of the fruit preservation chambers3 - In the laboratory, equipment is studied to evaluate the internal quality of the fruit based on usual methods in medicine and whose lower cost will also allow its use in agriculture; in the image, an X-ray system4 - Optiflux collects measurement data for oxygen, carbon dioxide, ethylene, ammonia and temperatures5 - The collection of banana varietiesAlicia Namesny, info@poscosecha.com