Presented yesterday the project Uvapulia, funded under the PSR Puglia 2014-2020 SM 16.2 “Support for pilot projects and development of new products, practices, processes and technologies”, which aims to optimize the use and enjoyment of new seedless table grape vine cultivars, obtained and selected in Puglia, along the entire path from field to table.
The presentation conference, successfully followed by companies and operators of the wine sector, was attended by the Operational Group (O.G.), composed of research institutions and private companies involved in the project, which one year after the start of work, wanted to present the project. The institutional greetings were by the Lead Partner of the project, Alberto Mastrangelo of Grape & Grape Group SRL, who wanted to emphasize the importance of collaboration between companies in order to respond to the continuous demands of the market; then came the intervention of Manlio Cassandro, sole director of Cassandro SRL, who explained the salient aspects of the call for proposals that he followed.
The technical speeches were edited by the scientific managers, Prof. Laura De Palma of UNIFG and Prof. Vittorino Novello of UNITO, who pointed out that most of the seedless cultivars available today come from crossbreeding programs carried out abroad and therefore not always suitable for the Italian cultivation areas. Hence the need to conduct a project of research and innovation aimed at optimizing the cultivation of seedless vines obtained and selected in Puglia.
Uvapulia wants to explore the qualitative characteristics of these vines including, both in terms of organoleptic characteristics and nutritional properties and shelf life.
In the second part of the meeting have intervened: Francesco Laporta of O.P. Agritalia Soc. Coop. who told the positive experience of being a member of the GO as the P.O. benefit from the results of the project by implementing a cascade innovation; Massimiliano Del Core of O.P. Pignataro Soc. Coop. stressed the importance of participating in the GO. O. because thanks to the collaboration between the funds allocated by the Apulia Region, the agricultural SMEs and the scientific institutions it is possible to finance the research obtaining a competitive advantage for the Apulian sector and, one year after the beginning of the activities, important results have already been obtained that give hope.
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