ARI REVIEW FOR 2016-2017

European Programme LIFE - ORGANIKO The ORGANIKO LIFE+ project started on September 2015 and its duration is 4 years. The aim of the project is to demonstrate the comparative advantages of organic versus conventional farming and their products, using indicators of mitigation efficiency to climate change, agronomic and environmental quality and decreased children exposures to diet-based pesticides. Project actions deliverables in 2016-2017: 1) Review Report on Irrigation Management Scheme. The aim of the deliverable is to provide detailed information on irrigation strategies in organic cultivation of apples and barley. ( D. Neocleous, M. Omirou, D. Fasoula ). 2) Plant Nutrition Fertility Scheme in organic farming systems: Apples and Barley. ( M. Omirou, D. Neocleous, P. Dalias, A. Stylianou, S. Ioannidou, D. Fasoula, I. Ioannides ) http://ec.europa.eu/environment/life/project/Projects/index.cfm?fuseaction=search.dspPage&n_proj_id=5354 INTEGRATED WATER RESOURCE MANAGEMENT AND IRRIGATION Research on integrated water resource management is currently devoted mainly to wastewater reuse in agriculture. Field experiments are performed for appraising the effects of wastewater reuse for irrigation purposes on the environment and on public health. Also, a field survey regarding these effects has been carried out in all provinces of Cyprus. In addition, field and hydroponic experiments are carried out in order to evaluate xenobiotic compounds (pharmaceuticals) uptake by plants (tomato, lettuce and alfalfa). Effects of wastewater applied with discrete irrigation techniques on strawberry plant productivity and the safety, quality characteristics and antioxidant capacity of fruits. Water scarcity renders reclaimed wastewater (RWW) reuse for irrigation an increasingly common practice world- wide. Comprehensive guidelines and criteria have been established to secure the safety of RWW irrigation, especially for food crops or crops eaten raw. By conducting a short-term greenhouse experiment, the impacts of strawberry crop irrigation with RWW using common irrigation techniques (drip, sprinkler, drip under plastic mulch), as compared to potable water (PW) irrigation, on strawberry fruit quality and safety, and on crop productivity, were assessed. The impact on fruit weight and marketability, as well as on fruit taste (soluble solids, titratable acidity and soluble solids/titratable acidity ratio), antioxidant capacity (ascorbic acid concentration, FRAP, total phenolics and total anthocyanin content), heavy metal content (Cu, Zn, Mn, Co, Ni) and microbial contamination (total coliform, E. coli, Salmonella spp., Listeria spp. ) were evaluated. The results revealed that RWW irrigation did not significantly affect fruit marketability, taste, antioxidant capacity and heavy metal content in comparison to controlled irrigation, regardless of the irrigation technique applied. Fruit heavy metal content was found lower than maximum permissible levels (MPLs) set for fruit safety, whereas no microbiological contamination (total coliform, E. coli, Salmonella spp., Listeria spp. ) of fruits was found in all irrigation water treatments. Overall, the results obtained with regard to the parameters examined highlight the potential for the reuse of the advanced tertiary treated effluent of good quality as a valid alternative for the irrigation of strawberry crops, even with sprinklers. However, further long-term studies are needed in order for such a practice to be regulated. ( A. Christou, G. Maratheftis ) Long-term wastewater irrigation of vegetables in real agricultural systems: concentration of pharmaceuticals in soil, uptake and bioaccumulation in tomato fruits and human health risk assessment Wastewater (WW) reuse for vegetable crops irrigation is regularly applied worldwide. Such a practice has been found to allow the uptake of pharmaceutically active compounds (PhACs) by plants and their subsequent entrance to the food web, representing an important alternative pathway for the exposure of humans to PhACs, with potential health implications. Herein we report the impacts of the long-term (three consecutive years) WW 54 Natural Resources and Environment