NEWS
EVENTS
LABORATORY OF POSTHARVEST PHYSIOLOGY OF HORTICULTURAL PRODUCTS
Currently, the most modern research and development unit in Poland in the field of storage of horticultural products was established by the Institute of Horticulture - National Research Institute (IO-PIB) within the structure of the Department of Fruit and Vegetable Storage and Processing (ZPiPOiW).
LFPPO was established as a result of the implementation of a project co-financed by the European Union from the European Regional Development Fund in the competition number RPLD.01.01.00-IP.02-10-069/20 announced by the Entrepreneur Service Centre (www.cop.lodzkie.pl) under the Regional Operational Programme of the Łódź Voivodeship 2014-2020 (priority axis I: Research, Development and Commercialisation of Knowledge, Measure I.1. Development of research and innovation infrastructure; Funding Agreement number: RPLD.01.01.00-10-0001/20-00).
In accordance with the Project assumptions, IO-PIB was able to expand its infrastructure with new generation research equipment and modernize the existing experimental cold store (including the installation of a modern, propane glycol cooler), consisting of 24 cold rooms and 3 freezing chambers. LFPPO will enable research on the development and impact of innovative storage technologies on the quality and durability of horticultural products. Currently, LFPPO has 100 KA experimental containers in which we can conduct research on the development of the most modern storage technologies, i.e. dynamically controlled atmosphere, DCA-CF. As part of the Project, a modern system for regulating and maintaining the composition of controlled atmospheres during the storage of horticultural products was purchased, as well as 10 containers for storage in RQ technology. Modern equipment, such as: a gas chromatograph with a mass detector (GC-MS) and a thermodesorption system for determining, among others, volatile compounds (odours), a micro-computed tomography scanner used, among others, to assess internal damage to horticultural products and seed quality, gas chromatographs with FID and TCD detectors purchased under the Project, give ZPiPOiW, and thus IO-PIB, the opportunity to become the most prestigious research unit in the field of horticultural product storage not only in the country, but also one of the most modern on a European scale.
The new opportunities that are opening up for LFPPO will also allow for the continuation of current research activities, while at the same time intensively developing new R&D initiatives, taking into account cooperation with other scientific centres of the Łódź Province, such as the Łódź University of Technology, the Medical University, the University of Łódź or the local Stefan Batory Academy of Applied Sciences in Skierniewice, as well as with enterprises from the broadly understood agricultural sector. One of the planned scientific partners will also be the Warsaw University of Life Sciences, which has a dynamic scientific team conducting storage research in the discipline of Agriculture and Horticulture. The research offer will be addressed to a wide scientific community (non-economic part) and industrial (economic part) from the entire country, and the results of the work carried out will be characterized by high application potential.
Project acronym: LFPPO
Contractor: Institute of Horticulture – National Research Institute
Project manager: prof. dr hab. D. Konopacka
Project coordinator: Dr. KA Rutkowski
