Projects / Programmes
Utilization of olive growing by-products
| Code |
Science |
Field |
Subfield |
| 4.03.03 |
Biotechnical sciences |
Plant production |
Water, rural space, environment |
| Code |
Science |
Field |
| B006 |
Biomedical sciences |
Agronomics |
| Code |
Science |
Field |
| 4.01 |
Agricultural and Veterinary Sciences |
Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries |
olive growing, by-products, fodder, phenolic substances, composting, encapsulation
Researchers (16)
Organisations (2)
Abstract
In March 2016, the European Commission presented a proposal for a Regulation, which will greatly facilitate the access of organic fertilizers and fertilizers from the waste to the EU single market, and therefore in the preparation of recommendations these provisions will have to be taken in account.
In olive cultivation and processing, there are several by-products: olive pomace with different moisture content, olive leaves and vegetation water and in some technologies subsequently separated olive stones. Use of by-products in olive growing is very diverse, the processing technology has strong impact on them. In accordance with the new technologies of production and processing, the legislation, which has to follow the general requirements of the European agricultural and environmental legislation, is changing, taking into account the specific characteristics of each Member State. Olive and olive oil production generate large amounts of waste biomass (olive leaves, olive pomace), which is disposed to the environment represent an environmental problem, but on the other hand it can also be utilized. Different strategies for reuse of the by-products are known, including the production of renewable energy by incineration.
New modern technologies are based on reducing the use of additional water with the use of two-phase decanters, yielding the two products from the mills: oil and wet olive pomace.
It is estimated that half of Slovenian olive oil production already utilizes new technology; therefore, it is of utmost importance to explore new opportunities for the utilization of by-products from the processing of olive growing.
The project will prepare necessary background and recommendations, which will prescribe the utilization and the sustainable management of by-products from processing of olives, taking into account new technologies, increased quantities of by-products, environmental requirements and new scientific knowledge in this area.
Available relevant literature and legislation from the field of the by-products in olive growing and the present situation in the field will be inventoried and the composition and nutritional value of by-products will be determined.
We will also examine the use of olive pomace and vegetation water on agricultural land and prepare the guidelines that would take into account new processing technologies and environmental legislation and make good use of by-products for the sustainable development’s needs of the industry. At the same time, we will examine the use of olive pomace composting, elaborate guidelines that will take into account environmental rules for composting and the specifics of Slovenian olive growing and study the economic effects of the use of olive pomace on agricultural land use and composting.
Olive leaves and olive pomace do not have a high nutritional and feed value, but they can still be useful sources of energy and nutrients for the animals.
In addition, they are a source of plant secondary metabolites - phenolic compounds with antioxidant effect, which can have a positive impact on animal health and the quality of their products. Both the leaves and olive pomace contain anti-nutritive substances (lignin, tannins, copper, phenolic compounds, if in excess), so they can be added to the feed rations only in limited quantities. The technology of preservation and storage of olive pomace and leaves is big and still unresolved problem and practical application and the recommendations in the preparation of fodder ratios are scarce.
Plant bioactive substances characterize pulp and olive leaves. Of big interest are mainly the phenolic compounds, which naturally limit their biodegradability. They can have a variety of biological effects in humans and animals: antioxidant, antimicrobial, anticancer, anti-inflammatory, antihypertensive, antilipidemic.
For use of the of antioxidant effects of phenolic compounds in animal nutrition, precise knowledge of their content is required, theref
Significance for science
From the standpoint of science in the project the originality lies in the set of activities related to the digestibility of olive leaves and pomace (alperujo), not only in poultry but also pigs and ruminants.
The project’s importance in the professional field is its ability in focusing on possibilities of using by-products of olive growing in animal nutrition, and locally available food (fodder) sources.
Significance for the country
The realization of the proposed activities will contribute to the upgrading project TROPLO (composting pomace) and the program of the EU Project MORE (Market of Olive residue for Energy), where researchers from UP ZRS in collaboration with olive-millers succeeded in transferring technology of separating olive kernels from pomace in practice. Some olive mills facilities use separated olive kernels for energy purposes, with the extraction of olive processing remains it would be possible to obtain biologically active compounds. Therefore, the project aims towards extraction and characterization of the phenol substances profile from the olive pomace and wet pomace containing olive kernels and test the antioxidant and antimicrobial activity.
The results will make it easier to establish a sustainable management strategy of the by-products of olive growing and the possibility of using bioactive substances obtained thus adding the value to production remains in olive growing and olive processing.
With newer technologies, in addition to olives brought into the mill also considerable quantities of leaves appear, so we expect that the biophenol extract from the olive leaves could increase the benefit of production remains in olive growing.
The results will be aimed at Ministry of Environment and Spatial Planning and Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Food, for the creation of a sustainable strategy for management of olive production remains and Slovenian producers and processors with the acquisition of value-added by-products and the possibility of marketing.
Most important scientific results
Annual report
2018,
final report
Most important socioeconomically and culturally relevant results
Annual report
2018,
final report
