Coldiretti Cuneo experiments Ozone with Protea
In the case of strawberries out-of-soil cultivation, the presence of pests has been drastically reduced with the spraying of ozonized water. The culture substrate was sprayed with ozonized water for the reinvigoration of the plant and the increase in productivity. Furthermore, the beneficial effects of Ozone have also been confirmed during conservation of strawberries in cold storage rooms in the post-harvest phase, with an extension of the shelf-life up to 30-50%.
These are the first results of some of the experiments conducted by the 4A Agency of Coldiretti Cuneo, in collaboration with Protea. These results clearly confirm the excellent results of what has been going on internationally for years in order to obtain better quality and storage at an extremely low cost, especially without polluting.
Ozone is a powerful oxidant and this characteristic makes it a powerful disinfectant and an antibacterial, antiviral, antifungal, anti-parasitic, anti-spore, anti-mite product. Ozone can be used in gaseous state or dissolved in water, within certain limits and with specific methods. After a short time, it reverts back to Oxygen without releasing polluting by-products.
Abroad, these peculiarities have been known for years in the greenhouse treatment, out-of-soil cultivation, soil disinfection before cultivation and during product growth, for pest elimination and in the post-harvest phase for washing the products and eliminating pesticides on them as well as for lengthening the shelf-life inside cold rooms.
After years of experience, even in Italy the great effectiveness of Ozone applied to agriculture and to many other fields has been discovered.
In the picture: Mattia Canalis (left) and Simone Marchisio (right).
Simone Marchisio, horticultural technician of the Agency 4A Coldiretti Cuneo asserts: “In the Agency’s institutional activities, Ozone represents an innovative research mainly focused to the reduction of pesticides with a significant improvement in production, while respecting the environment”.
