Pitaya, an Attractive Alternative Crop for Mediterranean Region

Abstract

While the ongoing global warming and the economic crisis threaten horticultural and ornamental products production in the Mediterranean region, new challenges and opportunities for renewing plant material occur. Pitaya has great potential as a new crop for Mediterranean growers: it consumes little water and it adapts well to the high temperatures present in the greenhouse. Moreover, the market shows increasing demand of new, healthy exotic fruits and the fruit of these crops are worldwide appreciated as a super fruits. The aim of this study was to investigate the potential of introducing a new type of product that in addition to the aesthetic value can combine functional nutritional characteristics, through a whole chain approach, in order to develop basic knowledges and technical information that may lead to the commercial production of pitaya by small-scale farmers in Italy. The results of this study report and discuss various aspects to support the establishment of pitaya cultivation, such as its propagation by cuttings and micropropagation, greenhouse cultivation practices (through the clarification of the sprouting and flowering phenology as well as the fruit maturation period), while providing also information on the sensory properties and the antioxidant levels which naturally occurring in these fruits.