TaReCa – Cascade utilization of horticultural biomass for a resource efficient production of valuable bioactive substances

Abstract

Many plant secondary metabolites have antioxidant or pharmaceutically relevant properties, which makes them important components of the human diet, but also as pharmaceutical compounds or for the chemical synthesis of bioactive substances. Plants induce the production of secondary metabolites, e.g. flavonoids in response to environmental stress stimuli.
The production of vegetables and fruits in greenhouses leaves huge amounts of so far under-utilized biomass after fruit harvest, which is a potential source for production of valuable metabolites. A cascade utilization of horticultural crops to produce fruits and vegetables with subsequent extraction of high quality compounds would generate significant added value.
The project TaReCa is working on the development of a tailored cascade utilization of bell pepper plant residues from horticulture. The secondary metabolism will be induced by specific abiotic stress treatments after the last fruit harvest, in order to increase the concentrations of the target metabolites. Eco-friendly and economical extraction processes and subsequent utilization of the remaining plant material in a biorefinery will expand the value chain. An analysis of the application areas as well as studies on the acceptance of the induced ingredients, processes and technologies will help to evaluate the market potential of the residual biomass for the proposed cascaded use. The tailored utilization of horticultural biomass in food production, extraction of bioactive secondary metabolites and biorefineries can produce economically relevant bio-based products for industrial applications and thus contribute to the development of a sustainable, efficient and integrated bioeconomy without competing with food production.