Cherry Tech 2024: Advances in organic fertilization won best poster 2024

  • On June 18, during the event, research was presented in poster format, addressing crucial topics for the cherry industry.

The most prominent technical event of the year in the cherry industry, CherryTech 2024, It celebrated its second edition with great success. In addition to the talks given by specialists who offered advice and analysis on various aspects of the sector, attendees were able learn from a series of research presented in poster format, which attracted the attention of numerous participants.

Areas of interest included technical orchard management, varieties and rootstocks, irrigation, nutrition and use of biostimulants, pest and disease control, and technologies and postharvest handling. These posters not only offered an opportunity for researchers to share their findings, but also for attendees to interact directly with the authors, delving into the details of each study.

One of the highlights of the day was the public vote to elect the favorite poster. The award went to the poster presented by Lucía Michel, coordinator of the research, development and innovation area of ​​Martínez and Valdivieso, and current coordinator of the Martínez y Valdivieso Experimental Center. Her work focused on validation of a new fertilizer formulated from salmon protein, called Cipisoil, which has been shown to improve soil quality both in chemical and microbiological, positively impacting the growth and quality of the fruit.

Lucía Michel commented on the experience: “The work we brought here, in the form of poster, consisted of validating the effectiveness of a new fertilizer that is formulated based on salmon protein to improve soil quality, both what are the properties chemicals such as its microbiology, and the consequent response that the plant had in what is its radical vegetative growth and, obviously, then its impact on the part productive and quality of fruit. There were many people who came during the day, who they found the source of this product very interesting and, of course, the importance of being organic to be able to complement traditional fertilization with he.

Another notable participant was Emilio Martínez, R&D leader at Avium, who presented a research on pre-harvest water reduction in cherry crops of the variety Regina. “The poster we made as a team was related to doing research regarding reducing water in pre-harvest in a cherry crop, in a Regina variety. This reduction was 46% compared to the field treatment and what we could see is that, obviously, there was less growth in caliber, but there was greater production. And this has to do a little with an ecological effect of the plant, which does is to be able to retain more fruit to be able to endure the species and thus, have greater probability of being able to have more plants.

Regarding the event, the participants highlighted the possibility of bringing information closer technique to the different players in the industry. “It is important to be able to have these events to be able to present information to producers and be able to make cultivation more sustainable in water reduction, but also, possible techniques or strategies to be able to have better fruit conditions”. Martinez added.

In this way, CherryTech 2024 not only provided a platform for the exchange of knowledge and the promotion of new technologies, but also facilitated the connection between professionals in the sector.