High Added-Value Products from Industrial Crop Biomass: Uses in the Agro-Food Sector

The aim of this work was the study of the valorization of industrial crop biomasses into high-value products with different applications in the agro-food sector, in a full biorefinery approach. Defatted seed meals (DSMs), co-products of the oil extraction procedure, from industrial crops of high economic importance such as Brassicaceae (Rapeseed, Carinata et al.) and of Asteraceae (Sunflower et al.), were used, such as or after processing. Their biological active compound and protein content were employed to produce bio-based products for agriculture and food and feed applications. The bio-active molecules, generated by the myrosinase-glucosinolate system of the Brassicaceae family, were applied for the postharvest fruit pathogen (Botrytis cinerea) and quality control in strawberry and kiwifruit: fruits were treated with vapors of allyl-isothiocyanate produced from previously formulated and standardized Brassica carinata A. Braun or Brassica nigra L. DSM and the pathogen incidence, biochemical and nutraceutical evaluations were performed after fruit storage. Also another brassica DSM, from Eruca sativa Mill., was studied for the glucosinolate content, to produce innovative food, as functional bakery products, rich in healthy compounds. Finally the protein component of DSMs from sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.) and rapeseed (Brassica napus L.) DSMs, were employed for the production of hydrolysates by mild enzymatic hydrolysis. The sunflower hydrolysate produced by a two-step process, showed a good free amino acid content and was tested as biostimulant by in vitro and in vivo bioassays, showing an interesting hormone-like properties and a stimulating effect on roots. In this context the biostimulant properties derived from another Brassica, Barbarea verna Mill. Asch., DSM were also explored in in vitro bioassay. Finally sunflower and rapeseed hydrolysates, obtained by a one-step hydrolysis process, resulted as a product rich in small peptides and low amount of amino acids, a characteristic potentially suitable for the development of pet food supplements