Process/product innovation in the barley supply chain to improve the quality and environmental sustainability of food and beverages

The project's objective is the development of innovative food products with high environmental sustainability and high nutritional and sensory dietary value starting from raw materials deriving from barley. In this context, barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) fits perfectly because it is a cereal that adapts better than wheat to the Italian soil and climate conditions, favoring temperate zones and those subject to periodic droughts (such as those of central-southern Italy); it grows well even in poorly fertile soils, provided they are dry and non-acidic; it has a short vegetative cycle (early cereal) and requires low nitrogen inputs during growth. It is a plant characterized by high environmental sustainability as it has a good ability to compete against weeds, for which herbicide treatments are superfluous, or in any case reduced. Being barley, therefore, a cereal with low environmental impact, it can therefore be well used for the production of food products which in turn have a reduced environmental impact and which promote a healthier and safer diet.

Emanuele Marconi - Full Professor, responsible for activities UCBM Vittoria Locato