Abstracts Book - IMRC 2018

• SB2-P044
BIOMIMETIC PVA NANOPARTICLES FOR A NOVEL APLICATION IN
FRUIT CULTURE
Constanza Sabando 1 , Walther Ide 1 , Richard Bastía 2 , Miguel Valenzuela 2 , Saddys Maria
Rodriguez Llamazares 1
1
Centro de Investigación de Polímeros Avanzados, CIPA, Investigacion, Chile. 2 Universidad de
Concepción, Facultad de Agronomía, Chile.
Frost damage causes millions of losses in the fruit industry worldwide. Freezing
injury usually arises from cellular dehydration, as intracellular water is lost to
the growing of extracellular ice. Poly (vinyl alcohol) (PVA) as well as antifreeze
proteins can act as an inhibitor of ice-crystallization. We studied the effect of
PVA nanoparticles on the freezing temperature of water and the recrystallization
behavior of ice. The PVA nanoparticles were synthetized by the
nanoprecipitation method. The size distributions of PVA nanoparticles were
narrow, between 60 - 120 nm. The crystallization temperature of water in
presence of PVA nanoparticles was lower than that of aqueous solution of PVA
macromolecule. The median ice crystal diameter and shape in presence of PVA
nanoparticles and PVA were analyzed. PVA nanoparticles play an important role
in ice recrystallization. The effect of PVA nanoparticles dispersions on the
inhibition of frost damage in cherry trees was also explored. The effectiveness
in reducing frost damage in bud floral primordia and flowers was not dependent
on the concentration of PVA nanoparticles and was higher than that of PVA
macromolecules and a commercial product commonly used by growers to
reduce frost damage in fruit orchards.
Acknowledgment:
Fondef project ID16I10425, CIPA, CONICYT Regional, GORE BIO BIO, R17A10003
Keywords: PVA nanoparticles, water freezing temperature, fruit trees
Presenting authors email: saddys_maria@yahoo.com