Objective:
Chestnuts are an extremely important product for the Portuguese region 'Terra Fria Transmontana', representing one of the most profitable crops today. Its commercialization is still done based solely on caliber, an essential characteristic to satisfy a consumer little informed about the diversity of existing varieties. Longal is a traditional regional variety from PDO Castanha da Terra Fria, with excellent characteristics for fresh consumption and the processing industry. It is important to work on its promotion with consumers and producers.
Context:
The appreciation of the chestnut fruit is still limited to its size, which leads producers to adopt larger sized varieties, such as Judia or Boa Ventura or even French varieties. This has transformed production areas into uniform and monovarietal zones, reducing the spectrum of grafts used, risking many traditional regional varieties and leading to a reduction in biological diversity in the Souto ecosystem. A chestnut type, whose price has been devaluing but is of great importance to fresh markets and processing, is the Longal variety.
Contacts:
Further information:
Borges et al. (2007) Avaliação e Caracterização de Variedades de Castanheiro na área da DRAP Norte http://www.drapn.min-agricultura.pt/drapn/conteudos/cen_documentos/norte/CASTANHEIROS.pdf
Fórum Florestal (2016) Estudo Económico do Desenvolvimento da Fileira da Castanha https://www.compete2020.gov.pt/destaques/detalhe/Proj9230_Castanha
Henriques & Borges (2017) Manual Técnico do Castanheiro – Estado da Produção. CNCFS http://www.wp.cncfs.pt/2017/06/14/castanheiro-estado-da-producao/
Moura (2018) Seleção clonal na variedade de castanha “Longal” visando a sua aptidão agronómica e agroalimentar. Tese de Mestrado. UTAD https://repositorio.utad.pt/handle/10348/8688
Silva et al. (2007) Castanha - Um fruto saudável http://www2.insa.pt/sites/INSA/Portugues/Publicacoes/Outros/Paginas/Castanha_Um_Fruto_saudavel.aspx
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