Michay: the berry from La Araucanía that resists drought and can impact the food industry

CGNA science shows that this native berry has the highest antioxidant capacity and, due to its resilience, does not require water or agrochemicals for its production.

Miryam Ríos, CGNA.- Auspicious results were evidenced by the science of the Center for Agro-Aquaculture Nutritional Genomics-CGNA- when verifying that Michay, a native berry from La Araucanía, has the highest antioxidant capacity and is capable of achieving quality and optimal fruit yield without irrigation or the use of agrochemicals.

The Michay, native shrub of Chile, presents a distribution that goes from Curicó to Magallanes. But the national cadastre of fruit trees only reports 2.9 cultivated hectares of this berry nationwide.

According to the research of Doctor Manuel Chacón, a researcher in the area of ​​plant science at CGNA, this native berry has at least ten times the antioxidant capacity of its better-known cousin, the blueberry.

In addition, compared to other native berries, the antioxidant activity of its fruit expressed in ORAC (antioxidant activity unit of measure) can double the value reported for maqui.

This not only projects Michay as an advantaged competitor in the high-value food industry, but also due to the resilience characteristics that are being determined with CGNA science, where it is observed that it resists prolonged periods without irrigation or chemical fertilization, achieving a production close to 10 t/ha.

In this regard, Dr. Haroldo Salvo, scientific director of the CGNA “the country and the region need to venture into productive alternatives that are more competitive in the face of climate change, which implies reducing the use of land, water, agrochemicals, transport and processes technologies”, Salvo added that “we must be aware that we have to reduce the impact of the water and carbon footprint, and that every day we will have less water to produce food”, explained the CGNA scientist.

“The Regional Government asks us to invest in science to find solutions and when we invest in science we do it by looking at our own natural resources,” he said.

pollinators

The exploration of Michay not only covers its potential for the high-value food industry, but this plant also has great potential as a pollinator attractant.

Dr. Manuel Chacón indicated that in our experimental field we have been able to observe the plant-insect interactions of Michay versus other conventional berries such as raspberries and blueberries.

The Michay attracts the largest number of native pollinating insects. As it does. Dr. Chacón points out that, by means of gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrophotometry, an interesting differential in the profile of volatile organic compounds in Michay flowers compared to blueberry has been determined, a strategy that allows it to effectively attract insects.

“This is extraordinary because it opens a window for us to innovate in pollinators for other fruit trees. It is important to remember that the pollination service in agriculture represents a third of global food production,” said Manuel Chacón.

To this, the CGNA researcher added, given that “the effects of climate change have contributed enormously to the reduction in the abundance and diversity of pollinating insects in the world, raising alarms in aspects of food security.”

Improving the presence of native pollinators not only contributes to the ecology of pollination, but also improves the quality and production of crops, such as fruit growing.