Project Ydun is launched

Ydun is the name of a four year project aiming at promoting the utilisation of local Danish apple varieties for niche products, and to increase the competitiveness of Danish growers, by identifying the suitability of local varieties for niche markets in fruit juices with tailored sensory and nutritional labels. The research objective is to develop relationships between fruit quality factors that can be monitored by the grower in the orchard, post harvest fruit and juice quality factors that can be measured using on-line sensors, and the odour and taste quality of resulting apple juices experienced by humans. Multivariate methods will be used to describe relationships between variation of fruit traits to juice quality. The results will be integrated in the on-line ‘Apple identification key’ database which is being developed by NordGen and KU-Life to promote public interest in the old Nordic apple varieties and provide access to the most current knowledge.

The Ydun project includes one PhD and one Post Doc position, placed at Copenhagen University – Faculty of Life Sciences (KU-Life). There is an announcement of the Ph.D. position at KU-Life’s web pages (deadline 11th May, 2209), whereas the Post Doc position is filled.

The project started 1st of April 2009, will continue through 2012, and is funded by the Danish Food Industry Agency under the Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Fisheries, and by the project participants KU-Life Department of Agriculture and Ecology (Environment, Resources and Technology Group and Crop Science Group), KU-Life Department of Food Science (Quality and Technology Group), as well as by NordGen.

Projectleader is Torben Toldam Andersen at KU-Life.