The Center for Research and Agrifood Technology of Aragon participates in the project to support the reintroduction into the community of almorta or guija culture. In it, the team led by Cristina Mallor, a researcher from the Department of Plant Science and head of the Germplasm Horticultural Bank, and the company Cereales Teruel traveled earlier this month to the main production area for almortas in Castilla La Mancha with the order to learn more about this crop in the area, as reported in the Research Institute.
Peas, also known as almortas, are legumes with a high vegetable protein content, similar to chickpeas. The crop is very agricultural in a wide range of dry areas and diversification and adaptation to CAP. They become of them.
A group of experts visited the fields of pebbles planted by the farmer of Fuentealbilla (Cuenca) Juan Miguel Cambronero, who cultivates 40 hectares of almorta, and the company Harnatur, which manufactures natural vegetable flours, including almorta flour. The visit was made through the experience of the farmer to learn about the techniques of almorta crops, and to obtain seed to sow two hectares in Teruel, which will facilitate the assessment of the benefits and adaptation of this crop in Teruel.
Cereal Alternative
The visit to Castilla La Mancha came about after talks at a lunch held last November at the Center for Innovation in the Circular Bioeconomy (CITAte) in Teruel, which was attended by Cristina Mallor and gave support from the state to incorporate this crop. of the judgments which they have fulfilled over the years to seek another for sacrifice.
According to the agricultural statistics, 838 hectares of almorta are cultivated in Spain, of which 785 are in Castilla La Mancha. In Aragon, the dead culture does not now appear in the official mutant. The harvest was forgotten, despite the fact that the elders remembered it in the fields of Aragon. In fact, CITA’s Germplasm Horticultural Bank maintains a collection of 37 Aragonese specimens, with a small amount of seeds currently not available for large-scale trials.
Now, by the “Siembra Teruel” financed by the Government of Aragon through the Teruel Investment Fund (FITE) with the participation of the Territorial Ministry, analyzes are carried out in the Area Analysis and Assistance Laboratories of the Technological Institute of CITA to evaluate the composition of the collection preserved in its Germplasm Bank, as well as minute tests in different towns in Teruel, such as Muniesa and Bañón, to increase the seed and appreciate the various cultures.
