by
Alicia Roberts
(Guelph, May 6, 2005)
It enriches nutrient levels in soil. Its berries are rich in vitamin C and chock-full of omega-3 fatty acids. And it’s a great windbreak as well. University of Guelph researchers want to know if Ontario is ready for the sea buckthorn shrub...but they can’t imagine why not.
Sea buckthorn – which grows on sandy shores in England, hence its name – is native to northern Asia and Europe. But it’s been grown as a windbreak in western Canada for many years. Prof. Adam Dale, Department of Plant Agriculture, believes that the plant’s healthy berries and multiple planting options could make it a valuable commodity in Ontario too. So he’s leading a research team to look at the economic and practical aspects of sea buckthorn cultivation from field to market, to see if a home-grown industry can be established within the province.
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Good things in small packages: a single sea buckthorn berry -- the size of a small cherry -- has 50 times the vitamin C of an entire orange, which has University of Guelph researchers looking at the viability of a sea buckthorn industry in Ontario.
Photo:
C. C. Peters
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“The plant can grow in rough areas where you’d expect nothing to succeed,” says Dale. “It’s a pioneer species for unsuitable areas and it has incredible health benefits.”
The woody and shrub-like sea buckthorn plant can grow up to 30 feet wide and produces yellow and orange berries the size of small cherries. And although sea buckthorn berries taste bland, they pack a powerful nutritional punch: just one sea buckthorn berry has 50 times the vitamin C than an entire orange.
The berries also contain large quantities of palmitoleic acid, which encourages skin growth and could help burn victims.
The pulp, seeds and leaves, too, have many essential oils that are beneficial to people. Along with vitamin C, the berries have high levels of omega-3 oils and carotene, which helps with the conversion of nutrients to vitamin A, and gives the berries their colour.
Like beans and sprouts, the sea buckthorn plant also contains nitrogen-fixing bacteria in its roots, which keep soil healthy. And because the plant produces many shoots and suckers to promote growth everywhere on the plant, the nutritional output is very high.
However, says Dale, the berries don’t appear until three years after it’s been planted – something his team will take into account when looking at the economics of an Ontario sea buckthorn industry.
They’ve started a two-year pilot project, focusing on whether sea buckthorn can be grown viably in Ontario and what needs to be done to make it work. Specifically, Dale will look at economic aspects of growing sea buckthorn, from planting to processing, as well as optimal plant varieties, since some types are adapted for machine harvest while others must be hand-picked.
“The markets are there, and the processing facilities are available. We need to know if it can be priced reasonably to allow growers to make a profit,” says Dale. He hopes to have more information on whether a sea buckthorn will be economically viable by 2006.
Others involved in this research are University of Guelph Prof. David Sparling, Department of Agricultural Economics and Business, and Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada research scientist Dr. Rong Cao, Food Research Program.
This research is funded by The Healing Arc in Kitchener and Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada through the Agricultural Adaptation Council's CanAdapt Program.
