Exploring Ecological and Conventional Farming Practice on Plum Orchards: Its Impact on Fruit Quality

Fruit quality is crucial for nutrition and human health and requires emergent cautions in contemporary agricultural techniques. Ecological farming might not be as successful as conventional management systems; however, it may yield superior quality fruits due to reduced protection treatments. This research aimed to investigate the influence of ecological and conventional farming practices on the physicochemical properties (fruit color, weight, firmness, titratable acidity, total sugar, vitamin C), antioxidant activities, bioactive compounds (total polyphenols, anthocyanin and flavonoids), macroelements composition (N, P, K), and heavy metal concentration (Zn, Cd, Pb and Cu) of the Centenar plum variety soil system under the environmental conditions of Romania. The analysis revealed that ecological farming practice increased the total polyphenol content (3.26–4.52 mg GAE/g of dw) and antioxidant activity (19.53–21.70 µm Trolox/g of dw); however, ecological farming practice supported healthy soils and maintained or built soil organic carbon more substantially (56.68 Mg C ha⁻¹). Moreover, more consistent and vigorous fruit colors were provided by ecological farming practices where small fruits (41 g) were obtained compared to conventional farming (44 g). Among the metal content in plum fruit, Cu had the highest level (0.74–1.07 mg kg⁻¹), while Cd had the lowest (0.003–0.007 mg kg⁻¹). The potential health risk of heavy metals accumulation in orchard soils and their transfer in fruit (MTF) was also analyzed. Total carcinogenic risk (TCR) values for all metals were less than 1 (≤1), which is considered to be a safe level with no concern for human health. These results show that plum fruits under ecological farming received improved nutritional values and correspond to sustainable food production through limiting resource competition.