Determination of chemical profile, antioxidant, DNA damage protection and antiamoebic activities of Teucrium polium and Stachys iberica

This work deals with the evaluation of in vitro antioxidant, DNA preventing and antiamoebic activities of the water extracts of Teucrium polium and Stachys iberica. In all systems, T. polium extract exhibited excellent activity potential than that of S. iberica. The amount of total phenolics and flavonoids were high in this extract. In the presence of 40 mg/ml T. polium extract, a significant protection was observed for native super coiled DNA of pBR322 plasmid DNA. In the presence of 32 mg/ml of T. polium extract, no trophozoite was after the 24th hour.     

Influence of Melatonin Treatments on Fruit Quality and Storage Life of Sweet Cherry cv. ‘Sweetheart’

The study was carried out to determine the effect of melatonin on quality and postharvest life of sweet cherries (Prunus avium L.) cv. ‘Sweetheart’ during storage. The fruits were dipped at different concentrations of melatonin (0, 250, 500 and 1000?µmol l^?1 for 10?min) and distilled water as control. The changes of sweet cherries were assessed at 7?day intervals by evaluating the following quality parameters: firmness, soluble solids content, titratable acidity, respiration rate, color values (L* and chroma), ascorbic acid content, total anthocyanin content, total phenolic content, and antioxidant activity. The results showed that increasing the dose to 1000?µmol l^?1 melatonin had a remarkable effect on maintaining the quality of sweet cherry. 1000?µmol l^?1 and 500?µmol l^?1 melatonin treatments significantly inhibited the decrease in firmness, ascorbic acid, total phenols, total anthocyanin, antioxidant content and reduced color changes and respiration rate. However, the total soluble solids content and titratable acidity of the fruit were not influenced by melatonin applications. These findings indicate that melatonin treatment may be effective in maintaining quality and bioactive compounds of sweet cherry fruit.

     

Response of Rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) to unrefined peanut oil diets: Effect on growth performance,fish health and fillet fatty acid composition

A 60‐day feeding study with rainbow trout, Oncorhynchus mykiss, was conducted to determine the effects of replacement of fish oil (FO) by unrefined peanut oil (PO) on growth performance, feed utilization, body composition, fatty acid composition and serum biochemical and haematological parameters. Rainbow trouts (51.60 ± 0.75 g) were fed five experimental diets formulated by replacing dietary FO with PO at levels of level 0 (PO₀), 1/4 (PO₂₅), 1/2 (PO₅₀), 3/4 (PO₇₅) and 4/4 (PO₁₀₀), respectively. As a result, the best growth performance was observed in fish fed with PO₀ and PO₅₀ diet. No significant differences were detected among the groups in terms of body compositions. Fatty acid profiles of the fish fillets reflected the fatty acid profiles of the feeds that the fishes were fed with. In this study, the haematological parameters detected that there were no significant differences compared to the control group, whereas the serum biochemical parameters generally worsened as the ratio of peanut oil in the ration exceeded half of fish oil. As a conclusion, the results of the study suggested that the unrefined peanut oil could be used as a replacer of fish oil in diets for rainbow trout.