Anthocyanin and Oil Contents,Fatty Acids Profiles and Antioxidant Activity of Mexican Landrace Avocado Fruits

Mexican landrace avocados are naturally distributed mainly in high areas of central Mexico, where they have been produced and consumed since pre-Hispanic times. However, trees of these species are being replaced by improved varieties with greater global demand, and many species have been lost due to the destruction of their natural habitats. Many people in Mexico like to consume the pulp and peel of these fruits and have done so since pre-Hispanic times. This is because the peel of Mexican landrace avocados, unlike the peel of Hass avocados, is very thin and flavorful. The peel color may be bluish-purple or dark reddish due to the presence of anthocyanins, which are compounds with antioxidant activity. The objective of this study was to assess the oil and anthocyanin contents and to evaluate the antioxidant activity in fruits of 11 accessions collected from producing-regions of Mexico. The oil content was 16.2 to 32.3 g 100 g^?1 in pulp, and the main unsaturated fatty acids were oleic, linoleic and palmitoleic acids, depending on the accession. The anthocyanin contents in peels ranged from 0.64 to 47 mg g^?1 fresh weight. The highest antioxidant activity was found in the peel (53.3–307.3 mmol g^?1 fresh weight). The results confirm that the pulp and peel of dark-peel Mexican landrace avocados could be important nutraceuticals for humans.

     

In winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.), post-anthesis nitrogen uptake and remobilisation to the grain correlates with agronomic traits and nitrogen physiological markers

In wheat, nitrogen (N) uptake and remobilisation after flowering contributes largely, in Northern countries, to grain yield and grain protein content. The aim of our study was first to estimate the proportion of N taken up and remobilised to the grain as well as their relative efficiency using ¹⁵NO₃⁻-labelling at flowering. The validity of the technique was assessed in comparison to the N budget calculation method on five winter wheat cultivars grown for 2 years at low and high fertilization input. We estimated that on average 71.2% of grain N originates from remobilisation with significant genotypic differences. Among the five genotypes, significant differences were also found for both N remobilisation efficiency (from 69.8 to 88.8%) and N translocation efficiency (from 89.7 to 93.4%). In parallel, during 1 year, we monitored physiological markers representative of N assimilation and recycling at two sampling dates during the grain filling period. We then examined if there was any relationship between these physiological markers, N absorption and remobilisation estimates and agronomic traits related to yield and grain N content. Nitrate reductase (NR) activity was highly correlated to N absorbed post-flowering and to grain protein content. Glutamine synthetase (GS) activity was even more highly correlated than NR activity to the amount of N remobilised and grain yield. The use of physiological traits such as NR and GS activities as markers of the wheat N status is discussed.     

Effect of cutting edge thickness and state of wear of ploughshare on draught force and heart rates of Sanga oxen in Ghana

In this study, draught forces and heart rates of oxen were measured during ploughing to assess ploughshare cutting edge performance. The main objective of the study was to examine the effect of cutting edge thickness and state of wear of animal-drawn mouldboard ploughshares on the draught force and the heart rates of oxen pulling the implement and to determine the optimum cutting edge that gives the least draught force and lowest heart rates when pulled by animals. To minimise soil variability, a field was ploughed, harrowed and left to consolidate for 4 weeks before field experiments started. A pair of Sanga oxen was used during the field test. Analyses of variance showed there were significant differences (p < 0.05) in the mean draught forces and the corresponding oxen heart rates for the cutting edges. The field test results indicated the draught forces and heart rates of the animals increased with increasing cutting edge thickness from 2 to 8 mm, but also increased slightly for the 1 mm edge. The draught forces of the other cutting edges relative to the 2 mm were 9%, 1%, 29%, 35% and 65% higher for the 1, 4, 8 mm, Reversed and double-sided, respectively. The heart rates induced by the other cutting edges relative to the 2 mm varied from under 1 to 12%. The draught of the cutting edges was between 6 and 10% of the body weight of the animals used for the experiment. The lowest draught force and heart rate were obtained for the 2 mm cutting edge. Since the 4 mm cutting edge generated draught forces and heart rates values as low as the 2 mm, it was considered potentially more durable under field conditions and could be the recommended cutting edge thickness for animal-drawn shares in similar soil conditions used for the experiment.     

Seed morphological characteristics,storage behavior,and germination pattern of Combretum indicum (L.) DeFilipps

Genetic Resources and Crop Evolution - Combretum indicum (L.) DeFilipps seeds have anthelmintic properties and are recognized to be medicinal; however, the array of their morphological characters,...     

Indirect connectivity estimates of amphibian breeding wetlands from spatially explicit occupancy models

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Intestinal absorption of amino acids in the Pacific bluefin tuna (Thunnus orientalis): in vitro lysine–arginine interaction using the everted intestine system

The interaction between lysine (Lys) and arginine (Arg) in the proximal intestinal region of Pacific bluefin tuna (Thunnus orientalis) was evaluated using the everted intestine method. This in vitro intestinal system has been shown to be an effective tool for studying the nutrient absorption without the need to handle the tuna fish in marine cages as needed for digestibility and amino acid (AA) absorption. We used a factorial design with two sets of variables: low and high Lys concentration (10 and 75 mM) and four different Arg concentrations (3, 10, 20, and 30 mM). Both amino acids were dissolved in marine Ringer solution with a basal amino acidic composition consisting of a tryptone solution (9 mg mL^?1). No interaction was observed between the absorption of Lys and Arg during the first 10 min of the experiment when low concentration of Lys and Arg was used in the hydrolyzate solution. However, there seemed to be a positive effect on Lys absorption when both amino acids were at high concentrations (30 and 75 mM, respectively). This type of studies will led us to test different formulations and/or additives to better understand the efficiency of AA supplementation as an alternative to in situ studies that are difficult to follow to design with the Pacific Bluefin Tuna.     

A new process for the management of olive oil mill waste water and recovery of natural antioxidants

The high polyphenol content of the wastewater is the major environmental problem caused by the olive mills. A pilot scale system for the treatment of the olive oil mills wastewater was developed aiming at the recovery of high added value-contained polyphenols and the reduction of the environmental problems. The treatment system consists of three main successive sections: The first one includes successive filtration stages aiming at the gradual reduction of the wastewater suspended solids up to a limit of 25 microm. The second section includes passing of the filtered wastewater through a series of adsorbent resins (XAD16 and XAD7HP) in order to achieve the de-odoring and decolorization of the wastewater and the removal/ recovery of the polyphenol and lactone content. The third section of the procedure includes the thermal evaporation and recovery of the organic solvents mixture, which has been used in the resin regeneration process, and finally the separation of the polyphenols and other organic substance contents using fast centrifuge partition chromatography. The final outcome of the whole procedure is (i) an odorless yellowish wastewater with a 99.99% reduced content in polyphenols and 98% reduced COD, (ii) an extract rich in polyphenols and lactones with high antioxidant activity and high added value, (iii) an extract containing the coloring substances of the olive fruit, and (iv) pure hydroxytyrosol.     

Current research in canine and feline pheromones.

Pheromonotherapy seems to be a new therapeutic approach allowing practitioners to tackle the treatment of behavioral disorders in a natural, specific, and safe way. Although the efficacy of pheromones has been assessed in some specific behavioral problems, it seems that their range of action could cover the wide field of reduction of stress. Therefore, the use of pheromones should not be reduced to treatment of behavioral disorders (potentially associated with psychotropes or a behavioral modification program) but should be included in a strategy of improving the welfare of pets in veterinary structures (during examination and hospitalization) and in breeding networks (separation from the mother and transport). Moreover, further studies may allow the veterinary practitioner to use pheromone analogues in the field of diagnostics to determine the behavioral status of a pet (e.g., anxious or not, dominant or not). Pheromonotherapy is at its beginning, and the use of pheromones in various fields of medicine is heartening.