Determination of some heavy metals and selenium in Sicilian and Calabrian citrus essential oils using derivative stripping chronopotentiometry

This paper aims to bring some novelty about the concentration of some heavy metals and selenium in biological citrus essential oils (CEO) produced in Sicily and Calabria in different crop years. Derivative stripping chronopotentiometry has been used as an accurate, sensitive, and rapid technique for the determination of Cd, Cu, Mn, Ni, Pb, Zn, and Se in hydrochloric acid extracts of CEO; in the optimized electrochemical conditions, detection limits of <1 microg kg(-1) were obtained for all of the studied metals. In particular, the concentrations of metals were determined in biological bergamot essential oils produced in Calabria in 1999 and 2000 and in biological CEO produced in Sicily in 2003 and 2004. The obtained results provided evidence that Mn was the most abundant metal in all of the studied CEO followed by Zn, Ni, Cu, Pb, and Se; Cd concentrations were always lower than the limit of detection (0.6 microg kg(-1)).     

Bioguided fractionation and isolation of free radical scavenging components from in vitro propagated chinese medicinal plants Dendrobium tosaense Makino and Dendrobium moniliforme SW

This study was performed to investigate the free radical scavenging active components from in vitro propagated medicinal herbs of the genus Dendrobium, namely, Dendrobium tosaense Makino and Dendrobium moniliforme SW, using a 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical antioxidative assay. Seeds of the capsules derived after 12 weeks of hand-pollination germinated asymbiotically (50-74%) on half-strength Murashige and Skoog's (MS) basal medium with 3% sucrose and solidified with 0.9% Difco agar. Active growth in the germinated seedlings was achieved by reculturing on full-strength MS basal medium supplemented with 8% banana homogenate, 8% potato homogenate, 8% coconut water, 1.5% sucrose, and 0.9% Difco agar. Healthy plantlets transferred to plastic trays containing moss or moss and tree fern successfully acclimatized (84-100%) in the greenhouse. Extracts were prepared from plants grown in the greenhouse for a period of 6 months. Methanolic extracts of D. tosaense and D. moniliforme scavenged DPPH at 95.9 and 83.4%, respectively, at a concentration of 0.4 mg/mL. Therefore, methanolic solubles of D. tosaense and D. moniliforme were subjected to bioguided fractionation and separation by column chromatographic methods individually. After chromatographic separation of these crude extracts, the obtained fractions (Dm 1, Dm 2, Dm 3, Dt 1, Dt 2, and Dt 3) were tested for their activity. Among them, fractions Dm 2 and Dt 1 showed significant antioxidant activity by DPPH radical antioxidative assay. Active fractions were purified further by column chromatography and resulted in identification of the antioxidant components alkyl ferulates from D. moniliforme and quercetin from D. tosaense.     

Laboratory-based reproduction success of ruffe, Gymnocephalus cernuus (L.), in brackish water is determined by maternal properties

Abstract – Body length, age, egg size, embryo salinity tolerance and length at hatching of the freshwater (salinity <0.1 ppt, Lake Peipsi) and brackish-water (salinity 2–6 ppt, Pärnu and Matsalu Bay) ruffe, Gymnocephalus cernuus (L.), were examined to reveal their reproductive success in moderate salinity. Eggs of females originating from brackish water were significantly larger than eggs of freshwater females. No correlation between egg size and female size and age was found in brackish-water populations. In the freshwater population there was a small negative correlation between egg size and female size, but no correlation with female age. Fertilisation by sperm of males of different origin (brackish water or freshwater) produced no significant differences at any critical developmental stage (fertilisation, gastrulation, hatching) in the development of eggs from brackish-water or freshwater females at 3.3, 5.5, 7.7 and 9.9 ppt salinity. Survival rates in different salinity depended only on female origin; embryonic salinity tolerance was higher in ruffe inhabiting brackish water. Obviously, embryo salinity tolerance in ruffe is determined by egg qualities.     

Influence of temperature,soil moisture and CCC on the flowering of Euphorbia fulgens

In the short-day plant Euphorbia fulgens under short-day conditions the flower induction in the shoot apex is delayed more and more nodes are formed beneath the final cyathium, the higher the temperature up to 28°C. The delay of induction is greater with plants growing in a moist soil than in a dry soil. The difference between moist and dry soil is greater, the higher the temperature. There are slight temporal differences in the induction of the lateral shoots in the temperature range between 15°C and 25°C, but the number of nodes formed at the lower paracladia is greater at the higher temperature. The development of the cyathia is enhanced at high temperatures. At temperatures above 28°C induction is prevented. The temperature limit for induction is some degrees higher for plants in dry soil than for those in moist soil. Cycocel causes effects similar to those caused by water deficiency, although the newly formed internodes become shorter.     

Importance of water loss in the chilling injury of grapefruit stored at low temperature

Differences in chilling injury susceptibility of grapefruit from exterior and interior tree canopy positions were used to investigate the hypothesis that water loss is related to chilling injury symptom development during low-temperature storage. The sun-exposed surface of grapefruit from exterior canopy positions was more susceptible to chilling injury and had lower diffusive resistance than the shaded surface of the same fruit. Reducing the rate of fruit transpiration during the first week of storage by a pre-cooling treatment prior to low-temperature storage delayed, but did not eliminate, the development of chilling injury.     

Degradation of S-2-Di-isopropylaminoethyl O-ethyl methylphosphonothioate in soil: Phosphorus-containing products

The degradation of S-2-di-isopropylaminoethyl O-ethyl methylphosphonothioate in humic sand, humic loam and clayey peat has been studied under laboratory conditions. About 90% of the compound disappeared within 2 days and the remainder disappeared more slowly. Ethyl hydrogen methylphosphonate and methylphosphonic acid were identified as the only phosphorus-containing degradation products.