Search

• It is an annual type having densely foliaged with dark green broad leaves (54.5 cm long and 35.2 cm width), possessing drought tolerance.The plants grows up to 405.6 cm and spreads 330.2 cm (E-W) and 390.4 cm (N-S) (Table 1). • It is a comparatively late flowering and late maturing comes to harvest during March-May. Each plant produces about 314 fruits in a year, and its yield potential of 53–54.7t/ha. It is superior in fruit size and yield (185.6%) over PKM-1 (Table 3). • No fled infestation of leaf eating caterpillars and pods are least affected by fruit fly resulting higher per cent of marketable pods (20 and 30%) as compared to the commercially popular varieties like PKM-1 and PKM-2, respectively (Table 4). • This variety suits for table/export purpose due to uniformly parrot green and very long pod having more flesh content with seeds uniformly spaced. • It has high protein (9.3 g), vitamin A (9783IU) and vitamin C content (246 mg) per 100 g of fresh edible pods. It also have recorded highest antioxidants contents and activity viz. total phenols, total flavonoids, DPPH, FRAP and CUPRAC in pods as well as leaves as compared check (Table 7 & 8). • The proposed genotype recorded highest dry matter (85.84%), protein (10.25 mg/100 g), nitrogen, potassium, calcium (438.38), sulphur (4397.18), iron (44.6), zinc (3.79), manganese (20.55) and Cu (1.15) in (mg/100 g dry leaves powder) as compared to check(Fig 1, Table 5 & 6). The drumstick (Moringa oleifera Lam.) variety Thar Harsha is an annual type having densely foliaged with dark green broad leaves (54.5 cm long and 35.2 cm width). The plants grows up to 405.6 cm and spreads 330.2 cm (E-W) and 390.4 cm (N-S). The fruiting in Thar Harsha starts late (March to May) as compared to PKM-1 (February-March). Each plant produces about 314 pods in a year, and its yield potential of 53–54.7t/ha. It is superior in pod size and yield (85.6%) over PKM-1. It has high protein (9.3 g), Vitamin A (9783IU) and Vitamin C content (246 mg) per 100 g of fresh edible pods. It have recorded comparatively higher antioxidants contents and activity viz. total phenols (657.69 and 36.23 mg GAE/100 g), total flavonoids (406.28 and 298.46 CE mg/100 g), DPPH (29.07 and 21.53 µmol TE/g), FRAP (66.37 and 34.41 µmol TE/g)and CUPRAC (99.07 and 44.64 µmol TE/g) in leaves and pods, respectively. The variety Thar Harsha recorded comparatively highest dry matter (25.52 and 20.69%), protein (20.25 and 9.33 mg/100 g), nitrogen (3868.03 and 3653.16), phosphorus (187.91 and 113.60) potassium (1714.12 and 942.33), Calcium (4318.38 and 1983.15), Sulphur (4397.18 and 2038.49), Iron (44.6 and 32.76), Manganese (3.79 and 1.21), zinc (20.55 and 12.14) and Cu (1.15 and 0.83) in (mg/100 g dry powder) leaves and pods, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An experiment was conducted during the winter season of each of 2015/2016 and 2016/ 2017 at the Experimental field, Faculty of Agriculture, Zagazig University, Egypt in order to evaluate the response of caraway growth and yield under three rates of N:P:K:Mg at 13:5:26:3 ratios/ (0.0, 2.0 and 4.0 g/l) as foliar spray and three types of antioxidants (Control, salicylic acid, vitamin C and vitamin B1 as well as their combinations). The experiment was applied by a split-plot in randomized complete block design (RCBD) arrangement with three replications. Results proved the superiority of chemical fertilization as foliar spray via enhancing yield components of caraway plants in comparing with no application. Salicylic acid (SA), vitamin B1 (Vitam.B) and vitamin C (Vitam.C) at 100 ppm of each applied three times/season showed the best results in most of the studied growth parameters (plant height, number of leaves and branches per plant, total dry weight, root dry weight and root length) and yield components (number of umbels per plant and fruit yield per plant and per faddan) as compared with control. Accordingly, this study recommends the possibility of using antioxidants treatment (SA+ Vitam.B + Vitam.C) as an improving growth performance and yield components of caraway plants under chemical fertilization rate at 2 g/l. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present work was carried out at Private Farm (The Experimental Farm of Sand Valley Company) at Ismailia Governorate, Egypt during the two summer seasons of 2016 and 2017 to study the response of vegetative growth, leaf pigments, yield and fruit quality of some summer squash cultivars (Haitek, Kortoba, Otto, Rivera and Shamis) grown in sandy soil to foliar spray with some antioxidants [Salicylic acid (SA), Vitamin B1 and Vitamin C] at 100 ppm of each. The interaction between Revira cultivar and spraying with SA or with Vitamin C at 100 ppm of each increased number of leaves/ plant, leaves dry matter and leaf relative water content (%), crude protein and Vitamin C content in fruits, whereas the interaction between Revira or Shamis cultivars and spraying with SA at 100 ppm increased plant height, concentration of chlorophyll a in leaf tissues, total yield/ fad., total carbohydrates and TSS in fruits. The interaction between Shamis cultivar and spraying with Vitamin B1 or Vitamin C at 100 ppm of each increased concentration of chlorophyll b in leaf tissues, but decreased the concentration of carotenoides in leaf tissues. On the other hand, spraying Otto cultivar with tap water gave the lowest value for each of chlorophyll a, b but recorded the highest concentration of carotenoides in leaf tissues, followed by Haitek and Kortoba, while spraying Kortoba cultivar with tap water gave the lowest value of total yield. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pomegranate fruit ( Punica granatum L.) production and consumption has increased recently due to increasing scientific evidence on its high content of health beneficial compounds. This study was conducted to investigate the phytochemical contents and antioxidant activity of pomegranates (cv. Wonderful) as affected by fruit maturation and growing location. High performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) coupled with liquid chromatography mass-spectrometry (LC–MS) and liquid chromatography mass-spectrometry electroscopy (LC–MSE) were used to analyse phenolic composition at different maturity stages. Catechin, epicatechin and naringin were the most dominant flavonoids irrespective of maturity and altitude, while gallic acid was the dominant phenolic acid. The concentrations of total phenolics and total tannins as well as radical scavenging activity (RSA) in DPPH assay declined as maturity advanced while ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP), total anthocyanin, total flavonoid and vitamin C increased significantly ( P < 0.01). There was a significant and negative correlation ( r = −0.64) between total phenolic content and antioxidant activity in the FRAP assay. Principal component analysis (PCA) showed that fruit grown in area with lower altitude were associated with higher bioactive compounds at full ripe stage. Furthermore, PCA plot also revealed that fruit growing location had a significant and prominent impact on the bioactive compounds than maturity status. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A great emphasis of plant research is being placed on developing crops with increased nutritional value. Generating plant materials suitable for controlled studies as potential tools for pre-breeding is still the main hurdle. Improvements are needed in generating different allele combinations to stack various nutrients into a single genotype, without losses in fruit yield or quality, and in testing the specific effects of nutrients in their original matrix, avoiding the noise caused by the characteristic mix of compounds. An elegant approach in both pre-breeding and diet supplementation tests is the use of near-isogenic lines (NILs). Here, we tap on the large pool of monogenic mutants and natural genetic variation available in tomato to create a series of NILs in the genetic background of the cultivar Micro-Tom (MT). We describe the introgression of the mutations Anthocyanin fruit (Aft), atroviolacium (atv), Aubergine (Abg), Beta-carotene (B), old-gold crimson (og) and high pigment 1 and 2 (hp1, hp2) and characterize their fruit metabolic profiles in single, double and triple mutant combinations. We show that Brix can be raised without yield penalty, along with increases in lycopene, β-carotene and ascorbic acid, and a concomitant enhancement of anti-oxidant capacity. As proof-of-concept of the suitability of stacking alleles for breeding nutrient-rich tomatoes, we introduce three mutations leading to uniformly purple fruits and enhanced nutrient contents from MT into a commercial cherry tomato cultivar. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Iodine is a non-essential element for land plants, but is considered as a beneficial element, related to antioxidant capacity, environmental adaptations and improvement of plant growth. Salinity is one of the more recurrent abiotic stresses worldwide, seriously affecting vegetal production. The aim of this work was to evaluate iodine application (Q products® and KIO3, Quimcasa de México, Naucalpan, Mexico) in strawberry plants under normal and salt stress conditions. Growth, antioxidant content, essential minerals, iodine accumulation and fruit quality were evaluated. The results showed that, under stress conditions, the application of Q products increased ascorbate peroxidase (APX) and catalase (CAT) activity as well as glutathione (GSH) content and yield in fruit, without avoiding biomass loss; with the application of KIO3 an increase in GSH and APX activity as well as P and K concentrations were obtained. In leaves an increase in P, Ca, Mn and iodine accumulation was evidenced with the application of Q products, and an increased concentration of ascorbic acid and iodine with KIO3 treatments. Under normal conditions in fruits, the application of Q products increased phenolic compounds synthesis; additionally, an increase in Ca and Mn concentrations was shown. KIO3 application increased the firmness and Mn. In leaves, the application of Q products increased chlorophyll a, b and calcium. In conclusion, the application of iodine improves the quality value of strawberries under normal conditions and provides an enhancement of salt stress tolerance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]