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This study aimed to assess the concentrations of major and trace metals (Na, Ca, Fe, Zn, Ni, Mn, Cu, Cd, and Pb) in date palm fruit samples collected from diverse regions, including Afar (Ethiopia), Iraq, and Saudi Arabia, utilizing flame atomic absorption spectrometry (FAAS). The wet acid digestion method was employed for sample treatment, with optimization of the key parameters such as reagent volume ratio, oven temperature, and digestion time for analytical applications. Under the optimized parameters, average metal concentrations in date palm fruit samples ranged from 205–299, 134–320, 38.8–115, 25.1–42.2, 9.27–27.9, 7.11–16.3, and 0.002–1.15 mg/kg for Ca, Na, Fe, Ni, Zn, Mn, and Cu, respectively. Cd and Pb levels were below detection limits within the linear range. Generally, date palm samples exhibited higher Ca and Na contents and lower concentrations of Cu and Mn than other metals. Pearson correlation analysis revealed very strong positive correlations between Fe and Na, Na and Zn, Na and Mn, Ca and Zn, Fe and Ni, Fe and Mn, and Mn and Ni. Strong negative correlations were observed for Ni and Na, Fe and Cu, and Cu and Ni. Weak correlations were noted among Na and Cu, Ca and Fe, Ca and Ni, Ca and Mn, Ca and Cu, Fe and Zn, Ni and Zn, Zn and Mn, and Zn and Cu. A recovery study using the spiking method demonstrated acceptable percentage recoveries ranging from 91.6% to 97.8%. Health risk assessment, including chronic daily intake (CDI), hazard quotient (HQ), total exposure hazard index (HI), and carcinogenic risk (CR), indicated CDI, HQ, and HI values below 1.0, except for the HI value for Ni. This suggests that the metals pose no probable public health risk, with the absence of Cd and Pb in date palm samples affirming no carcinogenic threats associated with their consumption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Transplanting is a useful technique to produce sugar beet (Beta vulgaris L.) in arid and semi‐arid regions that face water scarcity and salinity. The major challenge in transplanting is to improve the economic benefits that smallholder farmers have in the self‐production of transplants. The objective of this study was to evaluate the yield, quality, and water use efficiency (WUE) of sugar beet in response to transplanting and different options in transplant production process. Two field experiments were conducted at two sites. The first experiment investigated the effects of seedling age at transplanting, volume of the substrate, and transplanting date. The second experiment investigated the effects of substrate media and transplant production conditions on sugar beet yield and quality. In both experiments, transplanting was compared to the direct seeding on the conventional planting date at both sites. The highest white sugar content (12.1% and 13.5%) and white sugar yield (10.2 and 12.1 t ha−1) were obtained from plants transplanted in mid‐May at sites 1 and 2, respectively. Also, root yield, total sugar content, and WUE were higher in transplanting than direct seeding. The 40‐day‐old transplants produced in 22 mL cell volume when transferred to the field in mid‐May had higher WUE than the direct seeding. The transplants produced outside the greenhouse (uncontrolled conditions) had nearly the same yields as those produced inside a greenhouse under controlled conditions. We suggest that using readily available substrates and not requiring greenhouse conditions for transplant production is a cost‐effective way for smallholder farmers to produce their own seedlings. Core Ideas: Sugar beet root yield, total sugar content and water use efficiency (WUE) obtained through transplanting were higher than direct seeding.Transplanting in mid‐May increased the root yield, white sugar content, and white sugar yield compared with late April.High WUE was observed in 40‐day‐old transplants, grown in 22 mL cells and transferred to the field in mid‐May.Production of transplants in peat moss substrate and controlled conditions improved sugar yield. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this research, the effect of concentration process (evaporation) on bioactive compounds and qualitative characteristics of thin juice and thick syrup during beet harvest was investigated. Phenolic and anthocyanin compounds of thin juice and quality attributes such as brix, degree of purity and soluble color were interest. For this purpose, from the beginning of October to the end of January 2016, samples were taken for thin juice from the last stage of the purification process and for thick syrup from the last stage of the concentration process, and all the qualitative chemical tests were carried out according to the ICUMSA reference book. In thin juice, anthocyanin amount was not constant during the time of beet harvest, but the total phenol amount was significantly different in the first and fourth months. There was no significant difference in the amount of protein in the first, third and fourth months. The highest brix of thin juice was 13.14% in the first and second months, and its degree of purity increased from the beginning to the end of the harvest season. The highest soluble color of thin juice was observed in the third and fourth months of harvesting. Thick syrup had the highest brix (53% on average) in the first and second months, and this syrup had a high soluble color at the time of harvesting, except for the second month. The results of investigation indicated the accuracy of the purification and evaporation processes to remove as much impurities as possible in the raw juice extracted from sugar beet cossettes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The sugar industry is facing problems with high amount of molassigenic metal ions remained after the purification step in sugar juice. In this investigation the application of unmodified sugar beet pulp as a weak monofunctional cation-exchange biosorbent for molassigenic metal ions (Na+, K+ and Ca2+) removal from the alkalized sugar juice was studied. The batch biosorption experiments were performed at temperature (70 °C) and pH (10.5) of alkalized sugar juice similar to industrial conditions. The highest removal efficiency was noticed for divalent Ca2+ (30.2%), while monovalent Na+ and K+ ions were removed with 10.9 and 9.1% efficiency, respectively. Biosorption equilibrium was established in 90 min for all tested metals. Sugar beet pulp characterization from the perspective of cation-exhange material was conducted. The structure of the biosorbent and an insight of the functional groups were also characterized by scanning electron microscopy and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. The biosorption data were analyzed using four nonlinear kinetic (pseudo-first order, pseudo-second order and Elovich) and diffusion models (Weber-Morris). The time course data of biosorption processes fitted well to the pseudo-first and the pseudo-second-order kinetic models indicating ion-exchange and chemisorption as dominant mechanisms for metal ions removal from the alkalized juice. HNO3 as a desorption reagent showed the highest average molassigenic metal ions desorption efficiency (54.4%). Utilization of sugar beet biomass as cation-exchange material imposes as a potential solution for more successful sugar juice purification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Disaccharides are determined mainly for dietetic purposes, hence the most analyses are carried out for food and drink samples. Its content can also be used to profile groceries in order to identify the origin and quality of the products. They also can be an indicator of the rate of metabolism as well as for the control of some technological and biotechnological processes. Unfortunately most of technological analysis are performed with nonselective polarimetry methods. Sugars due to specific physicochemical properties of compounds are difficult to determine with classical analytical techniques. The most common disaccharides are composed of several types of monomers connected by a different configuration of the glycosidic bond, therefore, there are subject of the same characteristic reactions. This often enforces the need for pre-separation of sample components. Therefore, nowadays the most popular analytical methodologies for disaccharides determination are based on chromatographic and electrophoretic techniques. An alternative is enzymes application that allow both selective recognition of target analyte and its conversion to easy detected product, allowing detection by relatively simple conventional analytical methods. Another approach is the use of advanced chemometric methodologies for computing of data obtained from some spectroscopic techniques. This article is a review of the recent analytical literature devoted to non-selective and selective methods for disaccharide determination in real samples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Thermodynamic parameters provide clues for finding the spontaneity of a given process at a given temperature. In the present work, the Temkin adsorption model was applied for evaluation of the thermodynamic parameters of cadmium adsorption studied on sand. The lateral interaction energy parameter was found to be unity, which showed that the heat of adsorption is directly proportional to the fraction of free adsorption sites. The values of ΔH° and ΔS° were -4.8 kJ mol-1 and 42 J mol-1 K-1, respectively. The value of ΔG° was negative, indicating the spontaneity of cadmium adsorption on sand. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]