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Copyright of Revista de Ciências Agrárias is the property of Sociedade de Ciencias Agrarias de Portugal and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Revista de Ciências Agrárias is the property of Sociedade de Ciencias Agrarias de Portugal and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Fitosanidad is the property of Instituto de Investigaciones de Sanidad Vegetal and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

BACKGROUND: Terminal cancer-associated cachexia, characterized by a marked weight loss, anorexia, asthenia and anemia, is usually associated with a malnutrition status. AIM OF THE STUDY: To investigate whether a diet formulated with a crayfish enzymatic extract, enriched in essential amino acids, omega-3 fatty acids, and astaxanthin, would be effective for the treatment of cancer-associated cachexias, by decreasing mortality and morbidity rates in cachectic rats and/or improving survival. METHODS: Two types of diet were used: a standard diet and one formulated with crayfish enzymatic extract. Rats were divided into two groups (24 animals per group): one without tumor (T-) and the other with tumor (T+) (AH-130 Yoshida ascites hepatoma). Each group was further divided into two subgroups (12 animals per subgroup). Two subgroups (T-(standard) and T+(standard)) were fed the standard diet and the other two (T-(CFEE) and T+(CFEE)) the crayfish enzymatic extract one for four weeks, after which different tissue and plasma parameters were studied. RESULTS: The implantation of the tumor resulted in a considerable loss of muscle and adipose tissue mass in both groups, but the loss of muscle and fat was lower in the group fed the crayfish enzymatic extract diet. There was also a concomitant increase in the plasma concentration of TNF-alpha, although the increase was smaller in the crayfish enzymatic extract-treated group. CONCLUSION: This study shows that although the treatment of cachetic rats with the crayfish enzymatic extract diet did not revert the cachexia, it increased survival (57.1% vs. 25.9% in the group treated with crayfish enzymatic extract and standard diets, respectively) and meliorated the cachexia symptoms - anorexia and body mass loss (muscle and adipose tissue). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Tropospheric ozone is an air pollutant that causes negative effects on vegetation, leading to significant losses in crop productivity. It is generated by chemical reactions in the presence of sunlight between primary pollutants resulting from human activity, such as nitrogen oxides and volatile organic compounds. Due to the constantly increasing emission of ozone precursors, together with the influence of a warming climate on ozone levels, crop losses may be aggravated in the future. Therefore, the search for solutions to mitigate these losses becomes a priority. Ozone-induced abiotic stress is mainly due to reactive oxygen species generated by the spontaneous decomposition of ozone once it reaches the apoplast. In this regard, compounds with antioxidant activity offer a viable option to alleviate ozone-induced damage. Using enzymatic technology, we have developed a process that enables the production of an extract with biostimulant properties from okara, an industrial soybean byproduct. The biostimulant, named as OEE (Okara Enzymatic Extract), is water-soluble and is enriched in bioactive compounds present in okara, such as isoflavones. Additionally, it contains a significant fraction of protein hydrolysates contributing to its functional effect. Given its antioxidant capacity, we aimed to investigate whether OEE could alleviate ozone-induced damage in plants. For that, pepper plants (Capsicum annuum) exposed to ozone were treated with a foliar application of OEE., Results: OEE mitigated ozone-induced damage, as evidenced by the net photosynthetic rate, electron transport rate, effective quantum yield of PSII, and delayed fluorescence. This protection was confirmed by the level of expression of genes associated with photosystem II. The beneficial effect was primarily due to its antioxidant activity, as evidenced by the lipid peroxidation rate measured through malondialdehyde content. Additionally, OEE triggered a mild oxidative response, indicated by increased activities of antioxidant enzymes in leaves (catalase, superoxide dismutase, and guaiacol peroxidase) and the oxidative stress index, providing further protection against ozone-induced stress., Conclusions: The present results support that OEE protects plants from ozone exposure. Taking into consideration that the promotion of plant resistance against abiotic damage is an important goal of biostimulants, we assume that its use as a new biostimulant could be considered., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Polyurethane (PU) is a widely used polymer with a highly complex recycling process due to its chemical structure. Eliminating polyurethane is limited to incineration or accumulation in landfills. Biodegradation by enzymes and microorganisms has been studied for decades as an effective method of biological decomposition. In this study, Tenebrio molitor larvae ( T. molitor ) were fed polyurethane foam. They degraded the polymer by 35% in 17 days, resulting in a 14% weight loss in the mealworms. Changes in the T. molitor gut bacterial community and diversity were observed, which may be due to the colonization of the species associated with PU degradation. The physical and structural biodegradation of the PU, as achieved by T. molitor , was observed and compared to the characteristics of the original PU (PU-virgin) using Fourier Transform InfraRed spectroscopy (FTIR), Thermal Gravimetric Analysis (TGA), and Scanning Electron Microphotography (SEM).

Ozone is a destructive pollutant, damaging crops, and decreasing crop yield. Therefore, there is great interest in finding strategies to alleviate ozone-induced crop losses. In plants, ozone enters leaves through the stomata and is immediately degraded into reactive oxygen species (ROS), producing ROS stress in plants. ROS stress can be controlled by ROS-scavenging systems that include enzymatic or non-enzymatic mechanisms. Our research group has developed a product from rice bran, a by-product of rice milling which has bioactive molecules that act as an antioxidant compound. This product is a water-soluble rice bran enzymatic extract (RBEE) which preserves all the properties and improves the solubility of proteins and the antioxidant components of rice bran. In previous works, the beneficial properties of RBEE have been demonstrated in animals. However, to date, RBEE has not been used as a protective agent against oxidative damage in agricultural fields. The main goal of this study was to investigate the ability of RBEE to be used as a biostimulant by preventing oxidative damage in plants, after ozone exposure. To perform this investigation, pepper plants ( Capsicum annuum ) exposed to ozone were treated with RBEE. RBEE protected the ozone-induced damage, as revealed by net photosynthetic rate and the content of photosynthetic pigments. RBEE also decreased the induction of antioxidant enzyme activities in leaves (catalase, superoxide dismutase, and ascorbate peroxidase) due to ozone exposure. ROS generation is a common consequence of diverse cellular traumas that also activate the mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) cascade. Thus, it is known that the ozone damages are triggered by the MAPK cascade. To examine the involvement of the MAPK cascade in the ozone damage CaMPK6-1 , CaMPK6-2 , and CaMKK5 genes were analyzed by qRT-PCR. The results showed the involvement of the MAPK pathway in both, not only in ozone damage but especially in its protection by RBEE. Taken together, these results support that RBEE protects plants against ozone exposure and its use as a new biostimulant could be proposed., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2021 Macias-Benitez, Navarro-Torre, Caballero, Martín, Revilla, Castaño and Parrado.)

In this manuscript we studied in the laboratory the bioremediation effects of a biostimulant obtained from okara by enzymatic hydrolysis processes in a soil polluted with used motor-car oil at a rate of 1 % (w/w) over an 89-day period. The biostimulant was added to the soil 6 times during the incubation period at a rate of 2 %. Dehydrogenase activity and the evolution of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and pseudo total heavy metals in soil were studied. The successive applications of the biostimulant to the polluted soil gradually increased PAHs degradation during the experimental period. Thus, at the end of the experiment, the application of the biostimulant decreased the concentration of naphthalene in soil by 74 %, while PAHs with 3, 4, 5 and 6 aromatic rings had been reduced by around 58 %, 44 %, 30 % and 23 %, respectively. This degradation is possibly due to the high number of low molecular weight peptides (<300 Da) in the biostimulant which are readily available for PAHs-tolerant soil microorganisms that accelerate the degradation of the said toxins. The concentration of heavy metals in the oil used was not very high and consequently the dehydrogenase activity was not negatively affected., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest All authors have contributed to the manuscript in the same way, (Copyright © 2019. Published by Elsevier B.V.)

In this work okara (OK), a by-product of soy milk manufacturing, is submitted to an enzymatic hydrolysis and a fermentative process to produce different soil biostimulants (BS): EH, hydrolysate obtained by the enzymatic process; FHEB, fermentation broth with Bacillus licheniformis and the enzymes secreted during the fermentation; FHE, fermentation broth without bacteria and FH, the FHE hydrolysate in which enzymes were denatured. Enzymatic hydrolysates showed a different chemical composition compared with fermented hydrolysates and OK. It had a higher protein concentration as well as C, P and K. The proteins of OK were converted into peptides with a lower molecular weight, the fermented hydrolysates being those with the lowest molecular weight profile. The influences of hydrolysates and OK were tested in soil, finding that β-glucosidase, phosphatase and dehydrogenase activities were stimulated by every treatment. However, it was observed that EH produced a greater stimulation of dehydrogenase and phosphatase than both OK and fermented BS. The bacterial and fungal phospholipid fatty acids were also higher in soils amended with BS than those of the control and soils with OK. It has also been found that β-glucosidase, phosphatase and microbial biomass were dose-dependent in every treatment, but dehydrogenase only was dose-dependent in EH and OK treatments.

This work presents a new bioprocess process for the extraction of bioactive components from soy pulp by-product (okara) using an enzymatic technology that was compared to a conventional water extraction. Okara is rich in fiber, fat, protein, and bioactive compounds such as isoflavones but its low solubility hampers the use in food and fertilizer industry. After the enzymatic attack with endoproteases half of the original insoluble proteins were converted into soluble peptides. Linked to this process occured the solubilization of isoflavones trapped in the insoluble protein matrix. We were able to extract up to 62.5% of the total isoflavones content, specially aglycones, the more bioactive isoflavone forms, whose values rose 9.12 times. This was probably due to the increased solubilization and interconversion from the original isoflavones. In conclusion, our process resulted in the formulation of a new functional product rich in aglycones and bioactive peptides with higher antioxidant potency than the original source. Therefore, we propose that the enzymatic extraction of okara bioactive compounds is an advantageous tool to replace conventional extraction.

In this manuscript, we study the manufacture and effect on soils of different edaphic biostimulants/biofertilizers (BS) obtained from sewage sludge using Bacillus licheniformis as biological tool. These BS consist of different combinations of organic matter, bacteria and enzymes that were subjected to several treatments. These BS were applied in soil in order to observe their influence on the biochemical properties (enzymatic activities and ergosterol content). Dehydrogenase, urease, β-glucosidase, phosphatase activities and ergosterol content were measured at different incubation days. Only dehydrogenase activity and ergosterol content were significantly stimulated after the application of BS1 and BS4. Rest of the extracellular activities were not stimulated probably because B. licheniformis practically has digested all organic substrates during fermentation process.

The quality of soil is strongly bound by several interactions between chemical and biological components, including microbial composition, which are a key importance for soil performance. Cultural activities have a huge induction on soil health, through both modification of physicochemical proprieties and changing on soil microbial communities. This usually affects the safety of soil, and then the crop production and water. In the present work, the information on bacterial community composition was determined from a set of 6 soils collected from 2 farms in agricultural land of Marrakech (Morocco), one of which used poultry manure (PM) and the other cow manure (CM) as fertilizers. To profile this structure of the bacterial community Denaturing Gradient Gel Electrophoresis (DGGE) of 16S rDNA fragments has been used. These amendments resulted in the appearance of several novel bands and different relative intensities of bands between the control station and other sites studied. The stations most affected are those receiving a supply of manure rather high, which results in an organic and bacterial load in the soil. The results showed a bacterial diversity very important indicating a fecal contamination like Bacteroides, Pseudomonas, Staphylococcus,… etc. Bacteria pertain to the phylum Firmicutes and Bacteroidetes were noted to be the dominant ribotype in amended soil. Moreover, this work demonstrates also the existence of pathogens strains in soil amended by poultry manure (PM) belonging to the Clostridiales order and Pseudomonadales. The pathogenic bacteria detected posing a hazard of human contagion when they are used for soil practice.

Rice bran is an exceptional source of such antioxidant molecules as γ-oryzanol and ferulic acid, but their bioavailability and metabolism within this matrix remain unknown. The aims of this work were to describe the oral bioavailability and metabolic pathways of the ferulic acid-derived phenolic compounds contained in a rice bran enzymatic extract (RBEE), and to determine its effect on NADPH oxidase activity. Wistar rats were administered with RBEE and sacrificed at different times over a period of 24 h to obtain plasma. An additional group was used for collection of urine and faeces over a period of 48 h. The phenolic metabolites were determined by ultra-performance liquid chromatography coupled to tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS/MS), and plasma pharmacokinetic parameters were calculated. In parallel, aortic rings were incubated in the plasma of rats sacrificed 30 min after RBEE gavage, or in the presence of RBEE, ferulic acid or γ-oryzanol. Endothelin-1-induced superoxide production was recorded by lucigenin-enhanced luminescence. Twenty-five ferulic acid metabolites showing biphasic behaviour were found in the plasma, most of which were found in the urine as well, while in the faeces, colonic metabolism led to simpler phenolic compounds. Superoxide production was abrogated by phenolic compound-enriched plasma and by RBEE and ferulic acid, thus showing the biological potential of RBEE as a nutraceutical ingredient.

Objective: Rice bran is a by-product of rice milling and is rich in bioactive molecules such as γ-oryzanol, phytosterols, and tocotrienols. The rice bran enzymatic extract (RBEE) previously showed vessel remodeling prevention and lipid-lowering, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and antiapoptotic activities. The aim of this study was to identify RBEE hypolipidemic mechanisms and to study the effects of RBEE on the progression of atherosclerosis disease and linked vascular dysfunction and liver steatosis in apolipoprotein E-knockout (ApoE-/-) mice fed low- or high-fat (LFD, HFD, respectively) and cholesterol diets., Methods: ApoE-/- mice were fed LFD (13% kcal) or HFD (42% kcal) supplemented or not supplemented with 1 or 5% RBEE (w/w) for 23 wk. Then, serum, aorta, liver, and feces were collected and flash frozen for further analysis., Results: RBEE supplementation of HFD improved serum values by augmenting high-density lipoprotein cholesterol and preventing total cholesterol and aspartate aminotransferase increase. 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-coenzyme A (HMG-CoA) reductase activity was attenuated (1 and 5% RBEE) and cholesterol excretion increased (5% RBEE). Diet supplementation with 5% RBEE reduced plaque development regardless of the diet. In HFD-fed mice, both doses of RBEE reduced lipid deposition and macrophage infiltration in the aortic sinus and downregulated intercellular adhesion molecule-1 and vascular cell adhesion molecule-1 expression. None of these effects was observed in mice fed LFD. Liver steatosis was reduced by RBEE supplementation of LFD (1% RBEE) and HFD (1 and 5% RBEE) and nuclear peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-α expression upregulated in the HDF 5% RBEE group., Conclusion: Regular consumption of RBEE-supplemented HFD reduced plaque development and liver steatosis by decreasing inflammation and hyperlipidemia through an HMG-CoA reductase activity and lipid excretion-related mechanism., (Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

The effect of adding an enzymatic hydrolysate of grape seeds (EH-GS) during Syrah wine fermentation in a warm climate has been evaluated. We focused on the polyphenolic composition as well as the application of differential and tristimulus colorimetry to colour data. This is the first attempt at using this oenological alternative to avoid common colour losses of red wines elaborated in a warm climate. The addition of 250g (simple dose, SW) of EH-GS to 120kg of fermentation material promoted a significant (p<0.05) increase in the polyphenolic content of stored wines, especially in benzoic acid, hydroxycinnamic acid derivative, flavonol and anthocyanin levels. This increase could promote a higher copigmentation percentage and maximum colour stabilization (C(∗)ab) without significantly changing the wine tonality. Unexpectedly, the use of a double quantity (DW) of EH-GS resulted in significantly less chroma than for control wines (CW), demonstrating visually perceptible colour changes (ΔE(∗)ab>3 CIELAB units)., (Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

We studied in the laboratory the bioremediation effects over a 100-day period of three edaphic biostimulants (BS) obtained from sewage sludge (SS) and from two different types of chicken feathers (CF1 and CF2), in a soil polluted with three polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) (phenanthrene, Phe; pyrene, Py; and benzo(a)pyrene, BaP), at a concentration of 100 mg kg(-1) soil. We determined their effects on enzymatic activities and on soil microbial community. Those BS with larger amounts of proteins and a higher proportion of peptides (<300 daltons), exerted a greater stimulation on the soil biochemical properties and microbial community, possibly because low molecular weight proteins can be easily assimilated by soil microorganisms. The soil dehydrogenase, urease, β-glucosidase and phosphatase activities and microbial community decreased in PAH-polluted soil. This decrease was more pronounced in soils contaminated with BaP than with Py and Phe. The application of the BS to PAH-polluted soils decreased the inhibition of the soil biological properties, principally at 7 days into the experiment. This decrease was more pronounced in soils contaminated with BaP than with Py and Phe and was higher in polluted soils amended with CF2, followed by SS and CF1, respectively., (Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)