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Sebkhat Soliman included in the Ramsar Convention is a wetland of international importance. This area is of great ecological interest considering the quality and the richness of the flora and the diversity of the avifauna. This site receives a large amount of water through the EL Bey River. In order to assess the levels of contamination, concentrations of six heavy metals, including Cr, Cu, Pb, Ni, Mn, and Zn, were examined in 25 surface sediment samples from El Bey Wadi. These concentrations, which were expressed in mg/kg of dry weight, showed that Pb ranged from 5.52 to 41.66, Zn from 26.94 to 1471.89, Cu from 91.97 to 260.05, Ni from 9.35 to 140.45, Cr from 25. It's important to note that the highest metal concentrations have been found in site 5 which is frequently exposed to local industrial pollutant sources and in sites that are frequently inundated by river water that is carrying away industrial waste from the cities of Grombalia and Bou-Argoub. The mean EF values for Cu, Mn and Ni were between 3 and 5 in the sediments of the El Bey River, suggesting moderate enrichment, while the mean EF values for Pb, Zn and Cr indicating respectively moderate to severe enrichment and very severe enrichment. CF values for Cr, Cu and Zn were > 6 in sediments taken from the fifth site, which denotes a very high contamination by these metals. At site 5, PLI value (4.09), reflecting that its sediment is heavily polluted. Hierarchical cluster analysis-based complementary statistical methods have demonstrated that Mn is lithogenic and other analyzed metals are anthropogenic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) is a staple food widely consumed in Tunisia and represents a source of various secondary metabolites with human health benefits. However, cold storage of potato tuber affects their bioactive properties and functional quality. Despite the importance of this fact, few studies have examined the effects of extended cold storage on potato tubers quality. Therefore, the objective of the present work was to evaluate the effect of cold storage on the main quality traits of different potato genotypes grown in Tunisia. This investigation focused on four cultivated potato varieties including three commercial (Selena, Elbeidha, and Naima) and a selected clone CL27 grown under late cropping season conditions with planting at the beginning of autumn and a winter tuberization. The tubers from this trial were stored for 90 days at 8°C. The results obtained showed that quality traits of potato tubers were strongly influenced by storage at 8°C throughout 90 days. Additionally, disregarding the genotype, total carotenoids, phenolics, and flavonoids contents increased significantly following 90 days storage at 8°C. However, genotypic differences underlying the antioxidant activity in both hydrophilic and lipophilic fractions were detected suggesting their sensibility to cold storage. This study might be useful for breeders working on potato genotypes suitable for extended storage duration and for growers storing their material for extended period under low temperature. Core Ideas: The effect of storage varies according to the considered genotype.Stored tubers at 8°C for 90 days exhibited higher nutritional quality with respect to fresh samples.Appropriate storage can contribute to maintain high‐quality potato tubers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) is a staple food widely consumed in Tunisia and a source of nutrients beneficial for human health. The tubers are, indeed, important source of vitamins, minerals, and bioactive compounds, including carotenoids, polyphenols, and flavonoids. However, data regarding the functional quality of potato varieties grown and consumed in Tunisia are very scarce. For this reason, two field trials were conducted to focus on the effect of the growing season on the functional quality of four potato genotypes (Selena, El Beidha, Naima, and CL07F172.5): a first autumnal trial in Teboulba, Monastir (September 2015–February 2016), which is the late cropping season (LCS) and a second summer cropping season (SCS) in El ksour, El Kef region at an altitude > 1000 m (July 2015–October 2015). Total carotenoids, total phenolics, and flavonoids contents, as well as the hydrophilic radical scavenging activity and lipophilic radical scavenging activity (LRSA) were determined. The obtained results confirmed the importance of potato tubers as a source of bioactive compounds. All quality traits varied significantly among varieties and cropping seasons. Tubers grown under colder weather conditions (LCS: minimum and maximum averages temperatures and relative humidity (RH) ranging between 14.25 and 22.55°C and 25.46% and 83.07%, respectively) accumulated the highest total vitamin C content and exhibited the highest LRSA values. However, temperature and warmer growing conditions (SCS: minimum and maximum averages temperatures and RH ranging between 19.74 and 34.22°C and 35.46% and 87.51%, respectively) probably enhanced the synthesis and accumulation of total carotenoids, total phenolics, and total flavonoids, associated with higher LRSA values. Core Ideas: The development of a new summer cropping season in Tunisia is examined.The production and quality traits are similar to other potato cropping season.Highland potato production is promising and contributes to fill the existing gap. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]