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The pollination process is one of the most important contributors to a successful date production since the yield and quality of the fruit depends on its correct successful. Liquid pollination in the date palm production is a recently used technique that seeks to obtain acceptable fruit set percentages (FSP) with lower pollen consumption. In this study, during the 2021 and 2022 growing seasons, the effect of pollination with pollen grains in liquid suspension on the FSP in the date palm cultivar ‘Mejhoul’ was evaluated in the Mexicali Valley, Mexico. The applications were in various proportions of pollen in liquid suspension (1, 2, 3 and 4 g/L), with approximately 40 mL on each inflorescence. The results revealed that the best treatment was 4 g/L with an average FSP of 67.89 and 68.69% for the years 2021 and 2022 respectively, while the control treatment obtained 54.94 and 57.75%, for the same years. Likewise, this method did not affect the physical and chemical properties and yields. Finally, this study suggests that in addition to consuming a smaller amount of pollen, this method has better pollination efficiency.

Description of the subject. Date (Phoenix dactylifera L.) seed waste, from the date industry in Mexico, is an attractive source of biomass for bioenergy due to its renewability, availability, and not being otherwise usable. Objectives. In this research project, we calculated and determined the amount of biofuel that could potentially be used from the thermal energy recovery of raw date seed (RDS) and processed date seed (PDS) through oil extraction. Method. The physicochemical composition and thermal behavior of RDS and PDS was determined to evaluate their usefulness for thermal energy production. Proximate and thermogravimetric analyses, Scanning Electron Microscope imaging, and different fuel properties such as Higher Heating Value (HHV), bulk, and energetic density and Fuel Value Index (FVI), were determined. Furthermore, the potential energy production from seed waste of the Mexican date industry was estimated. Results. The RDS presented better HHV 19.33 MJ·kg-1 and energetic density 14.42 MJ·m-3, however, PDS has lower moisture 5.12% and ash content 5.89%. The FVI of PDS is more favorable than RDS, 363.81 and 208.43 respectively. Conclusions. The potential energy production from date seeds produced in Mexico in 2018 was calculated RDS 10.17 TJ, PDS 8.04 TJ and Biodiesel 2.01 TJ and with a tendency to increase every year.

The transcriptomic response of the head kidney, the main lymphohematopoietic tissue of the body, was evaluated in Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) smolts fed a functional feed containing a phytogenic rich in verbascoside and triterpenic compounds like ursolic acid. Fish (initial body weight = 55.0 ± 0.1 g) were fed two experimental diets (40% crude protein, 22% crude fat; 21.6 MJ/kg gross energy) that only differed in the phytogenic content (0.1% inclusion). Each diet has six replicates and was tested over a period of 133 days. The tested zootechnical feed additive a medicinal plant leaf extract (MPLE) obtained from sage (Salvia officinalis) and lemon verbena (Lippia citriodora). At the end of the trial, smolts fed the MPLE diet were heavier than their congeners from the control group (271.5 ± 7.9 g vs. 240.2 ± 19.3 g, respectively; P < 0.05). Feed conversion ratio (FCR) values in fish fed the control diet were higher than those in fish fed the MPLE diet (FCRcontrol diet = 1.27 ± 0.08 vs. FCR0.1% MPLE diet = 1.08 ± 0.05; P < 0.05). The immunomodulatory properties of the functional diet were evaluated by means of an in vivo challenge with Aeromonas salmonicida subsp. salmonicida (1 × 107 CFU mL–1). The microarray analysis of head kidney samples from both dietary groups revealed 1,178 differentially expressed genes (802 upregulated and 376 downregulated). Among them, several biological processes related to immunity were identified in fish fed the MPLE diet (i.e., interferon-gamma-mediated signaling pathway, antigen processing and presentation of peptide antigen via MHC class II, autophagy, regulation of i-kappaB kinase/NF-kappaB signaling, and leukocyte activation). Results from the bacterial challenge showed that survival rates were higher in smolts from the MPLE group (90.6 ± 6.4%) in comparison to the control group (60.7 ± 13.5%), confirming the functional benefits of the phytogenic in terms of host’s immunity and disease resistance. Biological processes such as cytoskeleton organization and regulation of cellular protein metabolic process detected in fish fed the MPLE diet supported the metabolic changes related to increased somatic growth promoted. The present findings showed that the inclusion at 0.1% of the tested MPLE obtained from sage and lemon verbena in diets for Atlantic salmon smolts promoted somatic growth, and enhanced their systemic immune response and reduced mortality when fish were challenged with A. salmonicida cumulative, the causative agent of furunculosis in salmonids.

In the present study, the modulation of the transcriptional immune response (microarray analysis) in the head kidney (HK) of the anadromous fish Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) fed a diet supplemented with an olive fruit extract (AQUOLIVE®) was evaluated. At the end of the trial (133 days), in order to investigate the immunomodulatory properties of the phytogenic tested against a bacterial infection, an in vivo challenge with Aeromonas salmonicida was performed. A total number of 1,027 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) (805 up- and 222 downregulated) were found when comparing the transcriptomic profiling of the HK from fish fed the control and AQUOLIVE® diets. The HK transcripteractome revealed an expression profile that mainly favored biological processes related to immunity. Particularly, the signaling of i-kappa B kinase/NF-kappa and the activation of leukocytes, such as granulocytes and neutrophils degranulation, were suggested to be the primary actors of the innate immune response promoted by the tested functional feed additive in the HK. Moreover, the bacterial challenge with A. salmonicida that lasted 12 days showed that the cumulative survival was higher in fish fed the AQUOLIVE® diet (96.9 ± 6.4%) than the control group (60.7 ± 13.5%). These results indicate that the dietary supplementation of AQUOLIVE® at the level of 0.15% enhanced the systemic immune response and reduced the A. salmonicida cumulative mortality in Atlantic salmon smolts.

The aim of this study was the evaluation of date palm (Phoenix dactylifera L.) pollen production during the 2021 and 2022 seasons in the Mexicali Valley, Mexico. Twelve seed-propagated male palms of 20 years of age and similar vigor were selected and grouped into four groups with phenotypic characteristics of the common female cultivars in the area (Medjool, Deglet Noor, Khadrawy, and Zahidi). The pollen was extracted manually, with average production among all individuals of 780.94 and 777.11 g, in 26 and 24 inflorescences, respectively, for each year. Likewise, the flowering period on average was 47 and 41 days for each year. The pollen extracted from the earliest four inflorescences averaged 38.7 and 32.55 g, while that of the latest one produced 10.70 g and 18.28 g for each year, respectively. Seedling male palms with a phenotype similar to the Deglet Noor cultivar produced the greatest amount of pollen with 1250.98 and 1114.26 g on average for each year, produced during a late, short flowering period. Likewise, those palms with phenotypes similar to the Medjool cultivar produced the second-highest amount of pollen with 851.28 and 866.43 g on average for each year, produced during an early, long flowering period. Finally, an in vivo viability test through the fruit set percentage, revealed that the use of any of these four pollen sources would be suitable for the pollination of the recipient female cultivar Medjool, the most widely cultivated variety in Mexico. These results will allow date producers to select and propagate better pollen-producing male palms.

Nowadays, harvesting, sorting, and packaging fruit and vegetables are still done manually, despite the hard work this represents. The features that experts commonly use to sorting the date palm fruit are size, color, shape, and texture. Recently, it has started to design and develop artificial vision systems that consider the criteria of size, color, shape, and texture to automate these processes. However, the development of these systems is complex due to the lack of labeled datasets that facilitate the creation of models to locate, recognize and classify palm date fruit. This dataset is entitled Medjool, an image dataset of different sizes and maturity levels of Medjool dates. Researchers may use this data to develop a model for automatic location, recognition, classification, and visual counting of the Medjool dates on trays taking into account their visual features such as shape, color, size, and texture. This dataset was collected from the first-round harvest at Palmeras RQ Ranch in Mexicali, Mexico. Images acquisition was performed in natural light. The dataset comprises 2,576 annotated images in two formats, YOLO and PascalVOC format.

The inclusion of a medicinal plant leaf extract (MPLE) from sage (Salvia officinalis) and lemon verbena (Lippia citriodora), rich in verbascoside and triterpenic compounds like ursolic acid, was evaluated in gilthead seabream (Sparus aurata) fed a low fishmeal-based diet (48% crude protein, 17% crude fat, 21.7 MJ kg-1, 7% fishmeal, 15% fish oil) for 92 days. In particular, the study focused on the effect of these phytogenic compounds on the gut condition by analyzing the transcriptomic profiling (microarray analysis) and histological structure of the intestinal mucosa, as well as the histochemical properties of mucins stored in goblet cells. A total number of 506 differentially expressed genes (285 up- and 221 down-regulated) were found when comparing the transcriptomic profiling of the intestine from fish fed the control and MPLE diets. The gut transcripteractome revealed an expression profile that favored biological mechanisms associated to the 1) immune system, particularly involving T cell activation and differentiation, 2) gut integrity (i.e., adherens and tight junctions) and cellular proliferation, and 3) cellular proteolytic pathways. The histological analysis showed that the MPLE dietary supplementation promoted an increase in the number of intestinal goblet cells and modified the composition of mucins’ glycoproteins stored in goblet cells, with an increase in the staining intensity of neutral mucins, as well as in mucins rich in carboxylated and weakly sulfated glycoconjugates, particularly those rich in sialic acid residues. The integration of transcriptomic and histological results showed that the evaluated MPLE from sage and lemon verbena is responsible for the maintenance of intestinal health, supporting gut homeostasis and increasing the integrity of the intestinal epithelium, which suggests that this phytogenic may be considered as a promising sustainable functional additive for aquafeeds.

One of the main targets for the use of phytogenics in aquafeeds is the mucosal tissues as they constitute a physical and biochemical shield against environmental and pathogenic threats, comprising elements from both the innate and acquired immunity. In the present study, the modulation of the skin transcriptional immune response, the bacterial growth capacity in skin mucus, and the overall health condition of gilthead seabream (Sparus aurata) juveniles fed a dietary supplementation of garlic essential oil, carvacrol, and thymol were assessed. The enrichment analysis of the skin transcriptional profile of fish fed the phytogenic-supplemented diet revealed the regulation of genes associated to cellular components involved in the secretory pathway, suggesting the stimulation, and recruitment of phagocytic cells. Genes recognized by their involvement in non-specific immune response were also identified in the analysis. The promotion of the secretion of non-specific immune molecules into the skin mucus was proposed to be involved in the in vitro decreased growth capacity of pathogenic bacteria in the mucus of fish fed the phytogenic-supplemented diet. Although the mucus antioxidant capacity was not affected by the phytogenics supplementation, the regulation of genes coding for oxidative stress enzymes suggested the reduction of the skin oxidative stress. Additionally, the decreased levels of cortisol in mucus indicated a reduction in the fish allostatic load due to the properties of the tested additive. Altogether, the dietary garlic, carvacrol, and thymol appear to promote the gilthead seabream skin innate immunity and the mucus protective capacity, decreasing its susceptibility to be colonized by pathogenic bacteria.

Essential oils (EOs) are promising alternatives to chemotherapeutics in animal production due to their immunostimulant, antimicrobial, and antioxidant properties, without associated environmental or hazardous side effects. In the present study, the modulation of the transcriptional immune response (microarray analysis) and microbiota [16S Ribosomal RNA (rRNA) sequencing] in the intestine of the euryhaline fish gilthead seabream (Sparus aurata) fed a dietary supplementation of garlic, carvacrol, and thymol EOs was evaluated. The transcriptomic functional analysis showed the regulation of genes related to processes of proteolysis and inflammatory modulation, immunity, transport and secretion, response to cyclic compounds, symbiosis, and RNA metabolism in fish fed the EOs-supplemented diet. Particularly, the activation of leukocytes, such as acidophilic granulocytes, was suggested to be the primary actors of the innate immune response promoted by the tested functional feed additive in the gut. Fish growth performance and gut microbiota alpha diversity indices were not affected, while dietary EOs promoted alterations in bacterial abundances in terms of phylum, class, and genus. Subtle, but significant alterations in microbiota composition, such as the decrease in Bacteroidia and Clostridia classes, were suggested to participate in the modulation of the intestine transcriptional immune profile observed in fish fed the EOs diet. Moreover, regarding microbiota functionality, increased bacterial sequences associated with glutathione and lipid metabolisms, among others, detected in fish fed the EOs supported the metabolic alterations suggested to potentially affect the observed immune-related transcriptional response. The overall results indicated that the tested dietary EOs may promote intestinal local immunity through the impact of the EOs on the host-microbial co-metabolism and consequent regulation of significant biological processes, evidencing the crosstalk between gut and microbiota in the inflammatory regulation upon administration of immunostimulant feed additives.

The aim of this study was the characterization of fatty acids, antioxidant activity, some physical properties, nutrient content, sugars, and minerals in the pulp and seeds of the date cultivar ‘Medjool’ (Phoenix dactylifera L.) grown in Mexico. The samples were obtained at maturity (Tamar) in the 2017 harvest season in the valleys of San Luis Rio Colorado and Mexicali, Mexico. The following average values were obtained on a % dry weight basis for pulp and seeds, respectively: protein, 3.14% and 4.84%; lipids, 0.75% and 9.94%; fiber, 6.34% and 66.79%; total sugars, 75.32% and 5.88%; reducing sugars, 70.26% and 4.40%; and sucrose, 5.06% and 1.46%. Analysis of the minerals revealed that the most abundant elements for the pulp were: potassium, 851.98 mg/100 g; magnesium, 142.97 mg/100 g; and phosphorus, 139.40 mg/100 g, whereas for the seeds, they were potassium, 413.36 mg/100 g; sulfur, 151.36 mg/100 g; and phosphorus, 92.42 mg/100 g. Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry analysis revealed that the major unsaturated fatty acid was oleic acid, at 52.34% and 45.92%, respectively, for pulp and seeds. The main saturated fatty acids were palmitic acid (6.75%) and lauric acid (17.24%) in pulp and seeds, respectively. The total phenolic content was 1.16 and 13.73 mg GAE/100 g for pulp and seeds, respectively. Finally, the antioxidant activities were: b-carotene, 65.50% and 47.75%; DPPH, 0.079 IC50 g/L and 0.0046 IC50 g/L; and ABTS, 13.72 IC50 g/L and 0.238 IC50 g/L, respectively. The results obtained in this study confirm that the ‘Medjool’ cultivar grown in Mexico has the same quality of nutrients and antioxidants as those grown in the other main date-producing countries.

The effects of porcine plasma protein hydrolysate (PPH) on growth, feed efficiency, and immune responses was evaluated in Sparus aurata. Fish were fed two isoproteic (48% protein), isolipidic (17% fat), and isoenergetic diets (21.7 MJ/kg) diets, one of them containing 5% PPH at the expense of fishmeal. Both diets were tested for 92 days. A significant increase in growth was observed in fish fed the PPH diet in comparison to the control group (182.2 ± 4.4 vs. 173.8 ± 4.1 g), as well as an increase in feed intake without worsening FCR values. An ex vivo assay, with splenocytes incubated with lipopolysaccharide, was conducted to evaluate the cellular immune competence of fish. Genes involved in humoral immunity (lys, IgM), pro- (tnf-α, il-1β), and anti-inflammatory (tgf-β1, il10) cytokines were upregulated in the PPH group in comparison to the control group. The inclusion of PPH in diets enhanced the antibacterial capacity of skin mucus, as the co-culture of selected bacteria (E. coli, V. anguillarum, and P. anguilliseptica) with skin mucus indicated. The present results showed that the PPH in low fishmeal diets (2%) promoted growth and feed efficiency, as well as enhancing the immune response, which indicates that this is a safe and functional ingredient for aquafeeds.

Date palm pollen (DPP) plays a very important role in the fertilization process, since its viability and the pollination method influence on the quality, development, and yield of the fruit. In the present study, a broad review of its main characteristics, consumption, and DPP production are presented, as well as a description of its extraction methods and viability tests. The evolution of the pollination methods used in the date palm is also presented, from its natural pollination to the use of specialized mechanical and electrical devices, as well as the use of dry DPP and the current trend towards the use of DPP in liquid suspension. Likewise, the efficiency of the methods of natural pollination (wind); traditional (strands placement); dusting hand; dusting with manual, mechanical, or electric pollinator; and liquid pollination were evaluated from the fruit set percentage (FSP). Finally, starting from a scientometric analysis, the pollination methods were widely discussed, concluding that the dusting spraying of pollen suspension with liquid DPP is the pollination method that commonly presents the highest FSP, followed by dusting dry DPP with a motorized pollinator.

Convolutional neural networks (CNNs) have proven their efficiency in various applications in agriculture. In crops such as date, they have been mainly used in the identification and sorting of ripe fruits. The aim of this study was the performance evaluation of eight different CNNs, considering transfer learning for their training, as well as five hyperparameters. The CNN architectures evaluated were VGG-16, VGG-19, ResNet-50, ResNet-101, ResNet-152, AlexNet, Inception V3, and CNN from scratch. Likewise, the hyperparameters analyzed were the number of layers, the number of epochs, the batch size, optimizer, and learning rate. The accuracy and processing time were considered to determine the performance of CNN architectures, in the classification of mature dates’ cultivar Medjool. The model obtained from VGG-19 architecture with a batch of 128 and Adam optimizer with a learning rate of 0.01 presented the best performance with an accuracy of 99.32%. We concluded that the VGG-19 model can be used to build computer vision systems that help producers improve their sorting process to detect the Tamar stage of a Medjool date.

A nutritional study was conducted to evaluate the inclusion of the green microalga Scenedesmus sp. at 5% (SCE-5) as an alternative fishmeal ingredient. This microalga was tested with four replicates during 45 days using isolipidic (18%), isoproteic (48%), and isoenergetic (1.9 MJ kg−1) diets. Fish fed Scenedesmus sp. showed similar growth and feed efficiency parameters as the control group. Regarding the digestive function, the SCE-5 diet enhanced the activity of alkaline pancreatic proteases, whereas it did not affect that of intestinal enzymes involved in nutrient absorption. No histological alterations were found in fish fed the SCE-5 diet, although a higher density of goblet cells in the anterior intestine and changes in gut microbiome diversity were found in this group, which collectively suggests positive effects of this green microalga on the intestine. Dietary Scenedesmus sp. improved the fillet’s nutritional quality in terms of n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) levels, although it also increased its yellowish color. The overall results of this study showed that Scenedesmus sp. is a safe ingredient for compound feeds in rainbow trout when considering fish growth performance, animal condition, and health parameters, although it substantially affected the color of the fillet that may potentially affect consumers’ preferences.

The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of pollen source on the nutritional composition of seeds of the ‘Medjool’ date (Phoenix dactylifera L.) under conditions of northwest Mexico. The content of nutrients (protein, lipids, fiber, and ash), sugars (total, reducing, and non-reducing), and most abundant minerals, were evaluated, as well as antioxidant activities. The pollen of four cultivars (‘Deglet Noor’, ‘Khadrawy’, ‘Medjool’, and ‘Zahidi’) was selected. Four groups of three bunches were pollinated in each of the female palms. For the four treatments, the following ranges were obtained: Seeds had a weight of 1.32−1.41 g and low concentrations of protein (4.44−5.49 g/100 g) and lipids (9.62−10.19 g/100 g). The content of dietary fiber and ash was 59.65−72.59 g/100 g and 1.09−1.42 g/100 g, respectively. Total sugars content was 4.50−6.96 g/100 g, while the insoluble solids were 92.21−96.03 g/100 g. The predominant mineral was potassium with 399.97−459.79 mg/100 g dry weight, followed by sulfur with 135.51−162.67 mg/100 g dry weight. Finally, for antioxidant activities, DPPH (2,2′-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl) and ABTS (2,2′-azino-bis(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid)) assay results were 0.0014−0.0094 IC50 g/L and 0.176−0.299 IC50 g/L, respectively. The pollen sources had an effect on the physicochemical properties of the seeds of the ‘Medjool’ cultivar date. However, some of the parameters (diameter, total acidity, pH) did not show statistically significant differences. The pollen sources from the ‘Khadrawy’ and ‘Medjool’ cultivars were the ones that induced differences in physical, proximate, and nutritional parameters, while pollen from the ‘Zahidi’ source induced the largest differences for minerals. The results suggest that selection of the source of pollen has a significant effect on the nutritional properties of the date seed from the cultivar ‘Medjool’, and that its use could be feasible as a functional food or by-product of the date production.

The Date palm (Phoenix dactilifera L.) was introduced to Mexico during the Spanish colonization, but its commercial production did not develop until the second half of the past century. A literature and field research, including a trip to the oases missions and main commercial production areas, allowed us to identify the actual status for this crop in Mexico. While the date culture in the old oases is fading, in the commercial production zones it is in active development. San Luis Rio Colorado and Mexicali Valley region, comprise 97% of the commercial crop production area of the country. The main cultivar is Medjool with 94% of the growing area; actual yields are around 7.9 ton/ha. Ongoing government support and motivated growers training will lead to the application of better crop practices. It is expected to increase yields around 10 ton/ha in the next 5 years. Commercial date production is focused on exports, the internal market is growing, as well as the transformation of the product. Knowledge of the actual trends of the crop will allow to understand their historic importance and its future potential as a commodity and food. Production practices, competitive advantages and research results are presented.

Hypoplasia and ovarian cysts are the most common ovarian pathologies in cattle. In this genome-wide study we analyzed the signal intensity of 648,315 Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms (SNPs) and identified 1338 genes differentiating cows with ovarian pathologies from healthy cows. The sample consisted of six cows presenting an ovarian pathology and six healthy cows. SNP signal intensities were measured with a genotyping process using the Axiom Genome-Wide BOS 1 SNPchip. Statistical tests for equality of variance and mean were applied to SNP intensities, and significance p-values were obtained. A Benjamini-Hochberg multiple testing correction reveled significant SNPs. Corresponding genes were identified using the Bovine Genome UMD 3.1 annotation. Principal Components Analysis (PCA) confirmed differentiation. An analysis of Copy Number Variations (CNVs), obtained from signal intensities, revealed no evidence of association between ovarian pathologies and CNVs. In addition, a haplotype frequency analysis showed no association with ovarian pathologies. Results show that SNP signal intensity, which captures not only information for base-pair genotypes elucidation, but the amount of fluorescence nucleotide synthetization produced in an enzymatic reaction, is a rich source of information that, by itself or in combination with base-pair genotypes, might be used to implement differentiation, prediction and diagnostic procedures, increasing the scope of applications for Genotyping Microarrays.

Recently, for copy number variation (CNV) analysis, bovine researchers have focused mainly on the use of genome-wide SNP genotyping arrays. One of the highest densities commercially available SNPchips for cattle is the Affymetrix axiom genome-wide Bos 1, which assays 648,315 informative SNPs across the whole bovine genome. Here, we describe the microarray data, quality controls and validation implemented in a study published in Genetics and Molecular Research Journal in 2015 [1]. The microarray raw data has been deposited into Gene Expression Omnibus under accession #GSE54813. Keywords: Holstein cattle, Copy number variation, SNP, Axiom genome-wide Bos 1 array, Bioinformatics, PennCNV

Genomic structural variations represent an important source of genetic variation in mammal genomes, thus, they are commonly related to phenotypic expressions. In this work, ∼ 770,000 single nucleotide polymorphism genotypes from 506 animals from 19 cattle breeds were analyzed. A simple LD-based structural variation was defined, and a genome-wide analysis was performed. After applying some quality control filters, for each breed and each chromosome we calculated the linkage disequilibrium (r2) of short range (≤ 100 Kb). We sorted SNP pairs by distance and obtained a set of LD means (called the expected means) using bins of 5 Kb. We identified 15,246 segments of at least 1 Kb, among the 19 breeds, consisting of sets of at least 3 adjacent SNPs so that, for each SNP, r2 within its neighbors in a 100 Kb range, to the right side of that SNP, were all bigger than, or all smaller than, the corresponding expected mean, and their P-value were significant after a Benjamini-Hochberg multiple testing correction. In addition, to account just for homogeneously distributed regions we considered only SNPs having at least 15 SNP neighbors within 100 Kb. We defined such segments as structural variations. By grouping all variations across all animals in the sample we defined 9,146 regions, involving a total of 53,137 SNPs; representing the 6.40% (160.98 Mb) from the bovine genome. The identified structural variations covered 3,109 genes. Clustering analysis showed the relatedness of breeds given the geographic region in which they are evolving. In summary, we present an analysis of structural variations based on the deviation of the expected short range LD between SNPs in the bovine genome. With an intuitive and simple definition based only on SNPs data it was possible to discern closeness of breeds due to grouping by geographic region in which they are evolving.