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Fruit ripening is accompanied by a progressive increase in oxidative stress that is controlled by a related induction of the antioxidant free radical scavenging system. Dysfunctioning of such system in the later stages of ripening causes an increase of oxidation, that is the second most important factor of fruit decay besides microbial contamination. Production of fruits that preserve high antioxidant metabolites levels, could represent a way to delay fruit senescence and to preserve nutritional and nutraceutical characteristics, significantly saving fruits and costs. The study aims determine the level of antioxidant metabolites (vitamin C, glutathione, tocopherols, polyphenols) and enzymes (peroxidases and polyphenoloxidases) involved in the antioxidant system, in fruits of sweet cherry germoplasm of Campania region. Such data could be used to improve quality and shelf-life of fruits in sweet cherry crop breeding programmes as well as to valorise landraces in more sustainable farming practices. Freshly harvested ripened fruits from over 40 landraces, cultivated in “Improsta Farm” of Campania Region, were used for the analyses. Multivariate analysis applied to the overall landrace data set evidenced 4 clusters: cluster 1 contained the highest vitamin C, vitamin E and polyphenol contents; cluster 2 contained the lowest contents of such metabolites, cluster 3 showed the highest polyphenoloxidase activities; cluster 4, enclosing the most of landraces, did not differed significantly also from some commercial cultivars. the fruits of landraces of cluster 1, could have a lower oxidative damage risk and, therefore, a delayed senescence. On the other hand they could affect consumers and local farmers because of the higher content of such healthy anti-aging compounds.

The study of stress-related genes is critical to understand the molecular mechanisms of stress tolerance in plants. Several studies have demonstrated the important role of asparagine synthetase, glutamate decarboxylase and Δ1 -pyrroline-5-carboxylate synthase genes signalling in response to environmental stresses. In order to investigate the expression changes of these genes in durum wheat under salinity and high light, a semi-quantitative RT-PCR analysis was performed. High light increased the gene expression level of TdAsn1 alone (2.6 fold) and in combination with salinity (2 fold) in comparison with the control at low light. The isoforms TdAsn2 was expressed at low levels compared to TdAsn1 and the transcript was present only in leaves in control conditions or simultaneous stresses . A trend similar to that of TdAsn1 was observed for P5CS expression. On the contrary, GAD expression was decreased by salinity and high light (1.1 and 1.5-fold, respectively) and even more under the two combined stresses (3.7 fold) compared to control. The expression levels were compared to the respective enzymatic activities. Our expression data confirmed the pivotal role of the studied genes in the response to abiotic stresses in durum wheat.

Fresh fruits are living organs that continue their metabolism even after harvest. The advanced stages of ripening culminate into the senescence process, that eventually leads to the death of fruit. Several works highlight the importance of antioxidant metabolism in relation to the fruit quality and shelf-life: fruit ripening is accompanied by a progressive increase in oxidative stress that is controlled by a related induction of the antioxidant scavenging systems. Dysfunctioning of such systems in the later stages of ripening causes an increase of oxidation, that is among the most important factors of fruit decay, favouring also parasite attack and development. High antioxidant metabolite levels, in fact, could delay senescence and preserve nutritional and nutraceutical characteristics, significantly reducing fruit loss and cost. Sweet cherries fruits are excellent sources of phytochemicals: nutraceuticals and antioxidants. It has been demonstrated that the eating of cherries reduces the risk of cancer and the joint pains, and protects from cardiovascular and neurodegenerative diseases. The aim of this work was to characterize glutathione-ascorbate cycle as well as lipid peroxidation in mature fruits of the sweet cherry germoplasm of Campania region and their involvment in post harvest storage. Fruits from cherry landraces of Campania region were collected at commercial maturity and used for the analyses. Glutathione as ascorbate contents differed among the landraces as welle as glutathione reductase. Differences were also found in the lipid peroxidation activities using the MDA test. . the data of glutathione level and redox state and gluthione peroxidase, ascorbate level and redox state as ascorbate peroxidase activities, tocophrols and polyphenols, two groups of landraces have been evidenced. The first showed high polyphenol oxidases activities, that could indicate a higher risk of developing oxidative stress and, consequently, a higher susceptibility to the oxidative degradation during shelf-life. The second showed high ascorbic acid and tocopherols contents, and low polyphenol oxidase activities. The high metabolites concentration could reduce the risk of oxidative damages during storage, therefore they could show a longer shelf-life than the other tested fruits. These characteristics were probably due to endogenous characteristics, making these landraces particularly interesting for breeding programs aimed to improve sweet cherry shelflife, highlighting also the value of genetic heritage of sweet cherry of Campania region.

In this work hydrogen and methane production from buffalo manure has been scrutinized, by means of the anaerobic dark fermentation process and different process conditions. Animal manure characteristics are largely variable during different periods of the year because of the unavoidable changes in animal food supply and digestion apparatus of buffalo. A very significant variability was observed for water buffaloes manure, collected from the same supplier. This implies also a large variability in biogas production by anaerobic fermentation of such substrates. To overcome this variability, we mixed fresh with digested manure. This procedure is consolidated as regard methane production. We also investigated a similar strategy to optimize and stabilize H2 yield. We were able to find optimal process conditions for hydrogen and methane production with this type of substrate. The experiments have been run in batch mode. The products of fermentation, H2, CO2 and CH4, have been measured with a micro-gas chromatograph. Moreover the potential production of H2 has been maximized by thermally pre-treating the substrate and using a process temperature of the fermenter equal to 55 °C and an initial pH value of 5.5, while very high levels of potential production of CH4 have been obtained at 37 °C and with an initial pH of 7.0. The effect of different strategies has also been analyzed to highlight the different microbial community present in the substrate using the denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE). This investigation has been carried out with the aim at isolating and selecting of natural bacterial species to use as inoculum to improve and stabilize the fermentation process of buffalo manure. More results concerning the microbial communities present in the substrate and responsible for biogas production are presented in a companion paper. Here we only list the main types of bacteria identified in the manure. In this work hydrogen and methane production from buffalo manure has been scrutinized, by means of the anaerobic dark fermentation process and different process conditions. Animal manure characteristics are largely variable during different periods of the year because of the unavoidable changes in animal food supply and digestion apparatus of buffalo. A very significant variability was observed for water buffaloes manure, collected from the same supplier. This implies also a large variability in biogas production by anaerobic fermentation of such substrates. To overcome this variability, we mixed fresh with digested manure. This procedure is consolidated as regard methane production. We also investigated a similar strategy to optimize and stabilize H2 yield. We were able to find optimal process conditions for hydrogen and methane production with this type of substrate. The experiments have been run in batch mode. The products of fermentation, H2, CO2 and CH4, have been measured with a micro-gas chromatograph. Moreover the potential production of H2 has been maximized by thermally pre-treatimg the substrate and using a process temperature of the fermenter equal to 55 °C and an initial pH value of 5.5, while very high levels of potential production of CH4 have been obtained at 37 °C and with an initial pH of 7.0. The effect of different strategies has also been analyzed to highlight the different microbial community present in the substrate using the denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE). This investigation has been carried out with the aim at isolating and selecting of natural bacterial species to use as inoculum to improve and stabilize the fermentation process of buffalo manure. More results concerning the microbial communities present in the substrate and responsible for biogas production are presented in a companion paper. Here we only list the main types of bacteria identified in the manure. Copyright © 2014,AIDIC Servizi S.r.l.