No abstract

The cultivar per se (genotype) behaved as the most influencing factor conditioning pomegranate sugar and organic acids profiles, antioxidant activity, and total phenolics. Given the divergence observed on bioactive compounds concentrations and antioxidant activity among evaluated cultivars, the genotype factor should be considered as the most influencing factor in future breeding programs to enhance the synthesis of beneficial bioactive compounds.

No abstract

No abstract

High salinity and drought are common environmental problems affecting seed germination and plant growth especially in arid and semi-arid regions. Sesame (Sesamum indicum L.) is an oilseed crop rated moderately salt and drought tolerant but it is sensitive at germination and seedling stages. The effect of salt stress (NaCl) and water stress (PEG-6000), using the same osmotic potential (0 to-1.4 MPa), on germination and early seedling growth of sesame genotypes with different color seeds was studied. Germination percentage (GP), germination rate (GR), mean germination time (MGT), root length (RL) and shoot length (SL) were investigated. Drought and salt stresses, seed color and interaction of each stress with seed color had a significant effect on all studied parameters (P < 0.01). Yellow and brown seeds exhibited higher GP and GR and lower MGT than white and black seeds in absence and presence of both stresses. Germination was reduced and delayed by both stresses. However, it continued at all concentrations of NaCl, while it ceased at-1.0 MPa of PEG. Reduction in GP and GR was gradual for yellow and brown seeds and drastic for white and black ones, already from-0.2 MPa of PEG and NaCl. At equivalent osmotic potential, salt stress had a lower inhibitory effect on germination and seedling growth than drought stress. For Moroccan cultivars, having yellow and brown seeds, seedling growth was more affected by both stresses than seed germination, thus RL and SL could be taken as selection criteria for drought and salt tolerance at early growth stages. Sesame cultivars having intermediate seed colors (brown and yellow) could be recommended for moderate saline soils.

There are not many exhaustive works emphasizing the amount of genetic diversity among the strawberry tree (Arbutus unedo L) genotypes in Morocco. This work aims to assess the biochemical composition of strawberry tree fruits, as well as to establish the variation of this composition among them. In this study, total phenols (TP), total flavonoids (TF), condensed tannins (CT) and hydrolyzable tannins (HT), total anthocyanins (TA), and free radical scavenging activity through ABTS were investigated in strawberry tree fruits. Furthermore, qualitative and quantitative analyses of individual phenolic compounds by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) were carried out. Color parameters such as lightness (L *), Chroma (c *), and hue angle (h°) were also investigated. All studied variables showed highly significant differences among all samples with the exception of hydrolyzable tannins and chromatic coordinates. TP varied from 22.63 ± 1.74 to 39.06 ± 2.44 mg GAE/g DW, TF varied from 3.30 ± 0.60 to 8.62 ± 1.10 mg RE/g DW, and TA ranged between 0.12 ± 0.06 and 0.66 ± 0.15 mg cya-3-glu/100 g DW. In addition, CT and HT amounts were in the range of 10.41 ± 1.07–16.08 ± 1.50 mg TAE/g DW and 4.08 ± 2.43–6.34 ± 3.47 TAE/g DW, respectively. Moreover, the IC50 value (ABTS) ranged between 1.75 and 19.58 mg AAE/g DW. 17 phenolic compounds were detected in strawberry tree fruits. Gallocatechol and catechin were the most abundant phenolic compounds. Matrix of correlations revealed significant positive and negative correlations among variables particularly c *, a *, and b *. Principal component analysis (PCA) showed that the first three components formed than 68% of the total inertia. The following variables gallic acid, protocatechuic, gallocatechin, gallic acid derivative, chlorogenic acid, syringic acid, ellagic acid derivative II, L *, and h * were the most involved in the total variance explained. Hierarchical clustering classified samples into one main cluster, with a single branch. The results highlight a high biochemical diversity within studied strawberry genotypes, which is probably more genetically related.

With the progresses of oilseed industry, an important interest is currently being focused on exploiting novel and underutilized sources for vegetable oils. Being so far the less studied part in fig fruits, seeds separated from four fig cultivars were assessed for their oil content, fatty acids identification, total phenolics and invitro antioxidant analysis. A one-way Anova yielded statistically significant differences for all parameters, with the exception of pentadecylic, margaric and arachidic acids besides the total saturated fatty acids. Fig seeds presented a yellow colored oil, of which the content ranged from 21.54 ± 1.71 to 28.52 ± 0.62%. Gas liquid chromatography analysis of the seed oil showed high percentages of linolenic acid in the four cultivars ranging from 38.43 ± 0.01 to 43.57 ± 0.04, followed by linoleic acid (28.9 ± 0.06–34.5 ± 0.04%). Palmitic acid and stearic acid were the dominating saturated fatty acids in all samples, where the amounts were in the range from 8.54 ± 0.04 to 9.05 ± 0.06% and from 2.59 ± 0.13 to 3.3% respectively. The efficiency of the desaturation from oleic acid to linoleic acid estimated within desaturation pathway, was higher among all cultivars than the efficiency of the desaturation from linoleic acid to linolenic acid. This explains the large increase of 18:3 concentration in all samples. The local cultivar ‘C11A21’ exhibited the highest total unsaturated fatty acids and the lowest level of saturated fatty acids, while the cultivar ‘White Adriatic’ combined the most relevant phenolics content, antioxidant activity and half maximum inhibitory concentration. All sampled oil possessed an important phenolics content that displayed variable levels of antioxidant activity. The objective of this study is to bring new data on the biochemical attributes of fig seeds as a new source oil that can be used for nutritional, pharmaceutical and cosmetic purposes.

Tertiary amines dissolved in organic diluents are attractive extractants for the recovery of carboxylic acids from dilute aqueous solutions. This paper reports experimental results for liquid-liquid equilibrium in organic/aqueous two-phase systems containing a tertiary amine (triisooctylamine) and five carboxylic acids, aconitic, citric, lactic, malic, and oxalic acid. Triisooctylamine (tris[6-methylheptyl]amine) was dissolved in various diluents such as chloroform, a mixture (heptane (50 vol %) + 1-hexanol (50 vol %)), and 1-octanol. Partition coefficients for individual acids were determined at a temperature of 25 °C over a range of amine concentration in each diluent between 2.5 vol % and 60 vol %. Thus, for aconitic, citric, lactic, malic, and oxalic acid the maximum values of partition coefficient were found to be 92.7, 47.0, 28.2, 65.2, and 76.0, respectively. For dilute solutions containing less than 3 mass % of acid, it is energetically preferable to remove the solute from the water through liquid-liquid extraction. Owing to the significant partition coefficients obtained with amine diluent systems, the process generates a small extract stream for subsequent regeneration processing. On the other hand, the recovery of solute by evaporation requires the energy intensive vaporization of water. Liquid-liquid extraction can be considered as an effective process for the recovery organic acids present in wastewater from industries such as distilleries, canneries, and wineries.