Nano-fertilisers have only recently been introduced to intensify plant production, and there still remains inadequate scientific knowledge on their plant-related effects. This paper therefore compares the effects of two nano-fertilisers on common sunflower production under field conditions. The benefits arising from the foliar application of micronutrient-based zinc oxide fertiliser were compared with those from the titanium dioxide plant-growth enhancer. Both the zinc oxide (ZnO) and titanium dioxide (TiO2) were delivered by foliar application in nano-size at a concentration of 2.6 mg·L−1. The foliar-applied nanoparticles (NPs) had good crystallinity and a mean size distribution under 30 nm. There were significant differences between these two experimental treatments in the leaf surfaces’ trichomes diversity, ratio, width, and length at the flower-bud development stage. Somewhat surprisingly, our results established that the ZnO-NPs treatment induced generally better sunflower physiological responses, while the TiO2-NPs primarily affected quantitative and nutritional parameters such as oil content and changed sunflower physiology to early maturation. There were no differences detected in titanium or zinc translocation or accumulation in the fully ripe sunflower seeds compared to the experimental controls, and our positive results therefore encourage further nano-fertiliser research.

No abstract

No abstract

Total polyphenols content (TPC), antioxidant activity (AA) and polyphenolic spectrum assay of three underutilized fruit species—black crowberry (Empetrum nigrum), honeyberry (Lonicera kamtschatica) and European cranberry (Vaccinium oxycoccos) is the aim of the present work. TPC and AA assay was performed by spectrophotometry and “individual phenolic compounds” were established by high-performance liquid chromatography. The results showed that TPC ranged from 1.61 ± 0.16 (European cranberry) up to 5.65 ± 0.01 (Black cowberry) gallic acid mg/g fresh weight. The highest value of DPPH (2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl) free radical scavenging assay was determined in black crowberry fruit (7.43 ± 0.34 mmol TROLOX/g fresh weight of fruit). In all samples, the most prevalent phenolic acid was ferulic acid with the highest content in the samples of black crowberry (77.73 ± 3.99 µg/g FW of fruit), black crowberry and honeyberry were present by the highest level of gallic acid (21.82 ± 1.53; 15.07 ± 2.45 µg/g FW of fruit). Honeyberry represented a valuable source of quercetin (12.18 ± 7.88 µg/g FW of fruit), whereas European cranberry and honeyberry are a source of rutin (28.48 ± 0.83 and 27.99 ± 1.78 µg/g FW of fruit, respectively). The results of statistical analyses proved significant differences between cowberry and European cranberry in TPC content and in AA among assayed species. In the same way, statistically significant differences were confirmed in phenolic acids among the assayed species except for European cranberry-honeyberry (in trans p-coumaric, protocatequic and cinnamic acid) and honeyberry-cowberry (in cinnamic acid content). The catechin content is significantly influenced by species (p ≤ 0.05), on the other hand the species has no influence on the resveratrol content (p > 0.05). Each of the studied species can be considered as valuable source of total polyphenols and individual phenolic compounds. Polyphenolic compounds were most frequently accumulated in the vacuole as well as in the outer layers of pericarp.

No abstract