BackgroundThis research was performed in an area belonging to the province of the city of Bologna (Emilia-Romagna region, Northern Italy). The purpose of the present survey was to record the local knowledge concerning traditional uses of wild food plants and related practices, such as gathering, processing, cooking, therapeutic uses, with the aim of preserving an important part of the local cultural heritage.MethodsThirty-nine people still retaining Traditional Local Knowledge (TLK) were interviewed between March-April 2012 and September - October 2013 by means of open and semi-structured ethnobotanical interviews. For each plant species mentioned, we recorded the botanical family, the English common name, the Italian common and/or folk names, the parts of the plant used, the culinary preparation, and the medicinal usage. The relative frequency of citation index (RFC), a tool that measures the local cultural importance of a plant species, was also included.ResultsThe folk plants mentioned by the respondents belonged to 33 botanical families, of which the Rosaceae (14 plants) and the Asteraceae (9 plants) were the most representative. The species with the highest RFC index (0.77) were Crepis vesicaria subsp. taraxacifolia (Thuill) Thell and Taraxacum officinale Weber. Eleven folk plants were indicated as having therapeutic effects. T. officinale Weber, C. vesicaria subsp. taraxacifolia (Thuill) Thell and Sonchus spp., which are used as food, were reported to be depurative, blood cleaning, refreshing, diuretic and laxative. The most commonly used species was Urtica spp, which was also the most frequently cited for medicinal uses.ConclusionsThe present survey documented the wild food plant traditional knowledge of an area belonging to the province of the city of Bologna (Emilia-Romagna region, Northern Italy). The general perception obtained is that on one side the TLK related to wild food plants has strongly been eroded, mainly due to immigration and urbanization phenomena, whereas on the other side these plants are revaluated today because they are perceived as healthy and also because they represent the preservation of biodiversity and a way of getting back to nature.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/1746-4269-10-69) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

BackgroundThis research was carried out in a scarcely populated area of the Middle Agri Valley (Basilicata region, southern Italy). The aim of the study was to record local knowledge on the traditional uses of wild food plants, as well as to collect information regarding the practices (gathering, processing and cooking) and the medicinal uses related to these plants.MethodsFifty-eight people still possessing traditional local knowledge (TLK), 74% women and 26% men, were interviewed between May–August 2012 and January 2013, using open and semi-structured ethnobotanical interviews. For each described plant species, the botanical family, the Italian common and folk names, the plant parts used, the culinary preparation and, when present, the medicinal use, were recorded and the relative frequency of citation index (RFC) was determined.ResultsThe 52 plant species mentioned by the respondents belong to 23 botanical families, with Asteraceae (12 plants) and Rosaceae (7 plants) being most frequently cited. The species with the highest RFC index is Cichorium intybus L. (0.95), followed by Sonchus spp. (S. oleraceus L., S. asper L. and S. arvensis L.) (0.76). The plant parts preferably used are leaves (22 plants), fruits (12) and stems (7). Only six wild plants were indicated as having both food use and therapeutic effect.ConclusionsThe survey conducted on the traditional use of wild food plants in the Middle Agri Valley revealed that this cultural heritage is only partially retained by the population. Over the last few decades, this knowledge has been in fact quickly disappearing along with the people and, even in the rural context of the study area, is less and less handed down to younger generations. Nevertheless, data also revealed that the use of wild plants is recently being revaluated in a way closely related to local habits and traditions.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s13002-017-0177-4) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Glycine max is one of the major sources of phytochemicals, in particular of isoflavones, a class of phytoestrogens with ascertained beneficial effects on human health. In the present study, in vitro callus production from soybean hypocotyl seedling explants and cell suspensions were optimized. Time-courses having 20, 40 and 60 g/L of initial cell inoculum were performed to determine the concentration most suitable for isoflavone production. The amount of total polyphenols and total flavonoids as well as the antioxidant capacity of both cell and culture media fractions were measured by means of spectrophotometric methods. The levels of aglycone and glycosylated isoflavones (didzein, genistein, glycitein, didzin, genistin, glycitin), as well as of ferulic acid, vanillic acid and vanillin, were determined by HPLC-DAD. On average, 93.5 % of the total (cells plus media) isoflavones in soybean cell suspensions were detected as aglycones. Concentrated cell cultures as well as industrial soybean seed extracts were enzymatically hydrolyzed to release the aglycones and their metabolic profiles were analysed by HPLC-DAD. In contrast to cell suspensions, in undigested seed extract the aglycon form represented only 16.8 % of the total isoflavones amount. After enzymatic treatment, the antioxidant capacity increased by 30 and 33 %, respectively, in concentrated cell and seed extracts, demonstrating the presence of a larger amount of bioactive metabolites after digestion. At the present extraction conditions, soybean concentrated cell suspensions yielded 5.8fold more total isoflavones (mostly in the free form) than seed extracts, leading to hypothesise their possible use as ingredients for cosmetic and nutraceutical applications.

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