Onion (Allium cepa L.) and Drought: Current Situation and Perspectives.

Onions (Allium cepa L.) are the second most commonly produced and consumed vegetable worldwide due to their economic, nutritional, and medicinal benefits. However, drought hinders vegetative growth, lowers yields and bulb quality, reduces photosynthetic activity, and alters the onion plant's metabolism. This review provides a summary of global research on the impact of drought on onions. It specifically seeks to shed light on aspects that remain unclear and generate research avenues. Relevant scientific articles were sourced from the AGORA database, Web of Science (WoS), and search engines such as Google Scholar, Scopus, MEDLINE/PubMed, and SCImago to achieve this objective. A total of 117 scientific articles and documents related to onion and drought were critically examined. The review revealed agromorphological, physiological, biochemical, and genomic studies depicting factors that contribute to drought tolerance in onion genotypes. However, there was little research on the physiological, biochemical, and genetic characteristics of drought tolerance in onions, which need to be deepened to establish its adaptation mechanisms. Understanding the mechanisms of onion response to water stress will contribute to fast-tracking the development of drought-tolerant genotypes and optimize onion production. Future research should be more focused on investigating onion drought tolerance mechanisms and structural and functional genomics and identifying genes responsible for onion drought tolerance.

Tomato pomace as a source of valuable functional ingredients for improving physicochemical and sensory properties and extending the shelf life of foods: A review.

Due to its nutritional and bioactive content, tomato pomace (TP) remains among the world's richest fruits and vegetables. Tomatoes and TP (generated coproduct) are a very rich source of lycopene and other carotenoid compounds and contain an essential amount of polyphenols, policosanol, phytosterols, organic acids, dietary fibers, minerals, and vitamins. TP is a promising source of significant bioactive compounds with antioxidant and antimicrobial potential. Therefore, their consumption is known to be effective in preventing certain chronic diseases. For example, lycopene prevents prostate cancer and acts as a hepatoprotector and genoprotector against mycotoxins, pesticide residues, and heavy metals. Thus, the valorization of TP as a food ingredient can be of great health, economic and environmental interest and contribute to improving nutrition and food security. During the last decades, considerable efforts have been made to valorize TP as a crucial functional ingredient in improving: (i) the nutritional and functional properties, (ii) sensory characteristics and (iii) the shelf life of many foods. The current review aims to update and summarize the knowledge on the recent food applications of TP, particularly its use as a functional ingredient to improve the functional properties and shelf life of foods.

New value chain Pentadesma nuts and butter from West Africa to international markets: Biological activities, health benefits, and physicochemical properties.

The tallow or butter tree (Pentadesma butyracea Sabine) is a ligneous forest species of multipurpose use largely distributed in Sub-Sahara Africa. Owing to the biological properties of different parts of the tree and physicochemical properties, as well as the numerous benefits of its fruits, research on P. butyracea products, especially kernels and butter, has now gained more interest. Thus, the scientific literature revealed that Pentadesma butter is a more promising product with good physical and technological characteristics. It is traditionally preferred in households for food, medicine, and cosmetic use. Apart from the fruits, all other parts of the butter tree are used by local communities in folk medicine. The existing studies indicated that P. butyracea contains valuable health-promoting compounds such as phenolic compounds, vitamins, minerals, and essential fatty acids. P. butyracea and derived products have antioxidant, antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, antiplasmodial, antitumor, estrogenic, anti-androgenic, and cholesterol-regulative effects. Since studies on the biological properties of the tree parts, nutritional composition, and physicochemical properties of food products from the tree have been very limited, this review attempts to summarize some results from recent investigations. Our intention in the present review was to give an overview of the biological activities of plants and an account of the potential properties of Pentadesma products (pulp, kernels, and butter) and outline the way for future relevant research to improve their state of knowledge.

Potential roles of cereal bioactive compounds in the prevention and treatment of type 2 diabetes: A review of the current knowledge.

Diabetes is one of the most common non-communicable diseases in both developed and underdeveloped countries with a 9.3% prevalence. Unhealthy diets and sedentary lifestyles are among the most common reasons for type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Diet plays a crucial role in both the etiology and treatment of T2DM. There are several recommendations regarding the carbohydrate intake of patients with T2DM. One of them is about reducing the total carbohydrate intake and/or changing the type of carbohydrate to reduce the glycaemic index. Cereals are good sources of carbohydrates in the diet with a significant amount of soluble and non-soluble fiber content. Apart from fiber, it has been shown that the bioactive compounds present in cereals such as proteins, phenolic compounds, carotenoids, and tocols have beneficial impacts in the prevention and treatment of T2DM. Moreover, cereal by-products especially the by-products of milling processes, which are bran and germ, have been reported to have anti-diabetic activities mainly because of their fiber and polyphenols content. Considering the potential functions of cereals in patients with T2DM, this review focuses on the roles of cereal bioactive compounds in the prevention and treatment of type 2 diabetes.

Diallel analysis of cowpea (Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walp.) genotypes under water deficit stress.

Combining ability is referred to as the hybridization value of the parental genotypes involved in the crossing to develop hybrids. The best parents are selected through combining ability methods and subsequently used to produce high yielding and resistant hybrids. Thus, the objectives of this study were to (i) understand the nature and action of genes controlling water deficit tolerance, and (ii) identify superior genotypes from the genetic breadth provided by hybridization in cowpea. Twenty-four genotypes were subjected to normal irrigation and water deficit condition to examine combining ability, genotypic and phenotypic correlations for traits directly related to water deficit (proline and chlorophylls), grain yield and yield components. The results showed the presence of the action of additive and non-additive genes under both water regime conditions. However, there was the predominance of the action of additive genes for most of the traits studied under both conditions. The parents KVX61-1, IT06K242-3, IT07K-211-1-8, Kpodjiguèguè, IT99K-573-1-1, Tawa and IT97K-206-1-1 were observed to be good general combiners for proline content, chlorophyll content and traits associated with yield, while KVX61-1 × KVX396-18, IT06K242-3 × KVX396-18, IT07K-211-1-1 × KVX396-18, Kpodjiguèguè x KVX396-18, KVX61 -1 × IT97K-206-1-1, IT06K242-3 × IT97K-206-1-1, IT07K-211-1-1 × IT97K-206-1-1 and Kpodjiguèguè x IT97K-206-1-1 were proven to be the best specific combiners for traits directly related to water deficit tolerance and yield. It should be noted that number of days to pod maturity, pod length, number of pods per plant and weight of hundred seeds were highly heritable traits in this study.

Physicochemical characterization and microbiology quality of the Pentadesma butyracea fruit pulp collected from various parks in Benin.

In Benin, P. butyracea fruit pulp undergoes significant post-harvest loss due to its low valorization. The collected fruits in five parklands from a survey of transformer's perception were characterized through their visual observations, the determination of their dimensions and pulp proportions. The nutritional value of pulp was evaluated through its chemical characterization. The results of this study revealed that four shapes (ellipsoid, globular, ovoid, ellipsoid twisted) identify the physical aspect of P. butyracea fruits in the P. butyracea parklands. The average length, diameter at the equator, mass and pulp proportion of fruits were 130.93 mm, 86.98 mm, 125.63 g and 35.79%, respectively. The physicochemical characterization showed that the P. butyracea fruit pulp contained 3.37-3.41 pH, 3.33-4.61% protein, 20.37-20.78% fiber, 2.78-3.57% ash, 6.31-6.51% crude lipid, 85.77-86.47% moisture, 21.54-23.22 mg/mL total phenolics, 0.73-1.03% titratable acidity, 65.10-66.94% carbohydrates, 335.75-338.99 kcal calorie and minerals (Ca, Fe, Zn, Mn). The antioxidant activity result showed that the P. butyracea fruit pulp is a valuable source of antioxidant pigments. Faecal coliforms are not detected in pulps and the aerobic mesophilic bacteria, yeasts and moulds, and Staphylococcus aureus were below detection level in P. butyracea fruit pulps.