Biological activity of essential oils from Ferulago angulata and Ferula assa-foetida against food-related microorganisms (antimicrobial) and Ephestia kuehniella as a storage pest (insecticidal); an in vitro and in silico study.

Misuse of synthetic pesticides and antimicrobials in agriculture and the food industry has resulted in food contamination, promoting resistant pests and pathogen strains and hazards for humanity and the environment. Therefore, ever-increasing concern about synthetic chemicals has stimulated interest in eco-friendly compounds. Ferulago angulata (Schltdl.) Boiss. and Ferula assa-foetida L., as medicinal species with restricted natural distribution and unknown biological potential, aimed at investigation of their essential oil (EO) biological properties, were subjected. Z-ß-Ocimene and Z-1-Propenyl-sec-butyl disulfide molecules were identified as the major composition of the essential oil of the fruits of F. angulata and F. assa-foetida, respectively. In vitro antimicrobial activity and membrane destruction investigation by scanning electron microscopy imaging illustrated that F. angulata EO had potent antibacterial activity. Besides, the EOs of both plants exhibited significant anti-yeast activity against Candida albicans. In relation to insecticidal activity, both EOs indicated appropriate potential against Ephestia kuehniella; however, the F. assa-foetida EO had more toxicity on the studied pest. Among several insecticidal-related targets, acetylcholinesterase was identified as the main target of EO based on the molecular docking approach. Hence, in line with in vitro results, in silico evaluation determined that F. assa-foetida has a higher potential for inhibiting acetylcholinesterase and, consequently, better insecticide properties. Overall, in addition to the antioxidant properties of both EO, F. angulata EO could serve as an effective prevention against microbial spoilage and foodborne pathogens, and F. assa-foetida EO holds promise as a multi-purpose and natural biocide for yeast contamination and pest management particularly against E. kuehniella.

The comparative perspective of phytochemistry and biological properties of the Apiaceae family plants.

Despite the availability of numerous reports on the discovery of medicinal plant compounds and their properties, one may encounter contradictory results released by these reports at the level of plant families and even within species. To establish an accurate perspective of the Apiaceae family, this study examined the fruit essential oil and methanolic extract of wild and common species of this family. According to the measurement of the antioxidant property in the methanolic extract of the fruits using the 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) method, Ferula gummosa, Pimpinella anisum and Cuminum cyminum have high power in inhibiting free radicals. However, Bunium persicum had the strongest DPPH radicals inhibitory potential among all essential oils. The results of antimicrobial tests and their classification analysis showed that C. cyminum and B. persicum fruit essential oil with a high amount of cuminaldehyde had the most antibacterial properties. At the same time, the antifungal properties of H. persicum essential oil (rich in aliphatic ester) were stronger than those of the all the studied plants. Also, the essential oils of F. gummosa and Kelussia odoratissima had favourable antimicrobial properties compared to other studied plants. The investigation of the bacterial structure by scanning electron microscope confirmed the effect of the applied essential oils dose and their antibacterial potential. In general, for the first time, this paper determined the biological values of the fruit essential oil of some wild plants, such as K. odoratissima and H. persicum. Besides, in vitro examination and the mathematical models provided a suitable classification, which makes a comprehensive view in terms of the properties of the Apiaceae family.

Some new nanostructure zinc complex: Synthesis, spectral analyses, crystal structure, Hirshfeld surface analyses, antimicrobial/anticancer, thermal behavior and usage as precursor for ZnO nanostructure.

In this work, a new tridentate ligand, its some novel zinc halide/pseudohalide complexes and their antimicrobial and cytotoxic effects of them are described. Characterization data of these compounds have been achieved via several physical and micro analytical techniques. As typical one, X-ray crystal structure analysis of zinc azide complex was run showing zinc center is penta-coordinated by three nitrogen atoms from Schiff base ligand and two terminal azide nitrogen atoms as a distorted square pyramidal geometry. Hirshfeld surfaces analysis clears the important role of interactions related to azide groups (NH⋯N and CH⋯N hydrogen bonds) in the stabilization of its supramolecular structure. According to data obtained from thermal analysis (TG/DTG/DTA), all complexes are decomposed at four or more thermal stages below 1000 °C. Moreover antimicrobial activities of the compounds were screened against some gram positive and gram negative bacteria. Furthermore anticancer activities of the complexes were studied against MDA-MB468 and k562 as two cancer cell lines. In final, three zinc complexes were also synthesized in nano scale by sonochemical method and one of them was utilized as the precursor for preparation of nanostructure ZnO confirmed by XRD pattern and SEM image.

Effect of olive leaf powder on the performance and ileal bacterial count of broilers.

This experiment was conducted to investigate the effects of olive leaf (OL) on the performance, abdominal fat pad and some ileal bacterial population of Cobb broiler chickens. A total number of 400 day-old chicks were randomly distributed into floor pens and reared under the same condition until 14 days of age. On day 14, each pen was randomly assigned to one of the five experimental treatments with four replicates of 20 male and female chicks. The dietary treatments were consisted of a control group which fed basal diet without OL entire period of the study and groups 2 to 5 that fed diets supplemented with 0.25, 0.50, 0.75 and 1.00% OL powder, respectively. On days 21 and 42 of the experiment, ileal digesta samples were collected under the sterile condition to evaluate ileal bacterial population. The results indicated that birds fed diets containing various levels of OL, had higher body weight gain (except for 1.00% OL) and lower feed conversion ratio compared to that of the control group. Dietary inclusion of OL resulted in a higher count of Lactobacillus sp. compared to the control group on 42 days of age, while Escherichia coli count significantly was not influenced. The abdominal fat pad was lower in birds fed OL supplemented diets. In conclusion, findings of the current experiment showed that the OL had positive effects on feed conversion ratio, abdominal fat pad deposition and ileal bacterial count of broiler chickens.

Effect of different corn processing methods on enzyme producing bacteria, protozoa, fermentation and histomorphometry of rumen in fattening lambs.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of different corn processing methods on rumen microbial flora, histomorphometry and fermentation in fattening male lambs. Twenty male lambs (average age and weight of 90 days and 25.00 ± 1.10 kg, respectively) were used in a completely randomized design including four treatments and five replicates each over 80 days long period: 1) Lambs fed ground corn seeds; 2) Lambs fed steam-rolled corn; 3) Lambs fed soaked corn seeds (24 hr) and 4) Lambs fed soaked corn seeds (48 hr). At the end of the experiment, three lambs of each treatment were slaughtered and samples were collected for pH, volatile fatty acids, amylolytic, proteolytic, cellulytic and heterophilic bacteria and protozoa assessment. The number of proteolytic bacteria in soaked corn seeds was significantly increased in comparison with other treatments. The thickness of wall, papillae and muscular layers of rumen in the soaked corn seeds treatment was significantly increased. Overall, from a practical point of view, soaked corn processing could be generally used in lambs fattening system.

Antibacterial, anti fungal and E. coli DNA cleavage of Euphorbia prostrata and Pelargonium graveolens extract and their combination with novel nanoparticles

As there are a lot of antibacterial and anti-fungal resistant pathogens, researchers attempt to substitute antimicrobial drugs with various medical plants and novel nanoparticles. The present study was conducted to characterize antimicrobial activities of Euphorbia prostrata and Pelargonium graveolens extract alone and in combination with Mn-Ni@Fe3O4-NPs & Mn: Fe (OH)3-NPs on the DNA cleavage of E. coli and also Bacillus subtilis, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Aspergillus oryzae, and Candida albicans. The effects of antimicrobial activities on above scenarios were evaluated using disc diffusion, MIC, MBC, and E. coli DNA electrophoresis methods. The results showed that the effects of antibacterial assay values of Euphorbia prostrata & Mn: Fe(OH)3 was 21.00 mm for E. coli and while it was 19.5 mm for Euphorbia prostrata & Mn-Ni@Fe3O4 against Pseudomonas aeruginosa at a concentration of 100mg/mL. The highest level of DNA cleavage was seen in mixed of Euphorbia prostrata & Mn: Fe(OH)3 nanoparticles. In conclusion, the combination of Euphorbia prostrata and Pelargonium graveolens extracts with nanostructures showed synergic effects on eliminating the bacteria via DNA destruction and others mechanisms. Moreover, the synergistic effect of nanoparticles with plant extracts seems to bring about new choices for the treatment of infectious diseases

Microwave assisted extraction as an efficient approach for biosynthesis of zinc oxide nanoparticles: Synthesis, characterization, and biological properties.

In the present study, microwave assisted extraction (MAE) was applied as an efficient, green and rapid approach to prepare the aqueous extract of Suaeda aegyptiaca (SA) plant. The obtained aqueous extracts at two different irradiation power (90 and 270W; 15min) in MAE process as well as maceration method (24h) were used in a green and eco-friendly approach for the synthesis of zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO NPs). The synthesized ZnO NPs have been characterized via different techniques including UV-Vis absorption; fluorescence and Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopices, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and X-ray diffraction (XRD). According to the results, the average size of the prepared ZnO particles was estimated around 60nm. A broad absorption band around 382nm in UV-Vis absorption spectrum and a maximum emission at wavelength of 458nm in fluorescence spectrum clarified the successful biosynthesis of ZnO NPs. Moreover, the biological properties of the extracts and biosynthesized ZnO NPs were investigated by antimicrobial tests (i.e. Well-diffusion, minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC), minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC) tests), antifungal and antioxidant tests (total phenolic and flovonoid content, antioxidant activity against dipheny-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH), and ethylbenzothiazolin-6sulphonic acid (ABTS+)). Finally, DNA cleavage potential of the samples was studied, too.

Synthesis of ZnO-nanorod-based materials for antibacterial, antifungal activities, DNA cleavage and efficient ultrasound-assisted dyes adsorption.

Undoped and Au-doped ZnO-nanorods were synthesized in the presence of ultrasound and loaded on activated carbon following characterization by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmittance electron microscopy (TEM), UV-vis spectrophotometry and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). The Au-doped ZnO-nanorod-loaded activated carbon (Au-ZnO-NRs-AC) was used for the simultaneous removal of methylene blue (MB) and auramine O (AO) from aqueous solutions. Central composite design (CCD) under response surface methodology (RSM) was applied to model and optimize the dyes removal versus adsorbent mass, pH, and initial dyes concentration and sonication time as well as to investigate the possible interaction between these variables. The optimum values of the initial MB and AO dyes concentration, adsorbent mass, pH and sonication time were found to be 12 and 10mgL-1, 0.0124g, 6.4, and 4min respectively. The rapid adsorption process at neutral pH using very small amount of the adsorbent makes it promising for the wastewater treatment applications. More than 99.5% of both dyes was removed with maximum adsorption capacities in binary-component system (107.5 and 95.7mgg-1 for MB and AO, respectively). The kinetics and isotherm studies showed that the second-order and Langmuir models apply for the kinetics and isotherm of the adsorption of MB and AO on the adsorbent used here. Moreover, the wastewater treatment by using an antibacterial/antifungal adsorbent makes the process much more valuable. Therefore, additional studies were performed which showed efficient antibacterial/antifungal activities and DNA cleavage of undoped and Au-doped ZnO nanorods as constituent of the adsorbent applied here.