Postharvest melatonin and chitosan treatments retain quality of 'Williams' bananas during ripening.

The effect of postharvest dipping treatments with 0.5 mM melatonin (MT) and 1% chitosan (CT) either alone or in combination on quality of pre-climacteric 'Williams' bananas during ripening at ambient conditions were investigated. MT or CT treatments delayed ripening by retaining greener peel, higher firmness, titratable acidity (TA), but lower total soluble solids (TSS) and TSS/TA, weight loss, browning and electrolyte leakage than the control. Total phenol (TPC) and flavonoid contents (TFC) in both peel and pulp increased up to 6 days and then decreased and was higher in treated fruit than the control. Vitamin C content decreased up to 3 days, then increased and was higher in treated fruit than control. MT and CT combination exhibited the highest TPC, TFC and vitamin C contents compared to other treatments. Radical scavenging capacity (RSC) of peel and pulp increased up to 6 days, then decreased and was higher in treated fruit than the control. The treated fruit exhibited lower polyphenoloxidase (PPO) and hydrolytic enzymes but higher peroxidase (POD) activities in both peel and pulp than the control. Postharvest treatments with 0.5 mM MT and 1% CT alone or in combination could be used to retain quality of 'Williams' bananas during ripening.

Effects of Spirulina platensis and/or Allium sativum on Antioxidant Status, Immune Response, Gut Morphology, and Intestinal Lactobacilli and Coliforms of Heat-Stressed Broiler Chicken.

This study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of the dietary addition of Spirulina platensis (SP) and/or garlic powder (GP) on heat-stressed broiler chickens. For this purpose, 600 Ross-308 broiler chicks were allocated at 22 days of age into five groups (G1-G5), each comprising six groups of 20 birds each. Chickens kept in G1 (negative control) were fed a basal diet and raised at 26 ± 1 °C. Chickens kept in G2 to G5 were exposed to periodic heat stress (35 ± 1 °C for 9 h/day) from 22 to 35 days old. Chickens in G2 (positive control) were provided a basal diet, while G3, G4, and G5 were fed a basal diet enriched with SP (1 g/kg diet), GP (200 mg/kg diet), or SP/GP (1 g SP/kg + 200 mg GP/kg diet), respectively. The assessment parameters included the chickens' performance, malondialdehyde and total antioxidant capacity, blood biochemistry, intestinal morphology, and modulation of lactobacilli and total coliforms in the intestinal microbiota. Our findings demonstrated that supplementing heat-stressed chickens with SP and/or GP significantly mitigated the negative effects on the European production efficiency index (EPEF), survival rate, cholesterol profile, and oxidative stress markers. Chickens supplemented with GP and/or SP exhibited significantly better EPEF and survivability rates. Heat stress had a significant impact on both the gut structure and gut microbiota. However, SP and/or GP supplementation improved the gut morphology, significantly increased the intestinal lactobacilli, and reduced the coliform contents. It was also found that the simultaneous feeding of SP and GP led to even higher recovery levels with improved lipid metabolites, immunity, and oxidative status. Overall, supplementing chickens with SP and/or GP can alleviate the negative effects of heat stress.

Efficacy of 24-epibrassinolide-chitosan composite coating on the quality of 'Williams' bananas during ripening.

BACKGROUND: Banana fruit undergo rapid metabolic changes following the induction of ripening. They result in excessive softening, chlorophyll degradation, browning, and senescence during postharvest life. As part of a continuous effort to extend fruit shelf life and maintain the best possible quality, this study examined the effect of a 24-epibrassinolide (EBR) and chitosan (CT) composite coating on 'Williams' bananas ripening in ambient conditions. Fruit were soaked in 20 µM EBR, 10 g L-1 CT (w/v), and 20 µM EBR + 10 g L-1 CT solutions for 15 min and were kept at 23 ± 1 °C and 85-90% (RH) for 9 days. RESULTS: The combined treatment (20 µM EBR + 10 g L-1 CT) clearly delayed fruit ripening; bananas treated with this showed less peel yellowing, weight loss, and total soluble solids, and greater firmness, titratable acidity, membrane stability index, and ascorbic acid content than the untreated control. After the treatment, the fruit also presented higher radical scavenging capacity, and higher total phenol and flavonoid content. The activity of polyphenoloxidase and hydrolytic enzymes was lower, and that of peroxidase was higher in both the peel and pulp of all the treated fruit than in the control. CONCLUSION: The combined treatment (20 µM EBR + 10 g L-1 CT) is suggested as an effective composite edible coat to retain the quality of 'Williams' bananas during ripening. © 2023 Society of Chemical Industry.

Global calibration for non-targeted fraud detection in quinoa flour using portable hyperspectral imaging and chemometrics.

Quinoa is one of the highest nutritious grains, and global consumption of quinoa flour has increased as people pay more attention to health. Due to its high value, quinoa flour is susceptible to adulteration. Cross-contamination between quinoa flour and other flour can be easily neglected due to their highly similar appearance. Therefore, detecting adulteration in quinoa flour is important to consumers, industries, and regulatory agencies. In this study, portable hyperspectral imaging in the visible near-infrared (VNIR) spectral range (400-1000 nm) was applied as a rapid tool to detect adulteration in quinoa flour. Quinoa flour was adulterated with wheat, rice, soybean, and corn in the range of 0-98% with 2% increments. Partial least squares regression (PLSR) models were developed, and the best model for detecting the % authentic flour (quinoa) was obtained by the raw spectral data with R2p of 0.99, RMSEP of 3.08%, RPD of 8.77, and RER of 25.32. The model was improved, by selecting only 13 wavelengths using bootstrapping soft shrinkage (BOSS), to R2p of 0.99, RMSEP of 2.93%, RPD of 9.18, and RER of 26.60. A visualization map was also generated to predict the level of quinoa in the adulterated samples. The results of this study demonstrate the ability of VNIR hyperspectral imaging for adulteration detection in quinoa flour as an alternative to the complicated traditional method.

Investigation of Potential In Vitro Anticancer and Antimicrobial Activities of Balanites aegyptiaca (L.) Delile Fruit Extract and Its Phytochemical Components.

The therapeutic importance of Balanites aegyptiaca in folk medicine for the treatment of several common human diseases has led researchers to conduct phytochemical and pharmacological studies on extracts from various parts of the plant. In the current study, the phytochemical composition of the B. aegyptiaca methanolic fruit extract was characterized, and its antimicrobial activity was evaluated together with the cytotoxic activity against MCF-7, PC-3, and Caco-2, compared with normal Vero cells. Further, its effects on cell cycle arrest, apoptosis induction and expression of apoptosis-related genes were assessed. The phytochemical screening revealed the presence of fatty acids and their esters in addition to phytosterols, steroid derivatives, and bioflavonoid glycosides with oleic and palmitic acids being the prevalent components (24.12 and 21.56%, respectively). The results showed considerable cytotoxic activity of the extract against the three cancer cell lines (MCF-7, PC-3, and Caco-2) with a selectivity index ranging from 5.07 to 6.52. This effect was further confirmed with the accompanied increased total apoptosis of treated PC-3 cells (19.22% of the total number of cells) compared to the control cells (0.64% of the total number of cells) with cell cycle arrest at G1 phase and the increased transcription of pro-apoptotic genes including P53 (3.69) and BAX (3.33) expressed as fold change (2^ ΔΔCT). The calculated minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) was similar (62.5 µg/mL) against the three tested bacterial strains (Acinetobacter johnsonii, Serratia marcescens and Agrobacterium tumefaciens), while it was higher than 1000 µg/mL for the fungal species (Rhizoctonia solani, Penicillium italicum, and Fusarium oxysporium). Our findings suggest a promising anticancer activity for B. aegyptiaca, which paves the way for more detailed future studies.

COVID-19 pandemic: impacts on bees, beekeeping, and potential role of bee products as antiviral agents and immune enhancers.

COVID-19 pandemic has passed to the front all the contradictions of the beekeeping sector: the valuable role of bee products as immune enhancers and antiviral agents and the impact that unsustainability of human activities has on bees' health and survival. The COVID-19 emergency led several countries to adopt severe restriction measures to contrast the infection. The lowering of industrial and commercial activities, transports, and the general lockdown had immediate consequences on the air quality, significantly improving environmental conditions. This had a positive impact on honeybees' life's quality. On the other hand, the bee and beehive transportation limitations threaten to hit food production by affecting the pollinator service, and this is particularly true in large, food-exporting countries like the USA and China where due to the few numbers of local bees, beekeepers import them by other countries and convey by truck hives for thousands of kilometers to pollinate crops. Furthermore, honeybee products, focusing on their natural pharmacological properties, can play an essential role as a potential natural contrast to the virus by enhancing the immunity defenses of both humans and animals, and their demand by consumers is expected to increase. Several researchers in the last months focused their attention on bee products to evaluate their effect in the cure of COVID-19 patients to ameliorate the symptoms or to contrast the coronavirus directly. This review reports these preliminary results.

An overview of recent advances and applications of FT-IR spectroscopy for quality, authenticity, and adulteration detection in edible oils.

Authenticity and adulteration detection are primary concerns of various stakeholders, such as researchers, consumers, manufacturers, traders, and regulatory agencies. Traditional approaches for authenticity and adulteration detection in edible oils are time-consuming, complicated, laborious, and expensive; they require technical skills when interpreting the data. Over the last several years, much effort has been spent in academia and industry on developing vibrational spectroscopic techniques for quality, authenticity, and adulteration detection in edible oils. Among them, Fourier transforms infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy has gained enormous attention as a green analytical technique for the rapid monitoring quality of edible oils at all stages of production and for detecting and quantifying adulteration and authenticity in edible oils. The technique has several benefits such as rapid, precise, inexpensive, and multi-analytical; hence, several parameters can be predicted simultaneously from the same spectrum. Associated with chemometrics, the technique has been successfully implemented for the rapid detection of adulteration and authenticity in edible oils. After presenting the fundamentals, the latest research outcomes in the last 10 years on quality, authenticity, and adulteration detection in edible oils using FT-IR spectroscopy will be highlighted and described in this review. Additionally, opportunities, challenges, and future trends of FT-IR spectroscopy will also be discussed.

COVID-19: pathogenesis, advances in treatment and vaccine development and environmental impact-an updated review.

Diseases negatively impact the environment, causing many health risks and the spread of pollution and hazards. A novel coronavirus, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus type 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has led to a recent respiratory syndrome epidemic in humans. In December 2019, the sudden emergence of this new coronavirus and the subsequent severe disease it causes created a serious global health threat and hazards. This is in contrast to the two aforementioned coronaviruses, SARS-CoV-2 (in 2002) and middle east respiratory syndrome coronavirus MERS-CoV (in 2012), which were much more easily contained. The World Health Organization (WHO) dubbed this contagious respiratory disease an "epidemic outbreak" in March 2020. More than 80 companies and research institutions worldwide are working together, in cooperation with many governmental agencies, to develop an effective vaccine. To date, six authorized vaccines have been registered. Up till now, no approved drugs and drug scientists are racing from development to clinical trials to find new drugs for COVID-19. Wild animals, such as snakes, bats, and pangolins are the main sources of coronaviruses, as determined by the sequence homology between MERS-CoV and viruses in these animals. Human infection is caused by inhalation of respiratory droplets. To date, the only available treatment protocol for COVID-19 is based on the prevalent clinical signs. This review aims to summarize the current information regarding the origin, evolution, genomic organization, epidemiology, and molecular and cellular characteristics of SARS-CoV-2 as well as the diagnostic and treatment approaches for COVID-19 and its impact on global health, environment, and economy.

Quality and biochemical changes of 'Hindi-Besennara' mangoes during shelf life as affected by chitosan, gallic acid and chitosan gallate.

Quality and biochemical changes of 'Hindi-Besennara' mangoes in response to chitosan, gallic acid (GA) and chitosan gallate (CG) postharvest dipping were studied during 2 weeks of storage at 20 ± 2 °C and 60-70% RH. Both GA and CG lowered decay and weight loss during storage. Chitosan and GA at high level and CG at both level maintained higher membrane stability index of peel than control. Fruits treated only CG and GA at high level and chitosan at both levels retained higher acidity and vitamin C but lower pH and total soluble solids (TSS) than control. All treatments resulted with fruits with higher flesh firmness and lower TSS/acid ratio than untreated fruits. GA at both rates gave lower total phenols after 1 week of storage than control. Both levels of GA and low level of chitosan resulted with fruits with higher antioxidant capacity (lower IC50 values) after 1 week of storage than control. All treatments decreased α-amylase activity of fruit peel compared to control. CG and GA at high level and chitosan at low level increased peroxidase activity compared to control. It was concluded that CG and GA dipping delayed ripening and maintained quality of 'Hindi-Besennara' mangoes during 2 weeks of shelf life.

Postharvest chitosan, gallic acid and chitosan gallate treatments effects on shelf life quality, antioxidant compounds, free radical scavenging capacity and enzymes activities of 'Sukkari' bananas.

The effect of postharvest chitosan, gallic acid (GA) and chitosan gallate (CG) dipping treatments at different concentrations on quality parameters, antioxidant compounds, free radical scavenging capacity (FRSC) and enzymes activities of 'Sukkari' bananas were studied during storage (ripening) at 20 ± 2 °C and 60-70% RH for 13 days. Weight loss and peel color index (the change from green to yellow) increased while, membrane stability index of peel tissues, pulp firmness and acidity decreased during storage. CG and GA treatments slowed down the changes in these parameters compared to control. Total soluble solids (TSS) concentration increased during storage and was lower at CG than other treatments. TSS/acid ratio increased during storage and showed higher value after storage than initial. This ratio was lower at 1% chitosan, 0.075% GA and CG treatments than control. Both vitamin C and total flavonoids concentrations decreased during storage and were not affected by the applied treatments. Total phenols concentration decreased during storage and was higher at acetic acid and the high rate of chitosan, GA and CG treatments than control. FRSC (DPPH IC50 values) of fruit peel ranged from 2.54 to 4.19 µg phenolics concentration among the treatments. FRSC was not affected by the applied treatments but increased (lower IC50 value) during shelf life. The possible relations of these biochemical changes with the activities of the enzymes α-amylase, xylanase, polygalacturonase, peroxidase and polyphenoloxidase were discussed. It is concluded that postharvest CG and GA treatments delayed ripening and maintained better quality parameters of 'Sukkari' bananas during 13 days of shelf life than control.