Journal of Horticulture and Postharvest Research
Volume:3 Issue: 2, Sep 2020

Our objective was to undertake the green synthesis of silver nanoparticles using Grapefruit (Citrus paradise) peel extract and evaluate the effects of silver nanoparticles on Botrytis cinerea.

The silver nanoparticles formation was evaluated at different temperatures and concentrations of AgNO3. The experiment was conducted during 2015 at Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran.

Silver nanoparticles were successfully synthesized by Grapefruit's peel through a simple green and eco-friendly route. Aqueous extract of Grapefruit's peel was used synthesize nanosilver. The size of nanoparticle was determined at 5-65 nm, with SPR absorption at 420 nm in UV-Vis spectroscopy. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and X-ray diffraction spectroscopy (XRD) revealed that the synthesized nanoparticle was face centered. The silver nanoparticles characterized for their size and shape using scanning electron microscopy and TEM, respectively. XRD was used to determine the concentration of metal ions. Result indicated that nanosilver reduced the growth of Botrytis cinerea inviro culture. The highest antifungal effect was seen in the treatment with 40g/l nanosilver. In the other hand, the effect of nanosilver and time on diameter growth of Botrytis cinerea was not significant, individually (p≤1%).

No limitations were founded.

Green Synthesis of Nano is a reliable method for the nanoparticles synthesis and environmentally friendly approach.

The effect of abusing chemical biocides in controlling pests and diseases has drawn the attention of policymakers to the development of methods potentially available in nature for this purpose.

In the present study, the inhibitory effects of four different essential oils against Botrytis cinerea were tested at various concentrations (0, 200, 400, 600, and 800 μL L-1) in in vitro and in vivo.

The in vitro results showed that the growth of B. cinerea was completely inhibited by the application of anise oil at concentrations of 800 μL L-1. The in vivo results indicated that treated fruits with marjoram oil had more total soluble solids, and anthocyanin content in comparison to anise, chamomile, and black caraway oil. Furthermore, among essential oils, treated fruits with black caraway essential oils had the lowest pH, while anise, chamomile, and marjoram oil had the highest pH. The highest anthocyanin content and pH were obtained at 200 and 400 μL L-1 concentration and lowest values were found at a control treatment (respectively). The most total soluble solids were observed at control treatment and the lowest values were recorded at 600 μL L-1. The application of each essential oil decreased the percentage loss in fresh weight significantly and increased the storage-life of the fruit.

Higher cost of application was a limitation.

This research confirms the antifungal effects of anise, fennel, chamomile, and marjoram essential oils both in vitro and in vivo on grape fruits postharvest. Therefore, these essential oils could be an alternative to chemicals to control postharvest phytopathogenic fungi on grape fruits.

Wild apricot fruit is a rich source of carbohydrates, minerals and vitamins. Its shelf life is very short due to its perishability characteristics. High perishable nature, high acidity and low sugar content of wild apricot fruits are the major limitations for their utilization as fresh fruits.

In this research, Wild apricot fruits were osmotically dehydrated and packed in different packaging materials viz. polyethylene, aluminium laminated and shrink packages were than stored under ambient conditions for six months and analysed for quality and sensory parameters at two months intervals. Osmotic dehydration is a technique where moisture is partially removed and the sweetness is increased by dipping the fruits in concentrated sugar solution, followed by final drying in hot air. Potassium metabisulphite is added in sugar solution as preservative and to improve colour of the final product. After draining the syrup, the fruits are dried in a mechanical dehydrator to a constant weight.

Results showed that aluminium laminated packaging material proved to be best among the all packaging materials in maintaining superior quality up to six months of storage as indicated by higher mean titratable acidity (5.78%), reducing sugars (10.11%), total sugars (37.71%), ascorbic acid (4.77 mg/100g) and lower moisture content (11.14%). All the sensory parameters including colour, taste, texture, flavour and overall acceptability declined significantly during storage period of six months.

There were no limitations to report.

It was found that the most suitable packaging material was aluminium laminated whereas the greatest change in sensory parameters was observed in polyethylene packaging.

Food is a basic need for human life. Ensuring food security requires guaranteeing adequate food availability, accessibility, and utilization along with the sustainability of the food system. Food availability can be improved by decreasing food losses. The goal of this study is to document the causes and quantify the amount of losses in Iran’s rice supply chain.

A cross-sectional survey method was used to collect data through interviews with some actors of the rice production chain operating in Mazandaran province, Qaemshahr, in 2015, to approximate percentage weight losses at the different stages in the supply chain.

The rice losses are estimated to be about one-third of the production that could feed 18 million people per year. On the other hand, the rice losses imply an economic loss of 1,403 million U.S. dollars, annually, and losing some scare resources, such as water, in Iran.

It is not easy to apply the ways to collect the useful and more accurate data in order to find the most important reasons of food losses for each stage and process of the food supply chains.

It was found that it is necessary to invest in the marketing systems, renew the supply chain and improve knowledge of the actors of the rice chain -from producing to consuming- in Iran’s rice system to reduce the physical and economical estimated losses of rice.

Strawberry (Fragaria × ananassa) is highly perishable fruit with a limited postharvest life at room temperature and is vulnerable to postharvest decay due to its high respiration rate, environmental stresses and pathogenic attacks.

To increase the postharvest life of strawberries, a combination of packaging material (polyethylene and perforated polyethylene) along with control and storage conditions {zero energy cool chamber (ZECC) and ambient conditions in laboratory} were tested.

Mass loss (1.59%) and internal temperature (22.24°C) were significantly reduced while shelf-life (more than 3 days) was enhanced in ZECC as compared to ambient conditions in laboratory with 6.46% mass loss, 23.04°C internal temperature and less than 3 days shelf-life. Packaging material significantly influenced mass loss (%) and electrical conductivity (S/m) of strawberry juice irrespective of its interaction with storage conditions and storage durations. Maximum mass loss (9.11%) and EC (3.74 S/m) were recorded in control samples while, minimum mass loss (1.24%) and EC (3.52 S/m) was recorded in polyethylene enclosed fruit. Irrespective of storage conditions and packaging material pH, TSS, titratable acidity (%) and ascorbic acid (mg100 ml-1) decreased while electrical conductivity (S/m) increased during storage.

In future study storage duration should be extended by adding more removals to get clear difference in fruit quality and shelf-life under various treatments.

In conclusion ZECC can be used for short term storage of strawberry.

Tea plant (Camellia sinensis L., O.Kuntze) is one of the most popular non-alcoholic beverage crops worldwide. Although tea is important in Iran’s economy, little is known about the pattern of genetic variation among the various tea genotypes grown in Iran.

The relationship and the genetic diversity of 20 genotypes of the tea germplasm belonging to three regions were analyzed to provide guidance for the breeding of tea tree using 10 RAPD and 8 ISSR markers.

Polymorphism percent was 78.6 in RAPD and 68.06 in ISSR fingerprinting. The results of the PIC analysis were in the range of 2 0.44 to 0.49 and 0.34 to 0.50 for RAPD and ISSR respectively. From these results, it can be seen that these primers can detect genetic differences very well. The pairwise similarity coefficient between the genotypes varied from 0.37 to 0.68 for RAPD and from 0.59 to 0.96 for ISSR. The 20 tea genotypes from genetic resources were grouped into three main groups by UPGMA cluster analysis based on RAPD data, and to five main groups by UPGMA cluster analysis based on ISSR data. Both molecular analyses showed a high degree of variation among the genotypes.

Application of others molecular markers such as AFLP, SSR and (cpDNA investigation can help to found the genetic relationships of samples better.

The present study revealed that RAPD and ISSR methods could be successfully utilized to identify genetic diversity and relationship of tea group and this will provide valuable information to assist parental selection in current and future tea breeding programs.

Pretreatments of ethanol and chitosan immersion were examined for their potential to maintain physiochemical attributes of fresh cut pumpkin.

Fresh cut pumpkin cubes were dipped into different ethanol solutions (20%, 30%, 40%, 50%) or chitosan concentrations (0.5%, 1%, 1.5%). All samples were stored for 15 days at 10°C.

Among four concentrations being applied, the 30% ethanol sample (ET 30) sustained the highest sensory quality until the final day and effectively retained fruit firmness, total soluble solids, total phenolic content compared to the 20% ethanol treatment (ET 20) stored at the same condition. Chitosan application retained better content of carotenoid, phenolic compounds, firmness, and reduced weight loss compared to non – chitosan treatment but there was no significant difference among concentrations. As a result, overall quality index of the coated samples surpassed control ones, especially 1% chitosan. The coating did not affect total soluble solids and antioxidant capacity.

The investigations of antioxidant and cell wall degrading enzymes were absent to support for the study’s results.

The combination of 30% ethanol and 1% chitosan suggested a possible application in practical context as it outperformed in maintaining the quality and prolonging storage time of the product up to 15 days at 100C.

The aims of this research were to collect reliable information about economic traits, introducing superior genotypes for production, exportation and breeding programs in new hybrids of gladiolus.

48 promising genotypes with 4 parents of gladiolus evaluated on the basis of a randomized complete block design in three replications. The Research was conducted in Ornamental Plants Research Center in Mahallat from 2017-2018.

The results showed that the highest number of florets was observed in OPRC16 (19.0 florets) and the lowest in OPRC412, OPRC413, and OPRC99 (8.00 florets). The highest floret width of 12.00 cm was related to OPRC16 and the lowest of 7.00 cm to OPRC712. The longest spike was 71.00 cm observed in OPRC16 and the shortest was 33.00 cm observed in OPRC411. OPRC311 and OPRC61 exhibited the highest and lowest plant height of 210 and 132 cm, respectively.  It was found that the flowers of the new hybrids were almost whitish in color. It was also indicated that the diversity in the traits was mostly related to the genetic factors and the environment was less influential on them. According to the North American Gladiolus Council, the length of the cut branch (spike and branch length) of all hybrids (48 hybrids) and the parents P1, P2, and P3 were categorized in the fantasy group. The hybrids that were placed in the fantasy group in terms of the spike length were more marketable.

No limitations were founded.

The results revealed high diversity among the hybrids and parents in traits. Therefore, hybrids that are superior (fantasy group) in these commercial traits can be introduced as new cultivars.

Physiologically matured fruits of Haden, Kent, Palmer, and Keitt mango varieties were used for experiment. The fruits were held at ambient (29-31 oC) and simulated-transit temperature (10-13 oC) conditions. Quality which includes fruit firmness, weight, and spoilage, were assessed and used to determine shelf life of stored fruits.

A Completely Randomized Design with four replications was used. For each of the four varieties, five mango trees were sampled at random in each of the four replications of a mango plantation when fruits were physiologically matured.  

For the ambient and simulated-transit temperature conditions, Kent (4.09 days and 3.85 days, respectively) and Keitt (4.08 days and 3.92 days, respectively) fruits stored longer. Haden fruits ripened significantly earlier (9.50 days and 3.5 days, respectively) than Keitt fruits (11.01 days and 5 days, respectively). Ripening time was statistically not different among Haden, Kent, and Palmer fruits. Softness, colour, and decay were limiting quality factors for all mango fruits stored at both conditions. Higher shriveling rates were observed in Haden and Palmer fruits with a slight preponderance of the former, for both conditions. Average weight loss was highest (6.50 % and 3.31 %, respectively) for Haden and lowest (4.09 % and 2.34 %, respectively) for Keitt, but generally lower in fruits stored under transit conditions.

No limitations to report.

A single quality attribute cannot be used to express loss of quality of mango fruit over the normal physiological range of mango fruit growth and development.

Aphanamixis polystachya (Wall.) R.N. Parker, belonging to Meliaceae family is very well known for its medicinal properties. But its allelopathic potentiality not yet has been reported. Hence, aqueous extracts of different parts of Aphanamixis polystachya were examined to investigate their allelopathic potentiality.

Different parts of A. polystachya extracts at four different concentrations (1:5, 1:10, 1:15 and 1:20 (w/v)) along with control (distilled water without extracts) were tested against jute, mungbean, mustard, radish, rice, wheat and tomato. The experiments were conducted following completely randomized design with three replicates.

Among the test crop species, shoot growth of mustard was most sensitive (43% average inhibition (a.i.)) followed by radish (41% a.i.) to the extracts of different parts of A. polystachya., whereas shoot growth of tomato (14% a.i.) was less sensitive to the extracts followed by rice (25% a.i.) and mungbean (29% a.i.). Root growth of radish was most sensitive (41% a.i.) species followed by mustard (39% a.i.) and jute (36% a.i.) to the extract of different parts of A. polystachya. Root growth of mungbean (13% a.i.) was less sensitive to the extracts followed by tomato (18% a.i.) and rice (20% a.i.). Among the plant parts, leaf showed most phytotoxic activity on the shoot growth (41%) and twig on the root (40%) growth of the test plants. However, stem extract was less sensitive to both shoot and root growth of the test species. These results confirm that A. polystachyahas allelopathic properties and may possess allelochemicals.

There was no significant limitation to the report.

To the best of our knowledge this is the first report about the allelopathic potential of Aphanamixis polystachya.

Tea is one of the earliest caffeinated non-alcoholic drinks produced from the tip of young shoots. Evaluation of genetic diversity of clones that existed in tea germplasm can be a help to improve the tea breeding program.

The genetic diversity of 9 tea clones based on morphological, chemical and molecular markers were evaluated at Shahid Eftekhari Fashalam Experimental Station, Tea Research Center, Shaft, Guilan, Iran.

Analysis of variance showed a significant difference between the clones for the studied traits. Descriptive statistics showed that green leaf yield had the highest phenotypic variation with CV of 56.47% and water extract showed the least phenotypic variation (4.40%). Clones 399, 285 and 100 had a significantly higher content of the number of plucking shoots, fresh and dry weight of plucking shoot and green leaf yield than other clones. Regarding the water extract, clones 272 and 100 have a significantly higher value than the other clones. Contents of polyphenols in all of clones were high except clones 276 and 278. The cluster analysis classified tea clones into three groups based on morphological and chemical traits as well as SCoT markers.

Not using other molecular markers and biochemical traits.

Great variation of morphological characters was apparent among the selected clones. Based on the Mantel test, the grouping of clones with molecular data was partially corresponding with morphological and chemical traits.

Ultraviolet-B radiation was inducing enormous stress at highland and coldest area since it increases more than 40% at highland when we compare with lowland. Therefore, this review aims to assess and depict impacts of Ultraviolet-B radiation on photosynthetic efficiency, growth performance, and yield of crops based on altitude.

Indicate that ultraviolet-b radiation has a severe effect on photosynthesis, especially the coldest time. It reduces photosynthetic efficiency in such an area, but it depends on the type of the crop and cultivar difference. On the other hand, it reduces growth performance and biomass accumulation based on altitude. There is a contrasting view on a net-assimilation rate on different studies condition. The effect of UV-B on crop yield was more contrasting in some studies says no effect on other studies it says it affect, but this contradictory result was mainly due to the difference in study conditions, still current studies on Yield revealed that UV-B has a high impact on yield.

Ultraviolet-B radiation has high effect on the highland area, but there is no much research focuses, but UV-B was profoundly affecting photosynthetic efficiency, growth performance and yield of crops on highland area.

UV-B was reducing crop production, and productivity at highland and this review gives more insights on UV-B impact at the highland and allow UV-B adaptive and preventive investigation in the future.

Spoilage flora is critical in vegetal ready to eat (RTE) product shelf-life and selecting efficient spoilage control technologies depends on the microorganisms present. This manuscript describes the evolution of the bacteriome of Batavia RTE lettuce, from fresh lettuce up to completely spoiled (day 14) and correlate these results with the sensorial characteristics. 

The microbiome of vegetal RTE were examined using culture-dependent and culture-independent (16S rRNA metabarcoding) methods. Culture-dependent methods were related with the metagenomic results and sensory analysis to describe the evolution during spoilage and shelf-life.

Our results demonstrated that the RTE lettuce bacteriome during spoilage is dominated by Gram-negative bacteria, mainly Flavobacterium and Pseudomonas. A bacterial population of 22 operational taxonomic units (OTUs) represent up to 96% of total bacterial reads and is maintained during the spoilage, representing the bacterial core of RTE lettuce. A high correlation was detected between culture-independent and culture-dependent results, both in general and selective culture media. Sensorial analysis of lettuce demonstrated that "odor" was the key parameter to determine the sensorial spoilage time and is related to total microbial load and to high concentrations of spoilage-related bacterial genera.

Hereby presented results are limited by the lettuce variety and by the storage conditions (MAP, 6°C, up to 14 days).

This paper describes an overview of the microbial and sensory evolution during spoilage of Batavia lettuce under MAP. A combination of culture-dependent and independent methods and sensorial analysis were used up to 14 days of storage.

This paper provides an in-depth critical review and analysis of current and recent research undertaken on the agro-ecology, photochemistry, postharvest physiology and utilization of Moringa oleifera Lam.

This treatise provided a comprehensive review of current and relevant research on the horticultural practices, its agro-ecological conditions, and pre- and post-harvest operations and treatments. It showed the alignment of the biochemical production of the various phytochemicals to the ecophysiology of the plant particularly the variety and ecotypes, micro climatic and edaphic conditions, and the crop growth patterns. The detailed aggregation of the different phytochemicals and the sites of synthesis in the plant revealed that the plant produces in excess of 36 phytochemical compounds that manifest its biological efficacy in over 16 different human physiological activity and medicine. Additionally, it revealed the many approaches to the postharvest physiology of the plant parts and the extension of the shelf life and quality for processing opportunities.

There were no significant limitations to the conducting of this exercise as the literature was available and accesses to communicate with authors were easily facilitated by the internet. Directions for future research: This is the only review which collated the findings on the agro-ecology, phytochemistry, postharvest physiology and utilization of Moringa oleifera Lam., and how it is linked to the world of ethno-medicine, and pharmacology. Further research is necessary to determine the efficacy of extracts from all parts of the moringa plant as potential and promising eco-friendly alternatives to common chemicals used as novel food preservatives.

Transformation of pumpkin flesh and seeds into dry flours increases their shelf stability and versatility. This study sought to optimise drying conditions for production of flour with high nutritional and nutraceutical value from flesh and seeds of C. pepo L var. fastigata using Response Surface Methodology, I optimal design.

Pumpkin flesh and seeds were dried following temperature time combinations got using I optimal design. All dry samples were tested for ascorbic acid, total carotenoids, total antioxidant capacity and starch digestibility. Seeds were also tested for in vitro protein digestibility, trypsin inhibitor activity, alpha tocopherol, beta tocopherol, and alpha tocotrienol.

The predicted optimum drying conditions for production of C. pepo L var. fastigata flour with maximum nutritional quality and bioactivity were 57°C; 6.9 hours for flesh and 60°C; 3.15 hours for seeds. The most influential model terms were temperature for resistant starch, in vitro protein digestibility, trypsin inhibitor activity, total carotenoids, alpha tocopherol, beta tocopherol and alpha tocotrienol; quadratic term of temperature and time for ascorbic acid; and drying time for total antioxidant activity of the flesh and temperature for antioxidant activity for seeds.

Dryer air flow rate was not included as a variable.

Results give, for the first time, an objective basis for choice of the drying conditions C. pepo L var. fastigata flesh and seeds for maximum nutritional and health benefits.

Postharvest losses of fruits and vegetables are major problem for countries that agriculture is one of the source economy and that losses in tomato have reported from 20 to 50%. It is one of the very perishable fruit and it changes continuously after harvesting. The aim was to evaluate the effect of guava (Psidium guajava) and physic nut (Jatropha curcas) leaf extract on fresh ripe tomato fruits.

Two tomato varieties obtained (UTC and Tandilo) from Gombe Main Market and were then treated with aqueous and ethanolic extract of Psidium guajava and Jatropha curcas leaves to extend their shelf life and maintain the quality of tomato fruits during storage. The experiment was laid out using completely randomized block design, (CRBD). Number of days to deterioration was recorded on visual eating quality. The recorded data were analyzed using analysis of variance.

Ethanolic extracts of P. guajava and J. curcas was highly effective on UTC variety. The postharvest decay that was the main quality factor in this experiment significantly reduced in Tandilo and UTC tomato fruits after using 2.5g/1000ml ethanolic J. curcas leaves extract by 24 and 25 days respectively; and 22 and 23 days after using 2.5g/1000ml ethanolic P. guajava leaves extract.

No limitations were founded.

These findings indicate that application of leaves extracts proved to be effective in extending the shelf life of test tomato fruits.

The Apiaceae family (Umbelliferae) is one of the largest families of flowering plants. The genus Anthriscus of this family is considered of high importance because of its use in folk medicines and flavoring throughout the world. Three species of this genus are represented in the Flora of Iran. The main objective of this study was to evaluate the essential oil composition, phenolic content and antioxidant activity of Anthriscus cerefolium and Anthriscus sylvestris.

The essential oil samples were isolated by hydrodistillation in a Clevenger type apparatus and analyzed using GC and GC–MS methods. The antioxidant activity and total phenolic content were determined by DPPH scavenging assay and Folin-Ciocalteu method, respectively.

Oxygenated monoterpenes constituted the principal fraction of essential oils obtained from A. cerefolium (rich in estragole), while aliphatic esters were detected to be the main class of compounds isolated from A. sylvestris (rich in chrysanthenyl acetate). Among the essential oils and methanolic extracts from two Anthriscus species at vegetative stage the highest antioxidant activity was observed for essential oil of A. sylvestris (IC50=71.3 μg.ml-1) followed by essential oil of A. cerefolium (IC50=115 μg.ml-1). In addition, the amounts of total phenolic contents of A. cerefolium and A. sylvestris methanolic extracts at full flowering stage (76.7 and 74.6 mg GAE.L-1) were determined. Other important group of compounds and their biological properties needs to be studied in Anthriscus species due to their potential pharmacological and food industry value.

No limitations were founded. Originality/Value: Since the essential oil of A. sylvestris at vegetative stage demonstrated the noticeable antioxidant ability which makes it well qualified to be used as natural ingredients to synthetic antioxidants in food industry.

The study was conducted to evaluate the infestation and tolerance of Callosobruchus maculatus to stored cowpea treated with Anchomanes difformis extracts.

Different concentrations of A. difformis extracts were admixed with 20g of uninfested cowpea seeds in 250ml plastic dishes. Ten unsexed adult C. maculatus were released into each treatment and toxicity was assessed at 24 hrs interval days after infestation, number of eggs laid on cowpea seeds was counted. At the end of the experiment, seeds were reweighed, number of emerged adult and damaged seeds were recorded.

All extracts were significantly toxic to C. maculatus as concentration increased. Ethyl acetate (EA) extract exerted highest mortality ranged 90-100%, while methanol recorded highest longevity. Maximum reduction in egg laid was observed with EA extract (51.44-74.45%), followed by methanol extract at 100 (58.69%) and 150 µl (69.56%). While maximum adult emergence inhibition was observed at 150 µl (93.33%) with EA. Cowpea seeds in control dishes suffered the heaviest infestation (31.76%) compared to EA and acetone extracts that recorded zero infestation at 100 and 150 µl concentration respectively. Susceptibility of cowpea seeds treated with extracts was significantly lower compared to control with 100%infestation.

No hindrances was encountered during the study.

The study revealed that A. difformis possesses oviposition deterrent and adult emergence inhibition properties against C. maculatus that can be utilize for the management of C. maculatus in stored cowpea seeds. Further studies are recommended for exploring the active compound responsible for its insecticidal activities and toxicological effect using albino rats as a model.