Pistachio and Health Journal
Volume:1 Issue: 3, Summer 2018

Pistaciavera (pistachio) seeds are well-known medicinal herbs with several important pharmacological properties, including antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects. The effects of pistachio oil (PO) have not yet been studied on the cognition performance. The current study was designed to investigate the nootropic effects of PO on male Wistar rats.

A total of 21 male Wistar rats were randomly divided into three experimental groups. Group1 was kept under normal conditions. Groups 2 and 3 were orally treated with PO, 1 and 4 mL/kg, respectively, for 21 days. Next, cognition was evaluated using the Morris water maze (MWM) and the Y-maze continuous alternation task (Y-CAT).

The results showed that PO improved the working memory in Y-CAT, but it failed to exert positive effects on the spatial learning and memory in MWM.

The findings of the current study suggest that PO enhances the working memory and remedies memory impairments and cognitive deficits.

Pistachio butter is susceptible to autoxidation owing to its high content of unsaturated fatty acids.

In this research, the effects of pistachio hull and testa (0.0, 0.5, and 1.0%) on the oxidative stability of pistachio butter have been investigated. The peroxide value, oxidative stability (using the rancimat method at 110°C), and the refractive index (at 30°C) were evaluated after months 0, 2, and 4 from the storage time at 25°C.

The peroxide value of the samples increased with an increase in the storage time. The lowest peroxide value was related to the treatment containing 1.0% of hull and 1.0% of testa. Besides, in the oxidative stability test, the control sample and the treatment containing 1.0% of hull and 1.0% of testa showed the lowest and highest stability time against oxidation, respectively. The refractive index of the samples was determined within the range of 1.464-1.470. According to the results, there was a significant difference just between the control samples of month 0 and month 4, being an indicator of polymerization reactions. There was no significant difference among other treatments at different storage times.

Pistachio butter containing the combination of 1% of hull and 1% of testa showed higher oxidative stability after 4 months of storage.

Plant growth promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) are widely used in protecting plants against pathogens in horticultural crops.

In the current study, the effects of two bacterial strains, i.e. Pseudomonas fluorescens VUPF5 and Bacillus subtilis Bs96 were evaluated on plant growth and antioxidant enzymatic activities, such as GPX, PPO, and PAL, either inoculated with Phytophthora drechsleri or alone, in two pistachio cultivars of Sarakhs and Badami-Rize-Zarand.

The two bacterial strains reduced the mortality rate of pistachio seedlings and increased growth parameters, such as dry and fresh weights of plants’ roots, shoots, and height. The enzymatic activities and levels of phenolic compounds increased in seedlings after inoculation with the two bacterial strains and P. drechsleri. The maximum enzymatic activities were observed on the 6 th day after co-inoculation with the bacterial strains and P. drechsleri.

Pseudomonas fluorescens VUPF5 resulted in the highest levels of enzymatic activities and phenolic compounds. The highest levels of enzymatic activities and phenol contents were found in Badami-Rize-Zarand cultivar, with a highest level of resistance to P. drechsleri.

Agonoscena pistaciae is a major pest of pistachio orchards that reduces the crop quality and quantity. Hence, to control this pest, gardeners use different insecticides every year.

In this study, the lethal effects of spirotetramat with some non-ionic surfactants, including the citral soap and the citral activator at the concentrations of 120, 180, and 240ppm of the soap, and at the concentrations of 500, 1000, and 2000ppm of the activatoras well as their effects on A. pistaciae samples taken on days 1, 3, 7, 14, and 21 after spraying, were studied.

The effects of each treatment, using the Henderson-Tilton's formula, showed that the number of nymphs decreased in different treatments on days 1 and 7 after spraying, and the results of different concentrations showed that with an increase in the concentration, the rate of mortality increased; with the greatest effect exerted by the concentration of 240ppm of the citral soap, after one week.

According to the preliminary results obtained from this section, it can be concluded that the citral soap can be a good choice for the pistachio pest control in pistachio gardens, due to its favorable effects on pistachio seedlings and its satisfactory performance in combination with spirotetramat in producing a healthy product, reducing consumption costs, reducing environmental hazards, exerting impacts on natural enemies, and minimizing the use of chemical pesticides.

Nowadays, identifying the natural ways of preventing food deterioration due to the deleterious effects of synthetic additives has gained high significance. In this study, the effects of pistachio oil (PO), as a natural antioxidant, on the oxidative stability of sunflower oil (SFO) have been evaluated under accelerated oxidation conditions.

The antioxidant properties of unrefined SFO and PO were evaluated using the 2, 2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) method. The peroxide value (PV), thiobarbituric acid-reactive substances (TBARS), and the TOTOX value of SFO supplemented with the concentrations of 0.1, 0.2, and 0.4% of PO (T3, T4, and T5 treatments, respectively) were assessed as the oxidation indices, over 30 days. In addition, SFO alone and SFO in combination with butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT) were considered as negative and positive controls (T1 and T2 treatments), respectively. The statistical analysis of the indices was carried out using the one-within one-between ANOVA.

Treatments with 0.2 and 0.4% of PO delayed SFO oxidation for 20 days through their antioxidant contents, but the treatment with 0.1% of PO increased SFO oxidation after 30 days. The increase by the later might be due to the pro-oxidant nature of PO. It is worth noting that the high concentrations of PO (0.2 and 0.4%), a generally recognized as a safe (GRAS) additive, showed stronger oxidation-inhibitory effects than the authorized concentration of BHT (0.02%) (P 0.05).

In conclusion, it was identified that the use of PO, as a natural antioxidant, was effective in the prevention of SFO oxidation.

Crown and root rot of pistachio trees is a serious disease in pistachio orchards that is induced by Phytophthora species. Due to the harmful effects of chemical compounds on the environment and human health, great emphasis has been placed on the biocontrol of plant diseases, in recent years. Some plant growth promoting microorganisms, such asrhizobacteria (PGPR) and fungi (PGPF), suppress plant pathogens by various direct and indirect mechanisms, including colonization, antibiosis, production of lytic enzymes and volatile compounds (VOCs), as well as induced systemic resistance (ISR). From among beneficial microorganisms, Bacillus and Pseudomonas strains and Trichoderma species have been used as biocontrol agents in many studies, due to their strong biocontrol effects on a wide range of plant pathogens. In recent years, many studies have been done on the biological control of crown and root rot (gummosis disease) of pistachio trees. In the current study, the biocontrol efficacy of soil microorganisms antagonistic to Phytophthoracrown and root rot of pistachio trees has been evaluated.

The common pistachio psylla, Agonoscena pistaciae (Hemiptera: Psylloidea), is one of the most important pests found in pistachio orchards in Iran, that annually causes great economic damages on pistachio yield. The application of sulfur as a pesticide was one of the strategies used in orchards in the recent years but with negative and positive effects as have been reported. The purpose of this review is to investigate sulfur as a pesticide.

All pesticides used in the United States must be registered by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), based on scientific studies demonstrating their applications without posing risks on people or the environment. Elemental sulfur as a natural component was registered by EPA for application as the insecticide, fungicide, and rodenticide on several hundred of feed crops, ornamental plants, turfs, and residential sites.

The available studies indicate that the application of sulfur within the authorized limits has low toxicity in people and non-target species.

All pesticides containing sulfur as individual active ingredient are acceptable for application in an organically managed orchard. Pesticides containing sulfur can be applied using acceptable techniques without causing unreasonable adverse effects on people or the environment.