Pistachio and Health Journal
Volume:1 Issue: 4, Autumn 2018

Evaluation of pistachio wastes is of great importance. In addition to the importance of different organs of various species from edible to medical and industrial points of view, scientists have always been interested in knowing their properties.

Pistachio wastes are created in different stages of planting, harvesting and post-harvesting, which increase the grower's costs and decrease efficiency. In this study, the amount of waste in the pistachio production chain and the recapturing of wastes in value chain will be discussed.

It is proposed that governmental and private sectors codify a new program for using pistachio wastes in the industry by supporting new technology in preparing the processing unit to convert pistachio wastes to valuable materials. Therefore, using this technology, the growers’ economy will improve and, of course, the environment would be safe for production of pistachio nuts.

Recapturing of pistachio waste can be useful in reprocessing industries, the production of pickles and jams from pistachio hulls, pistachio oil from kernel waste, tar and activated carbon from shell in more economical process, the use of waste as a substrate for production of edible mushrooms and using the pistachio processing waste as food for animals, poultry and fish.

Pistachio (Pistacia vera), as an important agricultural product, normally faces different problems in Iran. Alkalinity is one of the main factors that has detrimental effects on pistachio growth and its production by reducing availability and solubility of essential elements. Using some fertilizers and chelating agents improves the availability and solubility of nutritional elements in the rhizosphere and thereby improves the growth ofplants.

The current research investigated the effect of two bio-fertilizers (humic and fulvic acids) on the growth of pistachio seedlings grown in semi-hydroponic cultures containing either Fe-EDDHA or FeSO4. The pH of culture mediums was adjusted to 6.5, 7.5 and 8.5.

The results indicated that using humic substances (humic and fulvic acids) can increase pistachio dry weight under alkalinity conditions. These findings were remarkable, especially in the presence of Fe-EDDHA versus FeSO4.

Humic substances (as bio-stimulants), especially in the presence of EDDHA, can reduce or compensate some detrimental effects of alkalinity and thereby improve plant growth.

Due to its taste and nutritional properties, pistachio (Pistacia vera) is one of the most popular nuts in the world. One of the problems regarding the storage of fresh pistachios is hull browning. The phenomenon is the result of the formation of complex compounds and colored polymers caused by enzyme reactions, which damage the texture, aroma, taste and even the appearance of the fruit.

A study was conducted to investigate the effects of citric acid (0, 1, 1.5 and 2%) and ascorbic acid (0 ,15, 25 and 35 ppm), as well as two types of polyethylene (LDPE) and polystyrene coatings on the shelf life (day zero, 25 and 45) of Ahmad Aghaei pistachio cultivar. The samples were prepared from a pistachio orchard located in gardens in the area of Hozdagh in Kerman province. This experiment was performed with three factors in a factorial design based on a completely random design. Each value is the average of four replications (200-gr in each replicate). Sources of variation were treatment (Ascorbic and Citric acid), polymer coatings (polyethylene and polystyrene) and storage period (0, 25 and 45).

The results indicated significant effects of the treatments, polymer coatings and storage periods on some quantitative and qualitative characteristics of the pistachios. Slight weight loss during storage was observed in samples which were higher in polyethylene (0.45%) coatings compared to polystyrene (0.22%). Treatments did not have a significant effect on the pistachio firmness as compared with the effect of shelf life and coating. The hull firmness decreased (30.5%) during storage, but it first decreased and then increased in the kernel. In addition, the samples in the polystyrene coatings had more rigidity (3.5%) than the pistachios in the polyethylene package. In terms of browning, the appearance of the pistachios in the packaging of polystyrene coatings was more desirable than that of polyethylene coatings

In general, weight loss, firmness, apparent quality, and color indices were better in polystyrene coatings than polyethylene ones.

The physical specifications of pistachios after processing are associated with the presence of aflatoxin. The classification of pistachio nuts based on the appearance of raw dried pistachios could have a very important effect on the amount of aflatoxin.

Samples of three commercial pistachio cultivars (Ahmad-Aghaei, Fandoghi, and Kale-Ghoochi) were categorized to different groups, which were large, medium, tiny, damaged, non-split yellow-brown stain and dark-greyish stain. The thin layer chromatography method was applied for the measurement of aflatoxins at the wavelength of 366 nm.

The yellow-brown stained nuts in Ahmad-Aghaei, Fandoghi and Kale-Ghoochi cultivars were 2.3, 4.6 and 1.1%, and the grey-black stained nuts were 4.6, 4.7 and 1.2%, respectively. By completely separating stained nuts, the amount of aflatoxin in Ahmad-Aghaei, Fandoghi and Kale-Ghoochi lots decreased more than 89.0%. There were significant differences (p<0.05) in the aflatoxin amounts of stained pistachio cultivars.

This study pointed out that physical separation of the stained nuts from the pistachio lots could reduce the amount of aflatoxin in the final lots.

Water scarcity is one of the most serious threats to the sharp decline of yield in different cultivars of pistachio in Iranian orchards. Therefore, attention should be paid to the maximum productivity of water resources and the use of modern agricultural methods to increase water use efficiency.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of perlite (0 and 10 g kg-1soil), humic acid (0, 7.5 and 15 g kg-1 soil) and irrigation interval (7, 20 and 30 days) on growth parameters of pistachio seedlings. This research was based on a completely randomized factorial design on "Badami Zarand" rootstock under greenhouse conditions. The studied factors included plant height, root length, leaf area, fresh and dry weights of root and shoot and uptake of nutrient elements in leaves. Finally, the statistical analysis of the data was done through a three way factorial ANOVA using the SPSS software, and the means of the data were compared using Duncan’s method.

The results of the study indicate that the application of humic acidin the concentration of15 g kg-1 soil and perlite 10 g kg-1 soil have a significant effect on plant growth and nutrient uptake under drought stress, which is associated with increasing effective roots and water abundance.

The results of the interaction effects showed that the application of humic acid and perlite can efficiently reduce the negative effects of drought stress on pistachio seedlings during irrigation intervals of 30 days, and it also causes more tolerance to stress.

Pistachio is the most important agricultural product in Iran, especially in Kerman province. It is also important in the domain of export. However, exporting this important item has confronted serious challenges in recent years due to increased aflatoxin contamination in Iran. Exclusive genetic and environmental factors affect the amount of aflatoxin contained in pistachio. Controlling agricultural factors to reduce the amount of aflatoxin can be effective in overcoming the export problem.

The present study was conducted to investigate the effect of some agricultural factors on aflatoxin content. The present research was carried out in a commercial garden in Zangiabad village, 17 kilometers north of Kerman, in the 2011-2012 crop year. The research was conducted in seven separate designs in the form of a Completely Randomized Design with three treatments and replications in each design.

The lowest amount of aflatoxin was obtained at the time harvested from September 5 to September 20. The removal of weeds significantly reduced the amount of aflatoxin. The lowest amount of aflatoxin was obtained when no spraying was carried out for pests and diseases. The traditional processing of pistachio significantly increased the amount of aflatoxin. The use of nitrogen and phosphate fertilizers at 400 kg ha-1 was the best solution for reducing the amount of aflatoxin. Less irrigation with an 84-day irrigation interval resulted in the highest reduction in aflatoxin content.

By controlling the agricultural factors and optimizing the conditions, it is possible to control and reduce the amount of pistachio aflatoxin.

Nuts are from among the most popular snacks worldwide and constitute a major part of Iranians’ food habits. The natural contamination of nuts with aflatoxins is unavoidable and poses a special challenge to food safety. Aflatoxins are carcinogenic secondary metabolites that are mainly produced by Aspergillus flavus and Aspergillus parasiticus and frequently contaminate food stuffs, such as pistachios. To find a suitable method for tracing and predicting the production of aflatoxins by fungal species in pistachios, especially in the field of exportation, this study was conducted to determine the ratio of the number of fungal spores to the sample value of pistachios.

Firstly, some suspensions containing 5 to 5×106 spores of A. flavus were prepared and then used for the inoculation of 10 grams of pistachio nuts. After inoculation, the samples were kept under optimal conditions. Sampling was done 24 hours after inoculation and performed in six days. Pistachio nut slurries were extracted using methanol, water, and hexane (30ml, 7.5ml, and 10ml), and aflatoxins were analyzed using the high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) method.

The results showed that the amount of aflatoxins inoculated at the concentration of the 106 spore suspension was more than the standard values after day 5.

It can be concluded that the use of mechanized pistachio processing lines accompanied with the proper use of pistachio washing methods can contribute to the reduction of the fungal sporulation of inoculums, thereby reducing the production of aflatoxins. Findings of this paper can support decision making at transport and storage levels for producers and processors to predict the time for AFB1 production by A. flavus in pistachio nuts in the postharvest phase.