The Effect of Including Sea Buckthorn Berry By-Products on White Chocolate Quality and Bioactive Characteristics under a Circular Economy Context.

The by-products of the extraction of sea buckthorn (Hippophae rhamnoides L.) concentrated juice may represent a functional food ingredient for white chocolate production, as a rich source of bioactive compounds. The effects of six treatments derived from the factorial combination of two types of by-products (with oil or without oil) and three different concentrations (5%, 10%, and 15%), were assessed on rheological, quality, colour, antioxidant, and mineral properties of chocolate. The 15% addition of full powder led to the highest values of max firmness, total shear energy, shear energy, cohesiveness, gummosity, dry matter, and ABTS, compared to the untreated control, but the two highest concentrations of the oil-deprived powder resulted in the protein content increasing. The full powder addition always raised fat levels. Both the 'L' and 'a' colour component as well as total carotenoids, ß-carotene, lycopene, and vitamin C increased with the rise of H. rhamnoides powder addition, compared to the untreated control. The opposite trend was shown by the 'b' colour component and pH, whereas polyphenols and antioxidant activity attained higher values with the oil-deprived powder. The content of potassium decreased upon the 15% addition of the Hippophae rhamnoides by-product powder, compared to the untreated control, whereas calcium and magnesium increased. The 15% H. rhamnoides full powder elicited the augmentation of phosphorus content in chocolate, compared to the untreated control, contrary to the effect of the oil-deprived powder on P and Zn. The employment of SBB by-products highlights the great potential for manufacturing innovative functional foods with high nutritional value, such as chocolate.

Comparative Evaluation of Antioxidant Status and Mineral Composition of Diploschistes ocellatus, Calvatia candida (rostk.) Hollós, Battarrea phalloides and Artemisia lerchiana in Conditions of High Soil Salinity.

Natural reserves play a fundamental role in maintaining flora and fauna biodiversity, but the biochemical characteristics of such ecosystems have been studied in an extremely fragmentary way. For the first time, mineral composition and antioxidant status of three systematic groups of organisms, lichens (Diplischistes ocellatus), mushrooms (Calvatia candida and Battarrea phalloides) and wormwood (Artemisia lerchiana) have been described at the territory of Bogdinsko-Baskunchak Nature Reserve (Astrakhan region, Russia), characterized by high salinity and solar radiation, and water deficiency. Through ICP-MS, it was determined that scale lichen D. ocellatus accumulated up to 10-15% Ca, 0.5% Fe, 15 mg kg-1 d.w. iodine (I), 54.5 mg kg-1 Cr. Battarrea phalloides demonstrated anomalously high concentrations of B, Cu, Fe, Mn Se, Zn, Sr and low Na levels, contrary to Calvatia candida mushrooms accumulating up to 10,850 mg kg-1 Na and only 3 mg kg-1 Sr. The peculiarity of A. lerchiana plants was the high accumulation of B (22.23 mg kg-1 d.w.), Mn (57.48 mg kg-1 d.w.), and antioxidants (total antioxidant activity: 68.6 mg GAE g-1 d.w.; polyphenols: 21.0 mg GAE g-1 d.w.; and proline: 5.45 mg g-1 d.w.). Diploschistes ocellatus and Calvatia candida demonstrated the lowest antioxidant status: 3.6-3.8 mg GAE g-1 d.w. total antioxidant activity, 1.73-2.10 mg GAE g-1 d.w. polyphenols and 2.0-5.3 mg g-1 d.w. proline. Overall, according to the elemental analysis of lichen from Baskunchak Nature Reserve compared to the Southern Crimean seashore, the vicinity of Baskunchak Salty Lake elicited increased environmental levels of Cr, Si, Li, Fe, Co, Ni and Ca.

Effects of Plant Biostimulation Time Span and Soil Electrical Conductivity on Greenhouse Tomato 'Miniplum' Yield and Quality in Diverse Crop Seasons.

Biostimulants help plants cope with environmental stresses and improve vegetable yield and quality. This study was conducted to determine the protein hydrolysate (PH) effect of three different durations (weekly applications: three, six, or nine times plus an untreated control) in factorial combination with four soil electrical conductivities (EC: 1.5, 3.0, 4.5, or 6.0 mS·cm-1) on yield, fruit quality, and elemental composition of tomato 'miniplum' grown in a greenhouse. Fruit yield was best affected, during the summer, by six and nine biostimulant applications at EC 3.0 mS·cm-1, and in the same season, the six treatments led to the highest fruit number with no difference compared to nine applications; during the winter, the three and six treatments improved the mentioned variables at each EC level. Fruits' dry residue and Brixo were positively affected by biostimulation both in summer and winter. In summer, the 6.0 mS·cm-1 EC led to the highest dry residue and Brixo values, though the latter did not show any significant difference compared to 4.5 mS·cm-1; in winter, the best results corresponded to 4.5 and 6.0 mS·cm-1. A higher beneficial effect of PH on fruit antioxidant status, i.e., lycopene, polyphenols, ascorbic acid levels, and lipophilic (LAA) and hydrophilic (HAA) activity, was recorded in winter compared with summer. Positive correlations between polyphenols and LAA, as well as ascorbic acid content and HAA were found for all EC and PH treatments. Most of the mineral elements tested demonstrated concentration stability, whereas the highest EC decreased P, Mg, Cu, and Se accumulation. The opposite effect was shown by PH application on Se and Mn levels, with P tending to increase. The concentrations of Fe, Zn, and Cu were the lowest under the longest duration of PH supply. These results further confirm the essential role of plant biostimulation in enhancing tomato yield and quality, with a particular focus on the treatment duration.

Effect of Sodium Selenate and Selenocystine on Savoy Cabbage Yield, Morphological and Biochemical Characteristics under Chlorella Supply.

Biofortification of Brassica oleracea with selenium (Se) is highly valuable both for human Se status optimization and functional food production with direct anti-carcinogenic activity. To assess the effects of organic and inorganic Se supply for biofortifying Brassica representatives, foliar applications of sodium selenate and selenocystine (SeCys2) were performed on Savoy cabbage treated with the growth stimulator microalgae Chlorella. Compared to sodium selenate, SeCys2 exerted a stronger growth stimulation of heads (1.3 against 1.14 times) and an increase of leaf concentration of chlorophyll (1.56 against 1.2 times) and ascorbic acid (1.37 against 1.27 times). Head density was reduced by 1.22 times by foliar application of sodium selenate and by 1.58 times by SeCys2. Despite the greater growth stimulation effect of SeCys2, its application resulted in lower biofortification levels (2.9 times) compared to sodium selenate (11.6 times). Se concentration decreased according to the following sequence: leaves > roots > head. The antioxidant activity (AOA) was higher in water extracts compared to the ethanol ones in the heads, but the opposite trend was recorded in the leaves. Chlorella supply significantly increased the efficiency of biofortification with sodium selenate (by 1.57 times) but had no effect in the case of SeCys2 application. Positive correlations were found between leaf and head weight (r = 0.621); head weight and Se content under selenate supply (r = 0.897-0.954); leaf ascorbic acid and total yield (r = 0.559), and chlorophyll (r = +0.83-0.89). Significant varietal differences were recorded for all the parameters examined. The broad comparison performed between the effects of selenate and SeCys2 showed significant genetic differences as well as important peculiarities connected with the Se chemical form and its complex interaction with Chlorella treatment.

Yield, Growth, Quality, Biochemical Characteristics and Elemental Composition of Plant Parts of Celery Leafy, Stalk and Root Types Grown in the Northern Hemisphere.

Celery is one of the major nutraceutical vegetable species due to the high dietary and medicinal properties of all of its plant parts. Yield, growth and produce quality of six celery genotypes belonging to leafy (Elixir and Samurai), stalk (Atlant and Primus) or root (Egor and Dobrynya) types, as well as the distribution of biomass, sugars, mineral elements and antioxidants among the different plant parts, were assessed. Within the celery root type, cultivar Dobrynya resulted in higher yield than Egor, whereas the genotype did not significantly affect the marketable plant part production of leafy and stalk types. Leaf/petiole ratios relevant to biomass, total dissolved solids, sugars, ascorbic acid, flavonoids, antioxidant activity and ash, K, Zn, Fe, Mn, Cu and Se content were significantly affected by the celery type examined. Ash content was highest in the leaves and lowest in the roots. Celery antioxidant system was characterized by highly significant relationships between ascorbic acid, polyphenols, flavonoids, antioxidant activity and Zn. Among the celery types analyzed, the highest values of chlorophyll, Fe and Mn content as well as antioxidant activity were recorded in leaves from root genotypes, which suggests interesting nutraceutical prospects of the aforementioned plant parts for human utilization.

Yield, Essential Oil and Quality Performances of Artemisia dracunculus, Hyssopus officinalis and Lavandula angustifolia as Affected by Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi under Organic Management.

Utilization of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) for enhancing growth and development as well as production of essential oil in aromatic plants has been increasingly drawing research interest. In order to assess the AMF effects on different aromatic species, an open-field experiment was carried out using Artemisia dracunculus (tarragon), Lavandula angustifolia (lavender) and Hyssopus officinalis (hyssop). AMF stimulated the growth of tarragon and lavender plants, whereas hyssop showed a slight developmental slowing; nonetheless, a significant increase in essential oil content in the three species was seen. AMF application increased the biomass of A. dracunculus and H. officinalis by 20-35%. No differences in antioxidant activity and phenolics content were recorded at harvest between the control and AMF-inoculated plants, but the latter showed a significant increase in antioxidant status upon storage at high temperature and humidity compared to the untreated control. The enhancement of abiotic stress resistance during storage in plants inoculated with AMF was the highest in A. dracunculus, and the lowest in H. officinalis, while the untreated control plants showed a significant decrease in phenolics, ascorbic acid and chlorophyll content, as well as antioxidant activity, upon the abiotic stress. AMF inoculation differentially affected the mineral composition, increasing the accumulation of Se, I and Zn in A. dracunculus, and decreasing the levels of heavy metals and Co, Fe, Li, Mn in H. officinalis. Based on the outcome of the present research, AMF inoculation resulted in a significant enhancement of the overall performances of A. dracunculus, L. angustifolia and H. officinalis, and also in the improvement of plant antioxidant status upon storage in stress conditions.

Prospects of Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi Utilization in Production of Allium Plants.

The need to improve crop yield and quality, decrease the level of mineral fertilizers and pesticides/herbicides supply, and increase plants' immunity are important topics of agriculture in the 21st century. In this respect, arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) may be considered as a crucial tool in the development of a modern environmentally friendly agriculture. The efficiency of AMF application is connected to genetic peculiarities of plant and AMF species, soil characteristics and environmental factors, including biotic and abiotic stresses, temperature, and precipitation. Among vegetable crops, Allium species are particularly reactive to soil mycorrhiza, due to their less expanded root apparatus surface compared to most other species. Moreover, Allium crops are economically important and able to synthesize powerful anti-carcinogen compounds, such as selenomethyl selenocysteine and gamma-glutamyl selenomethyl selenocysteine, which highlights the importance of the present detailed discussion about the AMF use prospects to enhance Allium plant growth and development. This review reports the available information describing the AMF effects on the seasonal, inter-, and intra-species variations of yield, biochemical characteristics, and mineral composition of Allium species, with a special focus on the selenium accumulation both in ordinary conditions and under selenium supply.

Effects of Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi on Yield, Biochemical Characteristics, and Elemental Composition of Garlic and Onion under Selenium Supply.

Biofortification of garlic and onion plants with selenium and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi inoculation are considered beneficial for producing functional food with anticarcinogenic properties. The effects of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) inoculation, sodium selenate foliar application, and the combination AMF + selenium (Se), compared to an untreated control, were assessed regarding the bulb yield, biochemical characteristics, and mineral composition. AMF + Se application resulted in the highest yield, monosaccharides, and Se content in both garlic and onion bulbs; and an increase of ascorbic acid and flavonoids in onion, and flavonoids in garlic. The highest bulb concentrations of P and K were recorded under the AMF + Se application, Ca was best affected by AMF, and Mg accumulation was highest under all the treatments in garlic and upon AMF + Se application in onion bulbs. Contrary to garlic, onion bulbs were characterized by a remarkable increase in microelements (B, Cu, Fe, Mn, Si, Zn) under the AMF + Se treatment. Selenium, either with or without AMF application, promoted the accumulation of B and Si in onion and Mo and Zn in garlic bulbs. It can be inferred that the interaction between AMF and Se is highly specific, differing for garlic and onion grown in similar environmental conditions in Grozny region, Chechen Republic.