Lignocellulosic fibres from enzyme-treated tomato plants: Characterisation and application in paperboard manufacturing.

Lignocellulosic raw materials are being utilised in many industrial sectors as a natural source of interesting biopolymers. In the present research, tomato plant agri-waste, were subjected to an enzymatic treatment (pectinase, hemicellulase, xylanase and laccase) with the aim of recovering polymeric matrices contained therein and obtain a good quality fibre. The cellulose content in the enzyme-treated fibres was enriched of 25% compared to the untreated, and a fair reduction in hemicellulose and lignin was registered. Morphological analyses at SEM demonstrated the cleanliness and fibrillation of fibres. Moreover, the thermal profile, water absorption and pulp viscosity of fibres was strongly affected by the composition changes. The paperboard manufactured from an enzymatically treated sample showed increased stiffness when subjected to tensile testing respect to the control. Therefore, the use of enzyme in fibre pulping has a potential application in the design of sustainable materials.

Oil distillation wastewaters from aromatic herbs as new natural source of antioxidant compounds.

Distillation wastewaters (DWWs) are generated during the essential oil steam distillation from aromatic herbs. Despite of growing interest on novel source of natural antioxidant compounds as food additives, studies on DWWs are scarse. Herein, the potential of DWWs produced by the distillation of packaged fresh basil, rosemary and sage wastes was evaluated by chemical and antioxidant characterization. HPLC-DAD-HRMS profiling revealed that DWWs contain water-soluble phenolic compounds, mainly caffeic acid derivatives and flavonoid glycosides, with rosmarinic acid (RA) as predominant components (29-135mg/100mL). DWWs demonstrated high levels of total phenolic compounds (TPC, 152-443mg GAE/100mL) and strong antioxidant capacities, in ORAC, DPPH and ABTS assays (1101-4720, 635-4244 and 571-3145µmol TE/100mL, respectively). Highly significant correlations of TEAC values with TPC and RA contents revealed that phenolic compounds and high RA content were responsible of DWWs antioxidant properties.Thus, DWWs are proposed as a new promising source of natural food additives and/or functional ingredients for cosmetic, nutraceutical and food applications.

Essential-Oil Variability in a Collection of Ocimum basilicum L. (Basil) Cultivars.

Ocimum basilicum L. (Lamiaceae) is an aromatic plant of great tradition in the Mediterranean area. Its economic importance is growing up determining an expansion of cultivation. This paper evaluated the morphological traits, the chemical profiles, and antibacterial activity of 21 cultivars of basil belonging to 'Genovese', 'Napoletano', and 'Purple basil' types. The cultivars were characterized by different growth rate and morphological traits. The chemical composition of the oils analyzed by GC and GC/MS analysis, supported by the PCA analysis, underlined the strong influence of chemotype. It is noteworthy that estragole, never present in Genovese and purple basil types, occurred in Napoletano type. The high presence of eugenol, methyl eugenol, and linalool in the majority of cultivars, belonging both to Genovese and to Napoletano types was registered. Of great interest resulted the composition of the purple basil 'Opal'. All the samples tested exhibited similar antibiotic profiles with moderate antibacterial activity. The results enhanced the importance of determination of essential-oil profile in the selection of cultivars characterized by diverse morphological traits and are useful for different purposes.

Chemical composition and biological activity of essential oils of Origanum vulgare L. subsp. vulgare L. under different growth conditions.

This research was aimed at investigating the essential oil production, chemical composition and biological activity of a crop of pink flowered oregano (Origanum vulgare L. subsp. vulgare L.) under different spatial distribution of the plants (single and binate rows). This plant factor was shown to affect its growth, soil covering, fresh biomass, essential oil amount and composition. In particular, the essential oil percentage was higher for the binate row treatment at the full bloom. The chemical composition of the oils obtained by hydrodistillation was fully characterized by GC and GC-MS. The oil from plants grown in single rows was rich in sabinene, while plants grown in double rows were richer in ocimenes. The essential oils showed antimicrobial action, mainly against Gram-positive pathogens and particularly Bacillus cereus and B. subtilis.

Phytomorphological and essential-oil characterization in situ and ex situ of wild biotypes of oregano collected in the Campania region (Southern Italy).

Oregano is an aromatic species of great interest, which spreads spontaneously over the Mediterranean area, but its genetic resources are not yet adequately developed. Moreover, the results of studies of wild strains of different origin - although quite numerous - are not always comparable, and, therefore, the influence of the environment and genotype on the variability cannot be distinguished. Hence, the plant morphology and the essential-oil composition of three wild, white-flowering biotypes of oregano collected in the Campania region (southern Italy) were characterized, and the effects of genotype and environment were assessed by comparison in situ and ex situ. This allowed deducing that the biotypes belonged to two different subspecies, i.e., Origanum vulgare ssp. virens and O. vulgare ssp. viridulum. The essential-oil yield was higher for the biotype belonging to ssp. virens, and it was significantly correlated with the glandular and stomatal density. The chemical composition of the oils obtained by hydrodistillation was found to be influenced by the genotype and the conditions of plant growth.

Chemical composition, antimicrobial and antioxidant activities of anethole-rich oil from leaves of selected varieties of fennel [Foeniculum vulgare Mill. ssp. vulgare var. azoricum (Mill.) Thell].

The chemical composition and biological activity of the essential oils obtained from the leaves of two different cultivars of Florence fennel cropped under three different fertilization treatments (Control not fertilized; Mineral Fertilization; Compost from Municipal Solid Wastes) have been analyzed. All the oils were characterized by high anethole concentration and some showed also a good percentage of limonene. Thus, the leaves of Florence fennel, which are agricultural wastes, could be used for the recovery of anethole to be used for its flavoring and biomedical properties. The antimicrobial activity expressed by assays on the examined oils indicates an appreciable effect, generally higher on Gram-positive bacteria. The various samples of Florence fennel analyzed did not show any results with FRAP test. The DPPH test showed a weak capacity of the samples to catch the free radicals from the solution, attributable to their content in anethole.

Chemical composition and antigerminative activity of the essential oils from five Salvia species.

The chemical composition of the essential oils of Salvia africana L., Salvia elegans Vahl, Salvia greggii A. Gray, Salvia mellifera Green and Salvia munzii Epling, cultivated in Eboli (Salerno, Southern Italy), was studied by means of GC and GC-MS analyses. In all, 88 compounds were identified, 54 for S. africana, accounting for 95.4% of the total oil, 55 for S. elegans (92.9%), 50 for S. greggii (96.9%), 54 for S. mellifera (90.4%) and 47 for S. munzii (97.5%), respectively. In S. africana,the amount of monoterpenoids and sesquiterpenoids is very similar. For other species, the monoterpenoid percentage is greater than the amount of sesquiterpenoids. The oils of S. elegans, S. greggii and S. munzii were active inhibitors of germination and radical elongation of Raphanus sativus L. and Lepidium sativum L.