Antimicrobial and Antioxidant Activities of Two Medicinal Plants Cuphea aequipetala var. hispida (Cav.) Koehne and Eryngium comosum Delaroche F Against Bacteria Related to Equine Infections.

Functional biocompounds beneficial for animals and humans are in Mexican folk herbs. Cuphea and Eryngium species presented antimicrobial potential. Natural antibiotic uses by ethnoveterinary research with medicinal plants in equine infection or digestive diseases need more scientific evidence. Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Salmonella enterica serotype Enteritidis are etiological agents in horses responsible for stable infections, abortions, fetal or perinatal deaths, and resistant intrahospital infections. The main objective of the present research was to evaluate the potential of antimicrobial and antioxidant activities of two Mexican medicinal plants Cuphea aequipetala var. hispida (Cav.) Koehne and Eryngium comosum Delaroche F over Listeria monocytogenes ATCC 19115, Staphylococcus sp., E. coli ATCC 25922, and S. enterica serotype Enteritidis ATCC 13076 bacterium reference strains related to equine infections. Determination of total phenol, saponins, antioxidant activity (ABTS), and antimicrobial activity with diffusion-sensitive discs was performed in triplicate. All the strains were sensitive for both extracts except for E. coli strain that was inhibited only by C. aequipetala. Staphylococcus sp. and S. enterica strains were inhibited equally by both extracts. E. comosum extracts tested have shown the highest effect over L. monocytogenes. In summary, antimicrobial activity was similar to the reported activity of Eryngium species extracts with other different solvents. Present extracts are suggested as a potential alternative antibiotic; definitely, more specific equine pathogen inhibition tests are needed in feed additives for horse nutrition research. In conclusion, antimicrobial activities of Cuphea aequipetala var. hispida (Cav.) Koehne and Eryngium comosum Delaroche F over reference strains related to equine infections suggested these medicinal plants as potential antibiotic sources for horse diseases.

Motility and Survival of Salmonella Enterica Subspecies Enterica Serovar Enteritidis in Tomato Plants (Solanum lycopersicum L)

The presence of enteropathogens such as Salmonella affects the quality and safety of vegetables that are consumed in a minimally processed state. Worldwide, tomatoes are one of the main vegetables whose raw consumption has caused health alerts. As such, the aim of this study was to determine the motility and survival of Salmonella enterica subspecies enterica serovar Enteritidis on greenhouse-grown tomato plants. A completely randomized experimental design was used, and bacteria were inoculated into the substrate at the time of transplanting as well as by puncturing the plant stem, petiole, and peduncle during the vegetative, flowering, and fruiting stages. Survival was monitored throughout the production cycle; motility was evaluated separately in plant organs separated from the point of inoculation. Salmonella enteritidis survived the 120 days of the experiment both at the point of inoculation and in other organs of the tomato plant. For all treatments, there was a significant difference (P < 0.05) between bacterial counts in the root (12.45 ± 2.52 to 160 ± 4.01 CFU/g), stem (16.10 ± 2.31 to 90.55 ± 3.62 CFU/g), flower (7.0 ± 2.15 to 51.10 ± 3.80 CFU/g), and fruit (8.75 ± 2.38 to 28.2 ± 3.29 CFU/g). The results of the study indicate that Salmonella enteritidis in contact with tomato plants is a latent danger because its ability to enter, survive, and move within tomato plants until reaching the fruit, limits the effectiveness of commonly used disinfection methods, it would potentiate the risk to human health

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Motility and Survival of Salmonella Enterica Subspecies Enterica Serovar Enteritidis in Tomato Plants (Solanum lycopersicum L).

The presence of enteropathogens such as Salmonella affects the quality and safety of vegetables that are consumed in a minimally processed state. Worldwide, tomatoes are one of the main vegetables whose raw consumption has caused health alerts. As such, the aim of this study was to determine the motility and survival of Salmonella enterica subspecies enterica serovar Enteritidis on greenhouse-grown tomato plants. A completely randomized experimental design was used, and bacteria were inoculated into the substrate at the time of transplanting as well as by puncturing the plant stem, petiole, and peduncle during the vegetative, flowering, and fruiting stages. Survival was monitored throughout the production cycle; motility was evaluated separately in plant organs separated from the point of inoculation. Salmonella enteritidis survived the 120 days of the experiment both at the point of inoculation and in other organs of the tomato plant. For all treatments, there was a significant difference (P < 0.05) between bacterial counts in the root (12.45 ± 2.52 to 160 ± 4.01 CFU/g), stem (16.10 ± 2.31 to 90.55 ± 3.62 CFU/g), flower (7.0 ± 2.15 to 51.10 ± 3.80 CFU/g), and fruit (8.75 ± 2.38 to 28.2 ± 3.29 CFU/g). The results of the study indicate that Salmonella enteritidis in contact with tomato plants is a latent danger because its ability to enter, survive, and move within tomato plants until reaching the fruit, limits the effectiveness of commonly used disinfection methods, it would potentiate the risk to human health.

Chemical and physical defense traits in two sexual forms of Opuntia robusta in Central Eastern Mexico.

Sexually dimorphic plants provide an excellent opportunity for examining the differences in the extent of their defense against herbivores because they exhibit sex-related differences in reproductive investment. Such differences enable comparison of the sex with high reproduction expenses with the sex that expends less. The more costly sex is usually also better defended against herbivores. Generally, females are considered more valuable than hermaphrodites in terms of fitness; however, hermaphrodites are more valuable if they can produce seed by autonomous selfing, provided that the inbreeding depression is low and pollen is limited. We studied a gynodioecious population of Opuntia robusta from Central-Eastern Mexico, which has been reported to be trioecious, dioecious, or hermaphrodite, and addressed the following questions: 1) Is the hermaphrodite's reproductive output higher than the female's, and are hermaphrodites thus better defended? 2) Are plant tissues differentially defended? 3) Do trade-offs exist among different physical defense traits? and 4) among physical and chemical defense traits? We found that 1) hermaphrodites had a higher seed output and more spines per areola than females and that their spines contained less moisture. Non-reproductive hermaphrodite cladodes contained more total phenolic compounds (TPCs) than female ones. In addition, 2) hermaphrodite reproductive cladodes bore more spines than female cladodes, and 3) and 4) we found a negative relationship between spine number per areola and areola number per cladode and a positive relationship between spine number per areola per plant and TPC concentration per plant. Non-reproductive hermaphrodite cladodes contained a higher concentration of TPCs than female cladodes, and parental cladodes contained fewer TPCs than both reproductive and empty cladodes.