The effect of organic farming on water reusability, sustainable ecosystem, and food toxicity.

Water is a fundamental necessity for people's well-being and the ecosystem's sustainability; however, its toxicity due to agrochemicals usage for food production leads to the deterioration of water quality. The poor water quality diminishes its reusability, thus limiting efficient water usage. Organic farming is one of the best ways that does not only reduce the deterioration of water quality but also decrease food toxicity. In organic farming, the crop is grown with no/less chemical usage. Besides, organic farming maintains biodiversity and reduces the anthropogenic footprint on soil, air, water, wildlife, and especially on the farming communities. Fields that are organically managed continuously for years have fewer pest populations and were attributed to increased biodiversity and abundance of multi-trophic interactions as well as to changes in plant metabolites. Fewer insect pests (pathogen vectors), in turn, would result in fewer crop diseases and increase crop production. This review highlights that organic farming may play a critical role in the reduction of pests and pathogens, which eventually would reduce the need for chemical reagents to protect crops, improving yield quality and water reusability.

Impact of two different dehydration methods on saffron quality, concerning the prevalence of Saffron latent virus (SaLV) in Iran.

The dehydration process is a prerequisite to preserve saffron for a long time. According to this process, saffron shows differences in the main compounds responsible for its quality (colour, taste, aroma, and flavonol content). At present, the freeze-drying method obtains dried products with the highest quality. Viruses can modify the physiology and metabolism of plants, being able to affect the activities of several enzymes. For this reason, the main compounds of saffron have been analyzed under two different dehydrating processes, freeze-drying and dark-drying, considering their infection status with the Saffron latent virus (SaLV). Results showed that the picrocrocin and safranal content enables to differ dark-dried samples from freeze-dried ones. Besides, the kaempferol-3-O-sophoroside-7-O-glucoside content allows differentiating between SaLV-infected (SaLV+) and uninfected (SaLV-) saffron samples. Moreover, our data suggest that the freeze-drying would decrease crocins content, and dark-drying can nullify the adverse effect of SaLV on crocins content.

The effects of geographical origin and virus infection on the saffron (Crocus sativus L.) quality.

Saffron is appreciated by its colour, taste, and aroma. To examine the effect of abiotic and biotic stress on these main properties, in the span of 2014-2016, saffron stigmas were collected from major different saffron cultivation areas of Iran and saffron quality was estimated. The quality of saffron was assessed by ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy following the ISO3632:2011 standard. However, the composition and concentration of crocetin esters, picrocrocin, safranal, and kaempferols, the most critical compounds determining the properties and quality of saffron can vary with the geographical origin and virus effects, being more accurate High-Performance Liquid Chromatography and Diode Array Detection (HPLC-DAD) methods were used to analyze saffron quality. Using HPLC-DAD we analyzed saffron plants grown at various conditions (considering altitude, temperature, and precipitation/rainfall) and in presence/absence of virus infections; we found that edaphoclimatic and cultivation conditions significantly determine the quality of the spice and the presence of virus modifies the content of its metabolites.