Magnetic Iron-Improved Growth, Leaf Chemical Content, Yield, and Fruit Quality of Chinese Mandarin Trees Grown under Soil Salinity Stress.

Chinese mandarin fruits are an inexpensive and rich source of vitamin C. They have potential benefits in treating acute respiratory infections and mitigating inflammation in critical patients with COVID-19. In Egypt, citrus is the most important fruit tree but is sensitive to salinity stress, resulting in poor vegetative tree growth and reductions in productivity and fruit quality. Magnetic iron has emerged as a promising approach in the citrus tree industry, since it improves vegetative growth, yield, and fruit quality and alleviates salinity stress in Chinese mandarin trees grown in soils suffering from high salt stress. This research is aimed at studying the influence of adding magnetic iron (as soil treatment) on tree canopy growth, yield, and fruit quality of 'Chinese' mandarin trees. Therefore, the treatments were as follows: 0, 250, 500, and or 750 g of magnetic iron.tree-1. Our results indicated that all applications of magnetic iron significantly improved tree canopy volume, leaf total chlorophyll, relative water content, yield (kg.tree-1), and the fruit physical and chemical characteristics of Chinese mandarin. In contrast, leaf Na and Cl content, (%), proline, and total phenolic content were decreased by magnetic iron soil treatments. In respect to vegetative growth, our results indicated that adding magnetic iron at the concentration 750 g.tree-1 caused the best values of tree canopy volume. A similar trend was noticed regarding yield. The increase in yield attained was nearly 19%; the best values were obtained when magnetic iron were used at 750 g.tree-1. In conclusion, the application of magnetic iron can lead to improved fruit production and fruit quality of Chinese mandarin trees grown in salinity stress conditions.

Postharvest physiology and biochemistry of Valencia orange after coatings with chitosan nanoparticles as edible for green mold protection under room storage conditions.

Because of their unique features, nanomaterials have been proposed and have gained acceptance in postharvest applications in fruit. Increasing the storage life and improving the quality of Valencia oranges was investigated using nano-chitosan. A chitosan nanoparticle was prepared by using high-energy ball milling. Chitosan nanoparticles were characterized by Dynamic light scattering, FTIR spectroscopy and Surface morphology by transmission electron microscopy. Fully mature Valencia oranges were harvested and then coated with one of these concentrations (0.2, 0.4, and 0.8% nano-chitosan) and control. The fruits were stored under room storage conditions for 75 days. The quality parameters (fruit weight losses, fruit decay percentage, fruit firmness, total acidity, total soluble solids percentage and T.S.S./acid ratio, ascorbic acid content) were taken in biweekly intervals after 0, 15, 30, 45, 60, and 75 days. Beside the in vitro testing of antifungal activity of chitosan nanoparticles. According to the findings of the two succeeding seasons, the nano-chitosan 0.8% treatment showed the best effects and had the lowest rate of fruit weight loss, fruit deterioration, and T.S.S./acid ratio in comparison to the other treatments in both seasons. Furthermore, the 0.8% nano-chitosan reveled the highest levels of fruit hardness and fruit pulp firmness. Fruit weight loss, fruit deterioration, TSS, and TSS/acid ratio, as well as other metrics, were steadily elevated prior to the storage time. The best results were obtained when Valencia oranges fruits were treated with 0.8% nano-chitosan for 75 days at room temperature.

Hydrogel Improved Growth and Productive Performance of Mango Trees under Semi-Arid Condition.

Nowadays, the production of new mango cultivars is increased in many countries worldwide. The soil application of hydrogel represents a novel approach in the fruit trees industry. This investigation aims to study the effect of adding hydrogel (as soil conditioner) on the growth and yield of Shelly cv. mango trees. The experimental groups were assigned to a control group and three other treated groups, including 250, 500, or 750 g hydrogel∙tree-1. The results demonstrated that all applications of hydrogel composite had higher vegetative growth parameters, yield, and fruit quality characteristics of Shelly cv. mango trees compared to the control. The treatment of 750 g hydrogel∙tree-1 had higher values of vegetative growth parameters such as the leaf area, shoot length and tree canopy volume, compared to the control group and the other treatments. Similarly, higher values for yield and fruit quality were observed in the treatment of 750 g hydrogel∙tree-1. In conclusion, different amounts of hydrogel agent can improve the production and fruit quality of Shelly cv. mango trees in arid and semi-arid conditions in a dose-dependent manner.