Screening potato genotypes for antioxidant activity, identification of the responsible compounds, and differentiating Russet Norkotah strains using AFLP and microsatellite marker analysis

Total antioxidant activity and total carotenoid levels were evaluated for more than 100 common potato (Solanum tuberosum, L.) cultivars grown in the United States, advanced breeding lines from several Western U.S. breeding programs, and 47 related, tuber-bearing species. An initial assessment of variability for antioxidant activity provided baseline information to be used for potential potato promotion and for the development of new varieties with greater human health benefits. Wide variability in antioxidant levels provided evidence of genetic control of this trait, indicating that it could be possible to breed for enhanced levels of antioxidant compounds in potato. Accessions, varieties, and advanced breeding lines identified in the broad screen as having high antioxidant activity and high total carotenoid levels, were fine screened via HPLC to determine specific phenolic and carotenoid compounds present in potato. The objective of the study was to identify parents for use in the Texas breeding program to develop potato varieties containing increased levels antioxidant compounds. In the broad screen for total antioxidant activity, the 47 related, tuber-bearing species showed a wider range of variability than the cultivated varieties and breeding lines. Based on the DPPH assay, antioxidant activity ranged from 103-648 uM trolox equivalents in the cultivated varieties and advanced breeding lines, while that of the wild species was 42-892. HPLC analysis revealed that the phenolic content of the species, and their cultivated counterparts, was primarily composed of caffeic and chlorogenic acids. Other phenolics identified were p-coumaric acid, rutin hydrate, vanillic acid, epicatechin, t-cinnamic acid, gallic acid, and salicylic acid. The highest phenolic content discovered in the accessions was five-fold higher than the highest of the cultivated genotypes. Carotenoid analysis revealed lutein in the accessions, but the yellow-flesh breeding lines were much higher in carotenoids. In addition to the work conducted on antioxidants, an attempt was made to separate intraclonal variants of the potato cultivar Russet Norkotah. Eleven microsatellite primers and 112 AFLP primer combinations failed to produce any reproducible polymorphisms. The inability to detect differences between the clones could be due to the tetraploid nature of the clones or epigenetic differences not detected by the procedures utilized in this study

Stress response and health affecting compounds in Brassicaceae

Summary of the Thesis: Vegetables have always been considered as healthy food. So also Brassica vegetables are well known all over the world as a common food due to the presence of health affecting compounds (Chapter 2). A vast amount of data is available for health promoting compounds in Brassicaceae vegetables. These health promoting affects are due to a range of phytochemicals including primary (carbohydrates, amino acids and organic acid) and secondary metabolites (phenolics and glucosinolates), along with vitamins and minerals. These metabolites are interconnected through different biosynthetic pathways and are affected by different external stimuli. Plant metabolic responses are specific for different kinds of stress, but use in part similar metabolic pathways (Chapter 3). Certain internal or external factors play an important role for the metabolite profile of vegetables, thus changing the nutritional value for human (Chapter 4). These factors are related to the plant response to external stress factors and helping the plant to survive. These factors includes bacteria (Chapter 5), metals ions ( Chapter 6) and post harvest storage conditions (Chapter 7). The aim of this thesis was to study the Brassica phytochemicals and their response to stress factors by using a holistic analytical approach.UBL - phd migration 201

Advances in Molecular Breeding of Vegetable Crops

Vegetable crops provide valuable minerals and vitamins that are indispensible for human health. Scientists have been working on the genetics of vegetable crops, deciphering the molecular bases of agronomically important traits. These genetic bases and variations in vegetable traits will greatly facilitate vegetable genetic improvement. Therefore, the genes of and genetic research on vegetable crops are of great importance. This Special Issue is a collection of 13 important research papers addressing the genes, genetics, and breeding of major vegetable crops. In the present book, the authors described the genes and QTLs responsible for stress tolerance, disease resistance, vegetable yield, and quality. The 13 research papers cover germplasm enhancement and evaluation, QTL mapping, gene isolation, marker development, and gene expression as well as gene editing in a wide range of vegetable species, including broccoli, pepper, eggplant, onion, and Cucurbita species. Readers from all over the globe are expected to greatly benefit from this Special Issue collection regarding their own work and the goal of improving breeding efficiency with molecular breeding to generate environment-adaptive, high-yield, and high-quality vegetable crops with which to feed the global population of 9.7 billion in an extreme climate by 2050

The role of selenium content of wheat in the human nutrition: A literature review

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Plant Responses and Tolerance to Salt Stress: Physiological and Molecular Interventions

Overall, the 19 contributions in this Special Issue “Plant Responses and Tolerance to Salt Stress: Physiological and Molecular Interventions” discuss the various aspects of salt stress responses in plants. It also discusses various mechanisms and approaches to conferring salt tolerance on plants. These types of research studies provide further directions in the development of crop plants for the saline environment in the era of climate change

Breeding for resilience: a strategy for organic and low-input farming systems?

Global change is increasingly affecting agricultural production and threatening food security. Organic and low-input farming systems are less demanding in fossil energy and might thus contribute to moderating global carbon missions. Moreover, under increased uncertainty and variability in environmental conditions, these systems offer solutions for buffering against climatic extremes, disease epidemics, changing nutrient availability, and other stresses that will add to already heterogeneous environmental conditions. 2010 has been designated the Biodiversity Target year by Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity. Yet, it is clear that biological diversity in agroecosystems, measured as the number and abundance of species as well as genetic diversity within cultivated plants, is still decreasing, largely due to the negative impacts of intensive industrial agriculture. Overall, ecosystem services delivered by biodiversity such as plant disease control, soil fertility and pollination are jeopardized by its decline. These threats present an opportunity for the organic sector to develop original and innovative strategies for biodiversity preservation and increased resilience in the field. The second EUCARPIA meeting of the Section Organic plant breeding and low-input agriculture organised in Paris, France, from the 1st to the 3rd of December 2010, by INRA – UMR Génétique Végétale Le Moulon and ITAB, wishes to take inspiration from the ecological sciences to highlight the use of biodiversity in agriculture while taking advantage of the new tools coming from genomics. Therefore, the symposium will deal with breeding strategies for organic and low-input farming systems with a special emphasis on approaches that allow for more resilience in response to global change. Some 130 participants representing 20 countries will attend the symposium, including students, researchers and other professionals from universities, institutes, breeding companies, governemental institutions, Non Governemental Organizations and farmers. The programme features 30 oral and 37 poster presentations, covering the following areas: · Improving resilience of agro-ecosystems · Utilizing and conserving agrobiodiversity in agricultural landscape · Global change and adaptability · New insights into the mechanisms of adaptation to local conditions and organic farming · Breeding for diverse environments and products · Regional participatory plant breedin

Traditional Medicinal Plants into New Traditions: A Botanical Study of Tulsi (Ocimum tenuiflorum\textit{Ocimum tenuiflorum})

Traditionelle medizinische Pflanzen (TMP) wurden schon lange von Menschen für Gesundheitsanwendungen eingesetzt. Heutzutage werden einige TMP als „Superfood“ beworben. Allerdings ist es fraglich, ob TMP einfach als Lebensmittel angesehen werden können, weil manche TMP giftige Verbindungen beinhalten, z.B. Tulsi bzw. Heiliges Basilikum (Ocimum tenuiflorum). Diese TMP produziert das genotoxische Phenylpropanoid Methyleugenol (ME), synthetisiert aus dem Enzym Eugenol O-Methyltransferase (EOMT). Trotzdem wird es aktuell als „Superfood“ beworben. Zusätzlich besteht bei Tulsi die Gefahr Lebensmittelbetrug. Deswegen wurde Tulsi als Fallstudie ausgewählt. Die Ziele dieser Forschungsarbeit sind einerseits den Mechanismus besser zu verstehen, der die Biosynthese von ME reguliert und andererseits für das Problem des Lebensmittelbetrugs eineTechnik zur Identifikation der richtigen Tulsi Spezies mittels DNA-Barcoding zu entwickeln. Zur Erreichung des ersten Ziels wurden die genetische Variation des EOMT Enzyms, der Phenylpropanoid-Weg und die subzelluläre Lokalisierung von EOMT untersucht. Die Ergebnisse zeigten Sequenzunterschiede der Nukleotidsequenz des EOMT Enzyms verschiedener Ocimum Arten innerhalb der Gattung. EOMT-basierte Phyolgenie erlaubte die Unterscheidung von zwei Gruppen, die erste benannt als Tulsi-Klade (O. tenuiflorum und O. gratissimum), die zweite benannt als Basilikum-Klade (O. basilicum, O. americanum, O. africanum und O. kilimandscharicum). Jedoch wurden Ähnlichkeiten gefunden zwischen den Sequenzen der Basilikum-Klade und ausschließlich O. gratissimum aus der Tulsi-Klade. Zusätzlich war O. gratissimum die einzige Art der Tulsi-Klade, die unter den verwendeten Wachstumsbedingungen kein ME produzierte, sowie ME auch von keiner der Arten der Basilikum-Klade produziert wurde. Deswegen wird die Hypothese aufgestellt, dass Ähnlichkeiten der Aminosäuresequenz in der Basilikum-Klade und O. gratissimum aus der TulsiKlade relevant sind für die Synthese von ME in der Gattung Ocimum. Diese Ergebnisse deuten auf eine starke genetische Komponente, welche bei der Synthese von ME eine Rolle spielt. Dann wurde der Phenylpropanoid-Weg bei O. tenuiflorum durch hohe Dosierung von UV-B Strahlung als Stressfaktor untersucht. Zwei Chemotypen von O. tenuiflorum wurden verwendet, Krishna und Rama. Die genetische Ausprägung mehrerer Enzyme zeigten unterschiedliche Regulierungsmuster des Phenylpropanoid-Wegs zur Synthese von ME im Vergleich zwischen den zwei Chemotypen. Die vorgelagerten Reaktionen zu ME in Rama schienen stark von dem Enzym Kaffeesäure O-Methyltransferase reguliert zu sein. Wohingegen bei Krishna, das Enzym Caffeoyl-CoA O-Methyltransferase auch eine wichtige Rolle zu spielen schien. Zusätzlich scheint es, dass neben Phenylalanin auch Tyrosin ein relevanter erster Ausgangsstoff des Phenylpropanoid-Wegs sein kann in Ocimum Arten. Die subzelluläre Lokalisierung von EOMT wurde im Nukleus und dem Cytosol von transformierten BY-2 Zellen gezeigt. Die cytosolische Lokalisierung von EOMT entspricht der Lokalisierung anderer Komponenten des Phenylpropanoid-Wegs, mit Enzymen wie PAL und Eugenol-Synthase. Jedoch wurde die nukleäre Lokalisierung von EOMT in dieser Arbeit erstmalig gezeigt, sodass weitere Forschung dazu notwendig ist, um dieses Ergebnis zu verstehen. Das zweite Ziel war das Problem des Lebensmittelbetrugs durch DNA-Barcoding zu adressieren. DNABarcoding zur Identifikation von O. tenuiflorum in kommerziellen Proben wurde erreicht durch eine einstufige Technik mit einem merkmalsunabhängigen Marker (psbA-trnH igs) und mit einem merkmalsabhängigen Marker erreicht (EOMT’). Der letztgenannte basierte auf dem Enzym EOMT. Diese Untersuchungsmethode erlaubt die Unterscheidung von O. tenuiflorum von anderen Ocimum Arten in Referenzpflanzen und kommerziellen Proben. Insgesamt zeigte die Tulsi Fallstudie die Komplexität dabei eine spezifische TMP als Lebensmittel oder „Superfood“ zu erwägen. Darüber hinaus stellte diese Fallstudie den Forschungsbedarf heraus bei der Regulierung der Stoffwechselproduktsynthese in Pflanzen und DNA-Barcoding Techniken. Deswegen wird empfohlen mehr vorsorgliche Forschung durchzuführen, bevor eine TMP als Lebensmittel oder sogar als sogenanntes „Superfood“ betrachtet wird

Reflectance of vegetation, soil, and water

The author has identified the following significant results. Bands 4, 5, and 7 and 5, 6, and 7 were best for distinguishing among crop and soil categories in ERTS-1 SCENES 1182-16322 (1-21-73) and 1308-16323 (5-21-73) respectively. Chlorotic sorghum areas 2.8 acres or larger in size were identified on a computer printout of band 5 data. Reflectance of crop residues was more often different from bare soil in band 4 than in bands 5, 6, and 7. Simultaneously acquired aircraft and spacecraft MSS data indicated that spacecraft surveys are as reliable as aircraft surveys. ERTS-1 data were successfully used to estimate acreage of citrus, cotton, and sorghum as well as idle crop land

Effect of processing and storage on the volatile profile of sugarcane honey: A four-year study

Sugarcane honey (SCH) is a syrup from Madeira Island recognized by its unique and excellent aroma, associated to volatile organic compounds (VOCs) generated during the well-defined five stages of its traditional making process. The establishment of volatile profile throughout all SCH-making stages during four years, allowed the evaluation of the influence of each stage in the typical characterisitcs of SCH. One hundred eighthy seven VOCs were identified, being associated to several origins and formation pathways. VOCs formed during stage 1 and 2 were originate from raw material, and its oxidation (i.e. enzymatic browning) and thermal degradation (i.e. lipid oxidation, Maillard reactions, Strecker degradation). In stage 3 and 4, the caramelization and melanoidin degradation also occurred, while in stage 5, the thermal degradation continues, followed by microbial activity. Chemometric analysis allowed to identify 35 VOCs as potential markers for processing control by the producers and as guarantee of the typicality and authenticity of SCH. Based on the obtained results, we propose for the first time an innovative schematic diagram explaining the potential reactions and pathways for VOCs formation during the different steps of the SCH production.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Advanced Research on Glucosinolates in Food Products

Glucosinolate-containing foods, such as vegetables from the plant order Brassicales and its derivative products, are valued for their health-beneficial properties. The latter are linked to glucosinolate hydrolysis products, such as isothiocyanates.The book “Advanced Research on Glucosinolates in Food Products” collects the latest research on the impact of the whole food supply chain, including production, as well as domestic food preparation, on glucosinolates and the formation and chemistry of their breakdown products in vegetables and further foods. In this context, the consequences for human health are important, too. The book contains articles that cover research on the effect of pre-harvest factors on glucosinolates, their hydrolyzing enzymes, and the formation of volatile hydrolysis products. Further topics include the linkage between glucosinolates and sensory aspects, and the effects of food preparation and follow-up reactivity. Finally, research on the bioavailability and functional effects of isothiocyanates for human health is included