The use of kaolin to control Ceratitis capitata in organic citrus groves.

The Mediterranean fruit fly, Ceratitis capitata (Wiedemann) (Diptera Tephritidae), is the key pest in some organically managed citrus orchards in Sicily. The effectiveness of processed kaolin (Surround WP) for control of C. capitata damage was tested in field trials carried out in 2003-2004 on two early ripening citrus species: satsuma (Citrus unshiu Markow.) and clementine (Citrus clementina Hort. ex Tan.). Although the number of males captured in trimedlure baited traps was high in both years and in both orchards, the percentage of damaged fruit varied greatly from almost 0% (satsuma 2003) to more than 60% (clementine, both years). Nevertheless, the application of processed kaolin significantly reduced damage caused by C. capitata on both citrus spe- cies on preharvest fruit on some dates and on harvested fruits in both years. The kaolin was easily removed from harvested fruit by washing. Processed kaolin has potential for reducing damage caused by C. capitata in organic and conventional citrus or- chards

Olive oil

Analyses of phytosterol classes of olive and hazelnut oils collected from different countries by TLC, GC and GC-MS revealed considerable quantitative differences. The composition of 4-desmethyl- and 4-monomethylsterols was similar in both oils, but 4,4'-dimethylsterols composition differed. Lupeol and an unknown (lupane skeleton) compound were exclusively present in hazelnut oil 4,4´-dimethylsterols and could be used as markers to detect virgin olive oil adulteration with hazelnut oil at levels below 4%. Conventional TLC to separate phytosterol classes has a low recovery rate and is time-consuming. A new SPE method to separate phytosterol classes was developed with stepwise elution by increasing the polarity of the n-hexane:diethyl ether solvent mixture. Comparison of the results obtained for hazelnut and virgin olive oils with those of TLC revealed that the SPE method was faster and gave higher sterol recovery rates. Free and esterified forms of sterols provide detailed information on the identity and quality of vegetable oils, and therefore 4,4´-dimethylsterols were investigated in hazelnut oil and virgin olive oil. A sample of solvent-extracted hazelnut oil was refined to monitor the effects of processing on 4,4´-dimethylsterol levels and on specific marker compounds. Of the refining processes tested, only neutralisation and bleaching considerably reduced 4,4´-dimethylsterols. In fully-refined hazelnut oil, losses of marker compounds in free form were higher than losses in their esterified form. GC-MS analysis showed that adulteration of olive oil with fully-refined hazelnut oil could be detected at levels of 2% by tracing lupeol in total/esterified forms of 4,4´-dimethylsterols. Olive oil has many applications in the food industry, e.g. blended with oils such as palm stearin to produce margarine or shortening by chemical interesterification. Investigation on lipid and minor lipid components of an olive oil-palm stearin blend during chemical interesterification showed that sterols were esterified with fatty acids at a higher level at 120 °C (7%) than at 90 °C (4%). Despite heat treatment and several steps to produce an interesterified product, there were minor losses in phytosterol and tocopherol contents and no significant increases in phytosterol oxidation

A phytochemical comparison of saw palmetto products using gas chromatography and (1) H nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy metabolomic profiling

© 2014 The Authors. Journal of Pharmacy and Pharmacology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Royal Pharmaceutical Society. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly citedPreparations containing saw palmetto berries are used in the treatment of benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH). There are many products on the market, and relatively little is known about their chemical variability and specifically the composition and quality of different saw palmetto products notwithstanding that in 2000, an international consultation paper from the major urological associations from the five continents on treatments for BPH demanded further research on this topic. Here, we compare two analytical approaches and characterise 57 different saw palmetto products.Peer reviewedFinal Published versio

Sensitization profiles to purified plant food allergens among pediatric patients with allergy to banana.

Banana fruit allergy is well known, but neither immunoglobulin E recognition patterns to purified plant food allergens nor true prevalences of putative banana allergens have been established. This study aimed to characterize β-1,3-glucanase and thaumatin-like protein (TLP) as banana allergens, testing them, together with other plant food allergens, in 51 children with allergic reactions after banana ingestion and both positive specific IgE and skin prick test (SPT) to banana. Banana β-1,3-glucanase and TLP were isolated and characterized. Both banana allergens, together with kiwifruit TLP Act d 2, avocado class I chitinase Pers a 1, palm pollen profilin Pho d 2 and peach fruit lipid transfer protein (LTP) Pru p 3, were tested by in vitro and in vivo assays. Banana β-1,3-glucanase (Mus a 5) was glycosylated, whereas banana TLP (Mus a 4) was not, in contrast with its homologous kiwi allergen Act d 2. Specific IgE to both banana allergens, as well as to peach Pru p 3, was found in over 70% of sera from banana-allergic children, and Mus a 4 and Pru p 3 provoked positive SPT responses in 6 of the 12 tested patients, whereas Mus a 5 in only one of them. Both peptidic epitopes and cross-reactive carbohydrate determinants were involved in the IgE-binding to Mus a 5, whereas cross-reactivity between Mus a 4 and Act d 2 was only based on common IgE protein epitopes. Profilin Pho d 2 elicited a relevant proportion of positive responses on in vitro (41%) and in vivo (58%) tests. Therefore, Mus a 4 and LTP behave as major banana allergens in the study population, and profilin seems to be also a relevant allergen. Mus a 5 is an equivocal allergenic protein, showing high IgE-binding to its attached complex glycan, and low in vivo potency

The challenges of organic production and marketing in Europe and Spain. Innovative marketing to the future with quality and safety food products

In this work it explains the actual situation of organic production and marketing in Spain, studying and analyzing their evolution in the last decade of anterior century and in the first years of the new millennium. In Spain, organic production began in 70's with pioneers in Catalonia, Murcia Region and other zones. It was in 90's when it was observed a great increase in organic surfaces. A very interesting and critic date is that at the moment, more of 80% of organic products it is exporting to other European countries, USA and others foreign markets, and it is necessary a new marketing strategies and innovations to structure the organic market, give a new information to consumers, improve the investment in relation between retailers and this consumers, and improve the perception of utilities of this products. In some countries as is the case of Spain, the consumer s don't have enough information about the characteristics of organic products, organic food and organic production methodologies. They must to know all information along the benefits of organic production methodologies and their implications in environment conservation, biodiversity protection, food quality and safety, and this task must be provided by the new marketing strategies and actions.Marketing Innovation, Organic Products, Quality and Safety Food, Organic product marketing, Agribusiness, Marketing,

Partial least squares discriminant analysis: A dimensionality reduction method to classify hyperspectral data

The recent development of more sophisticated spectroscopic methods allows acquisition of high dimensional datasets from which valuable information may be extracted using multivariate statistical analyses, such as dimensionality reduction and automatic classification (supervised and unsupervised). In this work, a supervised classification through a partial least squares discriminant analysis (PLS-DA) is performed on the hy- perspectral data. The obtained results are compared with those obtained by the most commonly used classification approaches

Partial least squares discriminant analysis: A dimensionality reduction method to classify hyperspectral data

The recent development of more sophisticated spectroscopic methods allows acqui- sition of high dimensional datasets from which valuable information may be extracted using multivariate statistical analyses, such as dimensionality reduction and automatic classification (supervised and unsupervised). In this work, a supervised classification through a partial least squares discriminant analysis (PLS-DA) is performed on the hy- perspectral data. The obtained results are compared with those obtained by the most commonly used classification approaches

High resolution agriculture land cover using aerial digital photography and GIS : a case study for small island states

Chapter 7With the advent of site-specific crop management, sustainability and profitability, land farming now requires information and technology-based management system to identify, analyse and manage spatial and temporal resource variability. Th is approach is being made increasingly possible by recent innovation in information technologies such as mobile devices, geographic information systems, positioning technologies (such as Geographical Position system), and Earth Observations. Such innovation now off ers a holistic approach to micro-manage agricultural resources. (Robert et al., 1994). Basic mapping and farm-level record keeping is one of the first precision agriculture practices that must be implemented in a typical productive agriculture operation (Stombaugh et al., 2001). Typical tasks include mapping of variations that occur in largescale field features such as vegetation stress, crop rotation, inventorying, irrigation, soil drainage and erosion, pest control, etc. Th e search for a low cost methodology that takes into account the growth of information technology in data capture and surveying, data processing, database creation and geographic information systems becomes mandatory in order to respond to such needs. Th e study constitutes, for the first time in Malta, the collection of high precision farming statistics that makes use of an inexpensive system for aerial mapping that requires minimal ground truthing. Th e effectiveness of such a method for small areas was later demonstrated by Galdies and Borg (2006) related to coastal and beach management in the Maltese islands. In the current case, digital aerial remote sensing enabled the accurate mapping of agricultural variables, and coupled with ground survey data, resulted in the production of precise, high resolution agricultural crop-cover maps. Additional information can be further derived from this data that can be used for the optimisation of micro agriculture practices.peer-reviewe

Multifaceted Impacts of Sustainable Land Management in Drylands : A Review

Peer reviewe