Carotenoids in Fresh and Processed Food: Between Biosynthesis and Degradation

Carotenoids are uniquely functional polyene pigments that are ubiquitous in nature; aside from being responsible for the color of a wide variety of vegetables, interest has been focused on food carotenoids due to their likely health benefits. This Special Issue, “Carotenoids in Fresh and Processed Food: Between Biosynthesis and Degradation”, consists of five peer-reviewed papers that cover a numerous new insights on the chemistry of carotenoids together with some observations related to their protection from photodegradation. Moreover, other considerations about their biosynthesis and influencing parameters in fresh food are included

Artificial Photosynthesis

Photosynthesis is one of the most important reactions on Earth, and it is a scientific field that is intrinsically interdisciplinary, with many research groups examining it. We could learn many strategies from photosynthesis and can apply these strategies in artificial photosynthesis. Artificial photosynthesis is a research field that attempts to replicate the natural process of photosynthesis. The goal of artificial photosynthesis is to use the energy of the sun to make different useful material or high-energy chemicals for energy production. This book is aimed at providing fundamental and applied aspects of artificial photosynthesis. In each section, important topics in the subject are discussed and reviewed by experts

Sustainable Production in Food and Agriculture Engineering

This book is a collection of original research and review papers that report on the state of the art and recent advancements in food and agriculture engineering, such as sustainable production and food technology. Encompassed within are applications in food and agriculture engineering, biosystem engineering, plant and animal production engineering, food and agricultural processing engineering, storing industry, economics and production management and agricultural farms management, agricultural machines and devices, and IT for agricultural engineering and ergonomics in agriculture

Grafting as a Sustainable Means for Securing Yield Stability and Quality in Vegetable Crops

Vegetable growers around the world only collect, on average, half of the yield they would obtain under optimal conditions, known as yield potential. It is estimated that 60–70% of the yield gap is attributable to abiotic factors such as salinity, drought, suboptimal temperatures, nutritional deficiencies, flooding, waterlogging, heavy metals contamination, adverse soil pH and organic pollutants, while the remaining 30–40% is due to biotic factors, especially soilborne pathogens, foliar pathogens, arthropods and weeds. Under climate change forecasts, the pressure of biotic/abiotic stressors on yield is expected to rise and challenge further global food security. To meet global demand, several solutions have been proposed, focusing on the breeding of varieties with greater yield potential, but this one-size-fits-all solution leads to limited benefits. In order to overcome the current situation, grafting of elite scion varieties onto vigorous rootstock varieties has been suggested as one of the most promising drives towards further yield stability. Specifically, the implementation of suitable rootstock × scion × environment combinations in Solanaceous (tomato, eggplant, pepper) and Cucurbitaceous (melon, watermelon, melon) high-value crops represents an untapped opportunity to secure yield stability and reliability under biotic/abiotic stresses. This Special Issue invites Original Research, Technology Reports, Methods, Opinions, Perspectives, Invited Reviews and Mini Reviews dissecting grafting as a sustainable agro technology for enhancing tolerance to abiotic stresses and reducing disease damage. In addition, the following are of interest: potential contributions dealing with genetic resources for rootstock breeding, practices and technologies of rootstock breeding, and rootstock–scion signaling, as well as the physiological and molecular mechanisms underlying graft compatibility. In addition, the effect of grafting on vegetable quality, practical applications and nursery management of grafted seedlings and specialty crops (e.g. artichoke and bean) will be considered within the general scope of the Special Issue. We highly believe that this compilation of high standard scientific papers on the principles and practices of vegetable grafting will foster discussions within this important field

Assessing the Emerging Environmental Concerns from Bio-originated Organic Pollutants in Cropping Systems

Agriculture plays a significant role in achieving the goal of carbon neutrality and emission reduction through practices such as crop residue management. Crop residues can be utilized to produce biodegradable mulches (BMs), which can increase crop production and carbon sequestration potential. However, agricultural health and safety are facing new challenges, particularly concerning bio-originated organic pollutants in cropping systems, including biogenic volatile organic compounds (BVOCs) and biodegradable microplastics (BMPs). The main purpose of the research presented in this dissertation is to assess these emerging environmental concerns, including the appropriate assessment of BVOC emissions and the degradation and fragmentation of BMs. BVOC emissions were generally influenced by various factors, including temperature, drought, solar radiation, humidity, nutrient availability, carbon dioxide (CO2), ozone (O3), etc. Among these factors, growth length, air temperature, solar radiation, and leafage were found to be the most important variables affecting the spatial-temporal variations of methanol (MeOH) emissions from spring wheat during the growing period in a Canadian province. The seasonality of MeOH emissions was positively correlated with concentrations of carbon monoxide (CO), filterable particulate matter (FPM), and coarse particulate matter (PM10), but negatively related to nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and O3. Compared with paper mulch, bioplastic mulch contributed a higher amount of aromatic structure-containing chemicals and carboxylic acids, to the water environment, but released fewer and smaller plastic particles. After entering the soil-water environment, the rough microstructure and oxygenated functional groups on BMP surfaces played a crucial role in the adsorption of aromatic compounds and heavy metals from soils. Scientometric analysis can provide researchers with an in-depth understanding of BVOC emission mechanisms, while also offering decision-makers insights into emission mitigation and environmental management. The newly developed BVOC assessment approach, designed to evaluate the biogenic MeOH emitted from crops during growing seasons, can help uncover the relationships between BVOC emissions and key influencing factors. The characterization and quantification of BMPs in cropping systems focused on examining the fragmentation and degradation of BMPs under UV irradiation using visual inspection and quantitative analysis. This dissertation offers scientific support for researching and further developing the impact of BVOC emissions and BMP generation on environmental management

Diffusion of tin from TEC-8 conductive glass into mesoporous titanium dioxide in dye sensitized solar cells

The photoanode of a dye sensitized solar cell is typically a mesoporous titanium dioxide thin film adhered to a conductive glass plate. In the case of TEC-8 glass, an approximately 500 nm film of tin oxide provides the conductivity of this substrate. During the calcining step of photoanode fabrication, tin diffuses into the titanium dioxide layer. Scanning Electron Microscopy and Electron Dispersion Microscopy are used to analyze quantitatively the diffusion of tin through the photoanode. At temperatures (400 to 600 °C) and times (30 to 90 min) typically employed in the calcinations of titanium dioxide layers for dye sensitized solar cells, tin is observed to diffuse through several micrometers of the photoanode. The transport of tin is reasonably described using Fick\u27s Law of Diffusion through a semi-infinite medium with a fixed tin concentration at the interface. Numerical modeling allows for extraction of mass transport parameters that will be important in assessing the degree to which tin diffusion influences the performance of dye sensitized solar cells