Chemical features and bioactivities of lactuca canadensis L., an unconventional food plant from Brazilian cerrado

Throughout the world, people’s diet is generally quite restricted regarding the variety of plants used in their daily regime. The Unconventional Food Plant (UFP) Lactuca canadensis L. is an edible species of wild lettuce sparsely described in literature and considered to be native from the eastern and central parts of North America. To valorize this species as potential alternative food, an analysis of its nutritional, chemical, and bioactive properties was performed. The results specify the occurrence of organic acids, mainly quinic acid (127.9 ± 0.6 g/kg dry weight (dw)), polyunsaturated fatty acids (65.3%), among which are linolenic acid (44.4 ± 0.4 %), and tocopherols, mostly α-tocopherol (61.2 ± 0.7 mg/kg dw). Additionally, eight phenolic compounds were also identified, among which luteolin-O-glucuronide was found in larger amounts in both infusion and hydroethanolic extracts (5.46 ± 0.09 and 4.6 ± 0.1 mg/g dw, respectively). Carbohydrates and proteins were the main macronutrients (603 ± 1 and 177.5 ± 0.3 g/kg dw, respectively), followed by ashes (166.5 ± 0.9), indicative of a great amount of minerals. Additionally, good antioxidant and antibacterial activities were detected in the analyzed extracts. In general, our results contribute to extend the range of different, unexploited, and nutritionally balanced plant foods, such as Lactuca canadensis, that can and should be included in the daily diet.The authors are grateful to the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT, Portugal) for financial support by national funds FCT/MCTES to CIMO (UIDB/00690/2020) and national funding by FCT, P.I., through the institutional scientific employment program-contract for L.B., A.F. and M.I.D., and through the individual scientific employment program-contract for J.P. (CEECIND/01011/2018). The authors are also grateful to the project TRANSCoLAB (0612_TRANS_CO_LAB_2_P), to the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) through the Regional Operational Program North 2020, within the scope of Project GreenHealth, Norte-01-0145-FEDER-000042. The authors C.T.P.C. and V.G.P.S. are grateful to the international mobility departments of the Federal University of Goiás and the Polytechnic Institute of Bragança for the opportunity for student exchange of C.T.P.C. and developing of the research with L. canadensis species.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Balanço do nitrogênio e fósforo em solo com cultivo orgânico de hortaliças após a incorporação de biomassa de guandu.

Os objetivos deste trabalho foram avaliar os efeitos de faixas de guandu (Cajanus cajan) e da incorporação da biomassa proveniente de sua poda na fertilidade do solo e na produtividade de três hortaliças sob cultivo orgânico. O delineamento usado foi de blocos casualizados completos em esquema de parcelas subsubdivididas com três repetições. As produtividades de beterraba, cenoura e feijão-de-vagem não foram afetadas pelos tratamentos. Nas parcelas onde não houve incorporação da biomassa de guandu, o balanço de nitrogênio no sistema foi negativo, ao passo que com a incorporação, esse balanço foi positivo. Embora tenha ocorrido balanço positivo para o fósforo nas parcelas sem a incorporação de biomassa de guandu, houve um aumento significativo na absorção desse elemento pelas hortaliças quando o material foi incorporado. O sistema de cultivo em aléias de guandu pode representar uma prática vantajosa para os produtores orgânicos, por contribuir na manutenção da fertilidade do solo

Quantum gravity phenomenology at the dawn of the multi-messenger era—A review

The exploration of the universe has recently entered a new era thanks to the multi-messenger paradigm, characterized by a continuous increase in the quantity and quality of experimental data that is obtained by the detection of the various cosmic messengers (photons, neutrinos, cosmic rays and gravitational waves) from numerous origins. They give us information about their sources in the universe and the properties of the intergalactic medium. Moreover, multi-messenger astronomy opens up the possibility to search for phenomenological signatures of quantum gravity. On the one hand, the most energetic events allow us to test our physical theories at energy regimes which are not directly accessible in accelerators; on the other hand, tiny effects in the propagation of very high energy particles could be amplified by cosmological distances. After decades of merely theoretical investigations, the possibility of obtaining phenomenological indications of Planck-scale effects is a revolutionary step in the quest for a quantum theory of gravity, but it requires cooperation between different communities of physicists (both theoretical and experimental). This review, prepared within the COST Action CA18108 “Quantum gravity phenomenology in the multi-messenger approach”, is aimed at promoting this cooperation by giving a state-of-the art account of the interdisciplinary expertise that is needed in the effective search of quantum gravity footprints in the production, propagation and detection of cosmic messengers.publishedVersio