First report of European truffle ectomycorrhiza in the semi%arid climate of Saudi Arabia

Tuber melanosporum Vittad. (Black or Périgord truffle) is a truffle native to the Mediterranean Southern Europe, popular for its unique flavor, and has great economic importance. The present work focused on assessing the possibility of cultivating T. melanosporum associated with Quercus robur L. in the desert climate of Saudi Arabia. The plantation was initiated in November 2018 by planting 271 oak seedlings in the Al-Qassim desert area and checked for survival and ectomycorrhiza development after 1.5 years of plantation maintenance. Amongst the 271 seedlings planted, 243 plants survived two harsh seasons (2019 and 2020), and the randomly selected and tested seedlings were still mycorrhized with T. melanosporum. The mycorrhization level with T. melanosporum was between 5 and 35% of all fine roots, and the share of contaminant ectomycorrhiza was low. In comparison to other areas where T. melanosporum is successfully cultivated, the Al-Qassim desert area has 10%15 °C higher average summer temperatures and a low total annual precipitation, which necessitates regular irrigation of the plantation. This work opens the avenue for an adapted, yet sustainable cultivation of T. melanosporum-inoculated oak tree in a desert climatic condition and introduces new opportunities of the agro-forest business in Saudi Arabia and GCC region

Improvements in the extraction of bioactive compounds by enzymes

Bioactives from plants are always in high demand in nutraceutical, pharmaceutical, and functional food sectors due to their health benefits. This intensifies the need of extraction of bioactives by different methods that can improve the yield and purity of the compound. Enzymes help in the release of bioactives from the plant material under optimized conditions so as to make the extraction process efficient. Though enzymatic extraction of bioactives have been used since long, it needs improvement to further enhance the yield, reduce the process time, and make the process cost competitive. The combination of enzymatic extraction with other green techniques such as ultrasound extraction, supercritical fluid extraction, three-phase partitioning, ionic liquid extraction, and microwave extraction can boost the advantages of enzymatic extraction. This review focuses on the improvement in the enzymatic extraction techniques for the bioactives in detail.Peer reviewe

Anti-angiogenic and anti-inflammatory activity of the summer truffle (Tuber aestivum Vittad.) extracts and a correlation with the chemical constituents identified therein

Fungi are a huge source of unexplored bioactive compounds. Owing to their biological activities, several fungi have shown commercial application in the health industry. Tuber aestivum Vittad. is one such edible fungi with an immense scope for practical biological applications. In the present study, the anti-angiogenic activity of petroleum ether and ethanol extracts of T. aestivum was investigated using the chick chorioallantoic membrane assay and compared to the positive controls silibinin and lenalidomide. Both the extracts showed a dose-dependent anti-angiogenic response. The extracts were also assessed for their anti-inflammatory potential by lipoxygenase-inhibition assay. The IC50 values for LOX inhibition assay, computed by the Boltzmann plot, were 368.5, 147.3 and 40.2 µg/mL, for the petroleum ether extract, ethanol extract, and the positive control ascorbic acid, respectively. The ethanol extract of T. aestivum showed superior anti-angiogenic and anti-inflammatory activity than the petroleum ether extract. Compositional investigation of the extracts by GC-MS revealed the presence of various bioactive compounds. The compounds were correlated to their anti-angiogenic and anti-inflammatory activity based on a meticulous literature search.Peer reviewe