Sorghum bicolor prioritizes the recovery of its photosynthetic activity when re-watered after severe drought stress, while manages to preserve it under elevated CO2 and drought

Understanding plant response and resilience to drought under a high CO2 environment will be crucial to ensure crop production in the future. Sorghum bicolor is a C4 plant that resists drought better than other crops, which could make it a good alternative to be grown under future climatic conditions. Here, we analyse the physiological response of sorghum under 350 ppm CO2 (aCO2) or 700 ppm CO2 (eCO2) with drought (D) or without drought (WW) for 9, 13 and 16 days; as well as its resilience under long (R1: 9D + 7R) or short (R2: 13D + 3R) recovery treatments. Sorghum showed elevated rates of gs under aCO2 and WW, which resulted in a significant decrease in Ψw, gs, E, ΦPSII, Fv’/Fm′ when exposed to drought. Consequently, A was greatly decreased. When re-watered, both re-watering treatments prioritized A recovery by restoring photosynthetic machinery under aCO2, whereas under eCO2 plants required little recovery since plant were hardly affected by drought. However, sorghum growth rate for aboveground organs did not reach control values, indicating a slower long-term recovery. Overall, these results provide information about the resilience of sorghum and its utility as a suitable candidate for the drought episodes of the future.This research was financially supported by grant GRUPO Gobierno Vasco-IT022-16. X. S. Martínez-Goñi is the recipient of a grant from Departamento de Universidades e Investigación del Gobierno Vasco (Spain). A. Robredo was the recipient of a grant from Departamento de Educación, Universidades e Investigación del Gobierno Vasco (Spain)

Leaf water potential and sap flow as indicators of water stress in Crimson ‘seedless’ grapevines under different irrigation strategies

Vitis vinifera L. cv. Crimson Seedless is a late season red table grape developed in 1989, with a high market value and increasingly cultivated under protected environments to extend the availability of seedless table grapes into the late fall. The purpose of this work was to evaluate leaf water potential and sap flow as indicators of water stress in Crimson Seedless vines under standard and reduced irrigation strategy, consisting of 70 % of the standard irrigation depth. Additionally, two sub-treatments were applied, consisting of normal irrigation throughout the growing season and a short irrigation induced stress period between veraison and harvest. Leaf water potential measurements coherently signaled crop-available water variations caused by different irrigation treatments, suggesting that this plant-based method can be reliably used to identify water-stress conditions. The use of sap flow density data to establish a ratio based on a reference ‘well irrigated vine’ and less irrigated vines can potentially be used to signal differences in the transpiration rates, which may be suitable for improving irrigation management strategies while preventing undesirable levels of water stress. Although all four irrigation strategies resulted in the production of quality table grapes, significant differences (p ≤ 0.05) were found in both berry weight and sugar content between the standard irrigation and reduced irrigation treatments. Reduced irrigation increased slightly the average berry size as well as sugar content and technical maturity index. The 2-week irrigation stress period had a negative effect on these parameters

Effect of soaking and fermentation on content of phenolic compounds of soybean (Glycine max cv. Merit) and mung beans (Vigna radiata [L] Wilczek)

© 2015 Informa UK Ltd. Mung beans (Vigna radiata [L] Wilczek) purchased from a Spanish company as >green soybeans>, showed a different phenolic composition than yellow soybeans (Glycine max cv. Merit). Isoflavones were predominant in yellow soybeans, whereas they were completely absent in the green seeds on which flavanones were predominant. In order to enhance their health benefits, both types of bean were subjected to technological processes, such as soaking and fermentation. Soaking increased malonyl glucoside isoflavone extraction in yellow beans and produced an increase in apigenin derivatives in the green beans. Lactobacillus plantarum CECT 748T fermentation produced an increase in the bioactivity of both beans since a conversion of glycosylated isoflavones into bioactive aglycones and an increase of the bioactive vitexin was observed in yellow and green beans, respectively. In spite of potential consumer confusion, since soybean and >green soybean> are different legumes, the health benefits of both beans were enhanced by lactic fermentation.This work was supported by grants RM2012-00004 (Instituto Nacional de Investigación Agraria y Alimentaría), AGL2008-01052, AGL2011-22745, Consolider INGENIO 2010 CSD2007-00063 FUN-C-FOOD (MINECO) y S2009/AGR-1469 (ALIBIRD) (Comunidad de Madrid).Peer Reviewe

Bioactives phenolic compounds of soybean (Glycine max cv. Merit). Modification by fermentation with different inoculum

Trabajo presentado a la XXIV International Conference on Polyphenols, celebrada en Salamanca (España) del 8 al 11 de julio de 2008.Peer reviewe

Bioactive Phenolic Compounds of Soybean (Glycine max cv. Merit): Modifications by Different Microbiological Fermentations

In this work, the effect of solid-substrate fermentation with Aspergillus oryzae, Rhizopus oryzae and Bacillus subtilis of soybean seeds on bioactive phenolic compounds was studied. Among the analysed sample extracts several phenolic compounds, hydroxybenzoics, hydroxycinnamics and flavonoids, such as flavonols, flavanones, isoflavones were identified by HPLC-DAD-ESI/MS. The results obtained indicate that fermentation process carried out in seeds inoculated with different microorganisms produced significant changes in flavonoids and phenolic acids contents. A significant increase in the content of phenolic acids was observed in the samples fermented with the different microorganisms with respect to soybean without fermentation and fermented naturally. Fermentation process produced also important changes in flavonoids compounds, with a significant formation in isoflavone aglycone contents such as daidzein, glycitein and genistein as a consequence of glucosidase activity of microorganism in this process, showing significant differences (p<0.05) with respect to control. Therefore, this process was shown to be a good way to increase the phenolic content of soybean, which could confer health-promoting effects. © Institute of Animal Reproduction and Food Research of the Polish Academy of Sciences.This work was supported by the financed project AL-GL2008–05673-C02–02/ALI, through the Spanish “Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación”. Dr. M. Dueñas also thanks the Spanish “Ramón y Cajal” Program for a contract.Peer Reviewe

CHARACTERIZATION OF SUGARS AND ORGANIC ACIDS IN COMMERCIAL VARIETIES OF TABLE GRAPES

Flavor composition has been defined as a complex attribute of fruit quality, in which the mix of sugars, acids and volatiles play a primary role. In table grapes ( Vitis vinifera L.), sweetness and sourness are the most important flavor attributes for fresh consumption. However, most of the studies available have been performed on wine grapes, which are grown, cultured and processed differently to table grapes. Therefore, the objective of this work was to characterize the changes in sugars and organic acids during the development of &apos;Thompson Seedless&apos;, &apos;Red Globe&apos; and &apos;Crimson Seedless&apos; grown under the same agroclimatic conditions. Each variety was sampled weekly from 2 wk before véraison until commercial harvest. Sugars and organic acids were quantified by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) equipped with an evaporative light scattering detector (ELSD) and ultra violet detector, respectively. The ranges of acid and sugars concentrations found in grapes were as follows: tartaric acid, 1.28-7.45 g L-1; malic acid, 0.38-29.92 g L-1, citric acid traces-1.03 g L-1; fructose, 0.15-8.74 g (sugar) 100 g(grape)-1; glucose, 0.19-8.71 g (sugar) 100 g(grape)-1 and sucrose 0.02-0.91 g (sugar) 100 g(grape)-1. Among sugars, glucose was the most abundant one in early stages and then it decreased until the harvest period, when the amount of fructose and glucose converged to an average of 47% for each sugar. Despite organic acids reaching steady levels 3-4 wk before commercial harvest, there were important differences in the organic acid profiles among varieties, with &apos;Thompson Seedless&apos; showing the lowest tartaric/malic acid ratio of 1.19. These differences are an important aspect in terms of overall flavor

Palaeoenvironmental Changes and C-Isotope Stratigraphy in the Alarcón Formation Stratotype (Upper Cenomanian–Lower Coniacian), Iberian Ranges, Spain

This study analyses the sedimentary facies, palaeosols, and δ13C stratigraphy of the Alarcón Formation in its stratotype in the Iberian Ranges (Spain). The aim is to characterize the palaeoenvironmental changes that occurred in the shallow-marine carbonate environments of central Iberia during the late Cenomanian to early Coniacian. These changes, recorded in seven transgressive–regressive cycles, are interpreted in the framework of regional sea-level variations, local subsidence, and climate. The possible influence of supraregional changes, such as those related to Oceanic Anoxic Event 2 (OAE2), on the sedimentary succession of the Alarcón Formation is also analysed and discussed