Total and individual phenolics in wild and cultivated elderberry during development

Compounds which add to bioactivity of elderberry (Sambucus nigra L.) are mostly phenolic compounds. One wild edible and two cultivated genotypes (’Haschberg’ and ’Ljubostinja’ selections) have been chosen. Leaves and fruits were collected in four stages (April-September). Total phenolics (TP) content was determined from MeOH extracts by Folin-Ciocalteau method while determination of individual compounds was performed using HPLC-DAD-ESI-MSn analysis with a DAD at 280, 350 and 530 nm. TP content in leaves varied through developmental stages, being higher in II and III stage. Leaves and fruits (both unripe and ripe) of ’Ljubostinja’ plants had higher content of TP compared to wild ripe fruits (1.5-fold). Leaves had caffeic acid derivatives (0.3-0.7% in wild, 0.2-0.3% in ’Haschberg’ and 0.4-0.6% in ’Ljubostinja’ in dry weigh) and caffeoylquinic acid derivatives, while fruits had more caffeoylquinic acid derivatives, particularly unripe fruits. The major phenolic acid present in leaves, especially during the II stage of development, was chlorogenic acid (approx. 4% dw) and the same was recorded in fruits (0.03% dw in unripe fruits of wild plants). Content of phenolic acids decreased during ripening of elderberry fruits and the similar was detected in the leaves

Sugars and organic acids content in unripe and ripe fruits of Sambucus nigra

Elderberry (Sambucus nigra L.) is a common plant used for its medicinal and nutritional properties, as for the beverages, jams, liqueurs, flavourings etc. Plant material examined were leaves and fruits of wild edible, and cultivated elderberry plants (’Haschberg’ and ’Ljubostinja’ selections). Determination of organic acids and sugars was performed using high-performance liquid chromatography. Organic acids found in the tested fruit samples were citric, tartaric, malic, quinic, shikimic and fumaric acids, out of which quinic acid content was the highest in unripe, while citric acid content was the highest in ripe fruits. Wild plants had higher contents of organic acids in unripe fruits (16.7 g 100 g-1dw) than cultivated (’Haschberg’ 6.6, and ’Ljubostinja’ 6.3 g 100 g-1dw). ’Ljubostinja’ selection had significantly higher organic acids content (10.2 g 100 g-1dw) in ripe fruits compared to wild specimen and ’Haschberg’ plants which had similar organic acids content (7.0 and 7.4 g 100 g-1dw). The major organic acid in ripe elderberry fruits was citric acid. When it comes to sugars content the presence of sucrose, glucose, fructose and sorbitol was established. Wild specimen had significantly higher sugars content (2.2 in unripe, and 8.4 g 100 g-1dw in ripe fruits)

Changes in quality characteristics of fresh blueberries: Combined effect of cultivar and storage conditions

The influences of two storage conditions (regular atmosphere-RA and modified-atmosphere packaging-MAP) and different storage time on fruit textural parameters, chemical composition, and total quality index (TQI) of two blueberry cultivars were investigated. Freshly harvested fruit of mid and late season cultivars (‘Bluecrop’ and ‘Liberty’, respectively) were placed in plastic punnets, packed into low-density polyethylene bags of 25 μm thickness with two perforations of 3 mm and stored at 2 ◦C and 90% relative humidity for 30 days, either in RA or in MAP. Changes in gas composition inside the package and fruit quality characteristics were analyzed at 10- day intervals during storage: 0, 10, 20, and 30 days. ‘Liberty’ was dominant over ‘Bluecrop’ in terms of hardness (428 g and 296 g, respectively), as well as individual and total sugars (100 and 76 g⋅kg–1, respectively), organic acids (19 and 12 g⋅kg–1, respectively) and most subclasses of phenolic compounds (anthocyanins, flavonols, and hydroxycinnamic acids). In addition, a novel mathematical index of TQI was introduced to compare all evaluated parameters in order to obtain a quantitative single score, as an indicator of overall fruit quality. ‘Liberty’ had the better TQI score in RA, whereas ‘Bluecrop’ behaved better in MAP. Accordingly, for longer storage of blueberry fruit MAP should not be assumed to be uniformly helpful, since the effect of storage duration in the specific type of atmosphere substantially depends on the proper cultivar selection

Changes in quality characteristics of fresh blueberries: Combined effect of cultivar and storage conditions

The influences of two storage conditions (regular atmosphere-RA and modified-atmosphere packaging-MAP) and different storage time on fruit textural parameters, chemical composition, and total quality index (TQI) of two blueberry cultivars were investigated. Freshly harvested fruit of mid and late season cultivars (‘Bluecrop’ and ‘Liberty’, respectively) were placed in plastic punnets, packed into low-density polyethylene bags of 25 μm thickness with two perforations of 3 mm and stored at 2 ◦C and 90% relative humidity for 30 days, either in RA or in MAP. Changes in gas composition inside the package and fruit quality characteristics were analyzed at 10- day intervals during storage: 0, 10, 20, and 30 days. ‘Liberty’ was dominant over ‘Bluecrop’ in terms of hardness (428 g and 296 g, respectively), as well as individual and total sugars (100 and 76 g⋅kg–1, respectively), organic acids (19 and 12 g⋅kg–1, respectively) and most subclasses of phenolic compounds (anthocyanins, flavonols, and hydroxycinnamic acids). In addition, a novel mathematical index of TQI was introduced to compare all evaluated parameters in order to obtain a quantitative single score, as an indicator of overall fruit quality. ‘Liberty’ had the better TQI score in RA, whereas ‘Bluecrop’ behaved better in MAP. Accordingly, for longer storage of blueberry fruit MAP should not be assumed to be uniformly helpful, since the effect of storage duration in the specific type of atmosphere substantially depends on the proper cultivar selection

Утицај секторијалне резидбе на продуктивност, вегетативни раст и квалитет плода сорте боровнице „Duke“ (Vaccinium corymbosum L.) гајене у супстрату

Рад приказује резултате компаративног испитивања утицаја секторијалне (СР) и конвенционалне резидбе (КР) биљака високожбунасте боровнице на параметре генеративног и вегетативног потенцијала, као и физичке и хемијске особине плода. СР, као нова стратегија резидбе боровнице која се примењује у Чилеу, подразумева да се сваке године уклони само 1/4 од укупног броја базалних грана у жбуну, без уклањања и скраћивања грана у осталим секторима жбуна, што може допринети: 1) олакшаном и бржем извођењу резидбе; 2) смањењу утрошка радне снаге; 3) побољшању осветљености у централном делу жбуна; 4) повећању приноса. Испитивања су вршена у периоду од 2019. до 2021. године у комерцијалном засаду боровнице, који се налази у месту Гружа (општина Кнић). Засад је подигнут у пролеће 2017. године садњом двогодишњих биљака сорте "Duke" у саксије запремине 113 l, које су испуњене супстратном смешом састављеном од струготине четинара и белог тресета (однос 50:50). Саксије су постављене на растојању од 0,8м у реду и 3,0м између редова (4170 биљака/ha). Добијени резултати су показали да је у третману са СР регистрован значајно нижи број плодова (1.233) и принос по жбуну (2,16 kg/жбуну), који се повећавао током година испитивања, достижући највишу вредност од 3,06 kg у 2021. години. Значајно повећање у вегетативном расту је забележено само код пречника базалних грана у третману са КР, док се висина и ширина жбуна нису значајно разликовале у зависности од примењеног начина резидбе. КР је испољила позитиван утицај на масу, димензије плода, број семенки у плоду и садржај укупних шећера, са доминантним учешћем фруктозе и глукозе (40,3 и 37,6 g/kg FW по редоследу), док је у третману са СР забележено значајно повећање садржаја укупних киселина (17,08 g/kg FW са највећим уделом лимунске и квинске киселине (7,14 и 9,17 g/kg FW по редоследу). Садржај укупних антоцијана, деривата хидроксициметних киселина, укупних флавонола и флаванола је био значајно већи у плодовима убраним у третману са СР

HOW DOES SECTORIAL PRUNING AFFECT THE VEGETATIVE GROWTH, PRODUCTIVITY AND FRUIT QUALITY OF SUBSTRATE-GROWN HIGHBUSH BLUEBERRY CV. 'BLUECROP'?

The impact of pruning techniques on the plant growth, yield components and fruit quality traits of substrate-grown highbush blueberry (Vaccinium corymbosum) cultivar 'Bluecrop' were evaluated over four years (2019-2022). The orchard was planted in the village of Gruža (Knić municipality, Serbia) in the spring of 2017 with 5-year-old nursery plants using 113 l polypropylene pots spaced 0.8 m apart in a row and 3.0 m between rows (4,170 plants/ha). At the onset of the trial the ‘Bluecrop’ plants were 8 years old. The two pruning techniques were applied: i) conventional pruning (CP) - removal of the most unproductive canes at the center of the canopy, and weak and excessively fruiting shoots from the top of bushes, and ii) sectorial pruning (SP) - only removal of basal canes in ¼ of the canopy each year. The average number of basal canes per bush was significantly lower in SP than in the CP treatment (14.4 vs. 17.4 canes bush-1 , respectively). SP plants had thinner canes than CP plants, which increased over the years of the study and reached a maximum diameter of 11.12 mm in 2022. CP had a positive influence on fruit yield (5.98 kg bush-1 ), which was associated with a 20% higher number of fruits per bush than in sectorial pruned plants. The fruit yield increased in the first three years of the study, reaching a maximum value in 2021 (7.57 kg per bush), whereas an opposite trend was observed in average fruit weight over the years, with the lowest value reached in the last harvest year (1.81 g). Fruit weight and soluble solids content were not affected by the pruning method, while the content of total acids, total anthocyanins and total phenolics were significantly higher in fruit harvested from the SP treatment (0.70%, 37.04 mg eq mvd-3-G /100 g FW and 1.18 mg eq GA/g FW, respectively) along with the total antioxidant capacity (8.39 mg eq AsA /g FW)

Pion emission from the T2K replica target: method, results and application

The T2K long-baseline neutrino oscillation experiment in Japan needs precise predictions of the initial neutrino flux. The highest precision can be reached based on detailed measurements of hadron emission from the same target as used by T2K exposed to a proton beam of the same kinetic energy of 30 GeV. The corresponding data were recorded in 2007-2010 by the NA61/SHINE experiment at the CERN SPS using a replica of the T2K graphite target. In this paper details of the experiment, data taking, data analysis method and results from the 2007 pilot run are presented. Furthermore, the application of the NA61/SHINE measurements to the predictions of the T2K initial neutrino flux is described and discussed.Comment: updated version as published by NIM

Measurement of negatively charged pion spectra in inelastic p+p interactions at plabp_{lab} = 20, 31, 40, 80 and 158 GeV/c

We present experimental results on inclusive spectra and mean multiplicities of negatively charged pions produced in inelastic p+p interactions at incident projectile momenta of 20, 31, 40, 80 and 158 GeV/c ($\sqrt{s} =$ 6.3, 7.7, 8.8, 12.3 and 17.3 GeV, respectively). The measurements were performed using the large acceptance NA61/SHINE hadron spectrometer at the CERN Super Proton Synchrotron. Two-dimensional spectra are determined in terms of rapidity and transverse momentum. Their properties such as the width of rapidity distributions and the inverse slope parameter of transverse mass spectra are extracted and their collision energy dependences are presented. The results on inelastic p+p interactions are compared with the corresponding data on central Pb+Pb collisions measured by the NA49 experiment at the CERN SPS. The results presented in this paper are part of the NA61/SHINE ion program devoted to the study of the properties of the onset of deconfinement and search for the critical point of strongly interacting matter. They are required for interpretation of results on nucleus-nucleus and proton-nucleus collisions.Comment: Numerical results available at: https://edms.cern.ch/document/1314605 Updates in v3: Updated version, as accepted for publicatio

Measurements of π±\pi^\pm, K±K^\pm, KS0K^0_S, Λ\Lambda and proton production in proton-carbon interactions at 31 GeV/cc with the NA61/SHINE spectrometer at the CERN SPS

Measurements of hadron production in p+C interactions at 31 GeV/c are performed using the NA61/ SHINE spectrometer at the CERN SPS. The analysis is based on the full set of data collected in 2009 using a graphite target with a thickness of 4% of a nuclear interaction length. Inelastic and production cross sections as well as spectra of $\pi^\pm$, $K^\pm$, p, $K^0_S$ and $\Lambda$ are measured with high precision. These measurements are essential for improved calculations of the initial neutrino fluxes in the T2K long-baseline neutrino oscillation experiment in Japan. A comparison of the NA61/SHINE measurements with predictions of several hadroproduction models is presented.Comment: v1 corresponds to the preprint CERN-PH-EP-2015-278; v2 matches the final published versio