Planting density impact on weed infestation and the yield of Miscanthus grown on two soil types

The assessment of the weed infestation effect on biomass yield of Miscanthus x giganteus in the first year of its commercial yield was conducted on two types of soil with different productive ability Luvic Chernozem and Calcic Gleysol. The formed mass of weeds was higher on Luvic Chernozem and the infestation had grown according to the stages of Miscanthus growth. The biomass of weeds depended on the planting density of Miscanthus as well as on the weather conditions during the studied years. Weed infestation of crops very significantly influenced the formation of aboveground biomass of Miscanthus, so that the yields in the first year of commercial harvesting in the control where the weeds were removed manually were significantly higher compared to the crops in which weeds were not removed. The obtained results showed that weeds significantly affect the initial growth and development of Miscanthus plants that are, in general, slow, especially in the year of the crop establishment. The study evaluates the impact of a manual method of suppression and weed infestation of crops on the commercial yield of Miscanthus

Evaluation of metal concentration and antioxidant, antimicrobial, and anticancer potentials of two edible mushrooms Lactarius deliciosus and Macrolepiota procera

© 2016 This study is designed for the determination of metal concentrations, antioxidant, antimicrobial, and anticancer potential of two edible mushrooms Lactarius deliciosus and Macrolepiota procera. Concentrations of nine metals are determined and all metals are present in the allowable concentrations in the tested mushrooms except Cd in M. procera. Antioxidant activity was evaluated by free radical scavenging and reducing power. M. procera extract had more potent free radical scavenging activity (IC50 = 311.40 μg/mL) than L. deliciosus extract. Moreover, the tested extracts had effective reducing power. The total content of phenol in the extracts was examined using Folin–Ciocalteu reagent and obtained values expressed as pyrocatechol equivalents. Further, the antimicrobial potential was determined with a microdilution method on 15 microorganisms. Among the tested species, extract of L. deliciosus showed a better antimicrobial activity with minimum inhibitory concentration values ranging from 2.5 mg/mL to 20 mg/mL. Finally, the cytotoxic activity was tested using the 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide method on human epithelial carcinoma HeLa cells, human lung carcinoma A549 cells, and human colon carcinoma LS174 cells. Extract of both mushrooms expressed similar cytotoxic activity with IC50 values ranging from 19.01 μg/mL to 80.27 μg/mL

EVALUATION OF THE HEAVY METALS CONTENT IN SOIL ANd pLANT MATErIAL AT dIFFErENT dISTANCES FrOM THE MOTOrwAY E75 IN THE SECTION BELgrAdE-prESEVO (SErBIA)

Abstract PiviC, R., A. StAnojkoviC-SebiC, D. joSiC and Z. DiniC, 2014. evaluation of the heavy metals content in soil and plant material at different distances from the motorway e75 in the section belgrade-Presevo (Serbia). Bulg. J. Agric. Sci., the study included the screening of soil and plant material for the contents of some elements along the motorway e75 through Serbia, the section from Belgrade to Preљevo (a length of 400 km). Samples of soil and aerial parts of plant material were taken from both sides of lanes at a distance of about 8 km and at 10, 30, 50 and 400 m perpendicular to the direction of the highway. in the soil samples it were determined pH in 1MkCl and content of total forms of Pb, Cu, As and Hg. the plant material was analyzed for Pb, Cu, As and Hg. It can be concluded that, besides the anthropogenic pollution, which is reflected in the excessive use of plant protection products and fertilizers, and also the impact of air pollution from motor vehicles in certain sections of the examined area, the dominant influence on concentration of some examined elements comes from geochemical composition of parent material from which the soils were developed

Evaluation of metal contents and bioactivity of two edible mushrooms agaricus campestris and boletus edulis

Here we determined metal concentrations, and antioxidant, antimicrobial and anticancer potential of two edible mushrooms Agaricus campestris and Boletus edulis. The concentrations of nine metals were determined and all metals are present in the allowable concentrations. Antioxidant activity was evaluated by free radical scavenging ability and reducing power. B. edulis had more potent free radical scavenging activity (IC50 = 266.32 μg/mL) than A. campestris. Moreover, the tested extracts had effective reducing power. The total content of phenol was examined using Folin-Ciocalteu reagent and the obtained values were expressed as pyrocatechol equivalents (PE). Furthermore, the antimicrobial potential was determined by a microdilution method. A. campestris showed a better antimicrobial activity with MIC values ranging from 2.5 to 20 mg/mL. Finally, the cytotoxic activity was tested using MTT method on the Hela, A549 and LS174 cells. A. campestris expressed stronger cytotoxic activity toward all cell lines with IC50 values ranging from 18.66 to 31.55 μg/mL

Synthesis, characterization and biological evaluation of Pd(ii), Cu(ii), Re(i) and ^99mTc(i) thiazole-based complexes

© 2018 The Royal Society of Chemistry. A new thiazole-containing multidentate ligand 2-((2-phenylthiazol-4-yl)methylthio)ethanamine, L, was synthesized and used to prepare new complexes of the formula PdIILCl2 (Pd-L), CuIIL2Cl2 (Cu-L) and fac-[Re/99mTcI(CO)3(L)]+ (Re/99mTc-L). The ligand L and the metal complexes were characterized spectroscopically. Furthermore, the structures of Re-L and Cu-L were elucidated by X-ray crystallography. Ligand L acts as a bidentate (Nth, S) chelator in Pd-L, as a bidentate (N, S) chelator in Cu-L and as a tridentate (Nth, S, N) chelator in Re-L. The radiotracer 99mTc-L was synthesized in high yield and characterised by HPLC comparison with the Re-L analog. The synthesized compounds were evaluated for their anti-inflammatory and cytotoxic properties. The compounds exhibited low anti-inflammatory activity with Pd-L showing the highest activity among them. The cytotoxic activity of the ligand and the complexes against several human cancer cell lines (cervical adenocarcinoma HeLa, colorectal adenocarcinoma LS-174T, lung adenocarcinoma A549, breast adenocarcinoma MDA-MB-231 and normal human lung fibroblast cell line MRC-5) was examined using the MTT assay. The complex Cu-L exhibited the highest cytotoxicity and the complex Pd-L showed the best tumor selectivity. The changes in the cell cycle phase distribution were determined by flow cytometry and it was found that ligand L shows the highest apoptotic activity. The biodistribution studies of 99mTc-L in mice showed fast tissue clearance. Of all the thiazole-containing compounds, the palladium complex appears to be more promising for future efforts

The effect of using rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis) in broiler nutrition on production parameters, slaughter characteristics, and gut microbiological population

© TÜBİTAK. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of the supplementation of different concentrations of rosemary in broiler diets from day 1 to 42 on growth performance, carcass quality, and cecal microbiological composition of chickens. The research was carried out with 1200 Ross 308 chickens, divided into 4 groups with 6 repetitions per group. The treatment groups were: control group (C) without rosemary, 0.2% rosemary group (0.2R), 0.4% rosemary group (0.4R), and 0.6% rosemary group (0.6R). Production parameters and the European Production Efficiency Factor (EPEF) were determined. At the end of the trial 12 chicks per group were selected and euthanised in order to determine the slaughtering properties and for the microbiological analysis of the cecum contents. The obtained results showed that the use of rosemary in diets leads to increase in average daily gain, feed conversion, and EPEF value. The share of abdominal fat in carcasses was lower (P < 0.05) in the 0.4R and 0.6R groups. Lactobacilli count was found higher in the 0.4R and 0.6R groups (P < 0.001) compared to the C group. These results demonstrate that addition of 0.4% rosemary powder to broiler feed could have positive effects on the gain, feed conversion, fat deposition, and cecal microbiological composition. Further increase in the amount of added rosemary had no additive effect in this research

Evaluation of biological activities of acetone extract of the mushroom leccinum scabrum

Bioactivity of acetone extract of Leccinum scabrum was evaluated. Antioxidant activity was evaluated by free radical scavenging activity, reducing power and determination of total phenolic content. The microdilution plate method was used to detect antimicrobial activity. Cytotoxic activity was tested by MTT assay. Genotoxic potential was evaluated by comet assay. Results showed a stronger free radical scavenging activity, but the reducing power was less pronounced. The total content of phenols in the extract was 14.91 µg PE/mg. The minimum inhibitory concentration related to the tested microorganisms fluctuated in the range 0.039-10 mg/mL. The most sensitive was Bacillus cereus. A strong cytotoxic activity was revealed with IC50 values ranging between 73.64 and 200.00 µg/mL, among which HeLa was the most sensitive. Results showed that the extract was not genotoxic and it decreased the H2O2-induced GDI values in comparison to the positive control. L. scabrum possesses bioactivities such as antioxidant, antimicrobial, cytotoxic, no genotoxic and protective against H2O2, and in the highest tested concentration it showed a synergistic activity

Synthesis, characterization, antimicrobial and cytotoxic activity and DNA-binding properties of d-metal complexes with hydrazones of Girard’s T and P reagents

Abstract: In this work synthesis, characterization and crystal structures of 1, Zn(II) complex ([ZnL1(NCS)2]), with (E)-1-(2-oxo-2-(2-(quinolin-2-ylmethylene)hydrazinyl)ethyl)pyridin-1-ium chloride (HL1Cl) and 2, Bi(III) complex ([BiHL2Cl4] × 1/2CH3OH), with (E)-N,N,N-trimethyl-2-oxo-2-(2-(1-(thiazol-2-yl)ethylidene)hydrazinyl)ethan-1-aminium chloride (HL2Cl), have been reported. Zn(II) complex possesses a distorted trigonal bipyramidal geometry while surroundings around Bi(III) ion are extended pentagonal bipyramidal. Antimicrobial activity, brine shrimp assay and DPPH radical scavenging activity of both complexes, including previously synthesized complexes with HL2Cl ligand (Zn(II) and Ni(II)) and complexes with (E)-N,N,N-trimethyl-2-oxo-2-(2-(1-(pyridin-2-yl)ethylidene)hydrazinyl)ethan-1-aminium chloride (HL3Cl) (Zn(II), Cu(II), Cd(II), Co(II), Fe(III), Ni(II)), were evaluated. For the most active complexes, cytotoxic activity against five malignant cancer cell lines (HeLa, A375, MCF7, PC-3 and A549) and normal cell line HaCaT, as well as generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS), was tested. Graphic abstract: [Figure not available: see fulltext.