•Diel enlargement/shrinkage fluctuations are more prominent in young cladodes.•Nocturnal cladode stomatal conductance is not related to cladode shrinkage.•Cladode thickness of unirrigated plants is ...mainly related to soil water content.•Cladode thickness growth of irrigated cactus pears is directly related to temperature.•Cladodes quickly rehydrate when water is supplied after three months of drought.
Cactus pear (Opuntia ficus-indica L. Miller) is a CAM plant with an extraordinary capacity to store water in its succulent stems (cladodes). However, the daily variations of cladode thickness is unknown. Studying cladode thickness fluctuations may be useful for the early prediction of plant dehydration stress. The objective of this study was to determine if age, water availability and temperature influence diel cladode shrinkage and enlargement dynamics in cactus pear. The experiment was conducted in a greenhouse from April to July 2014, using cactus pear plants, equally split into irrigated and unirrigated treatments, and unrooted cladodes detached from mother plants. Soil moisture content (SMC), soil water depletion over 24-h, cladode relative water content (RWC), cladode thickness, stomatal conductance (gs), cladode growth rates (area increase) and nocturnal malic acid accumulation were monitored in plants of various ages. Cladode shrinkage and enlargement dynamics were assessed using stem gauges and expressed as absolute growth rate (AGRthickness, μmmin−1). In unirrigated pots, drought decreased SMC, RWC,cladode thickness, cladode growth rate and gs. Younger cladodes lost water later than older ones. Detached cladodes exhibited gs activity 3–4 months after detachment. Trends of AGRthickness showed that there was a progressive reduction of diel swelling and shrinkage fluctuations as cladodes aged. Such fluctuations were minimized under severe drought when 1-year-old cladodes reached 8mm thickness and a RWC of about 45%. A positive correlation was found between SMC and AGRthickness. Temperatures were also directly correlated with AGRthickness, although this relationship was gradually lost as SMC decreased. Overall, cactus pears were able to maintain some growth at very low hydration levels, and cladode growth was highly responsive to rehydration after long periods of drought.
•Mango fruit quality is affected by genotype and ripening stage at harvest.•Fruits from the Mediterranean area achieve high quality attributes.•Fruits ripened after harvest can achieve quality ...compatible with the market demand.•UHPLC–MS/MS was used to identify and quantify the polyphenol profile.•PCA coupled with chemical data allowed cultivar discrimination.
Mango (Mangifera indica L.) quality is strongly influenced by genotype but individuating the most appropriate harvesting time is essential to obtain high quality fruits. In this trial we studied the influences of the ripening stage at harvest (mature-ripe or green-ripe) on quality of ready to eat mango fruits from nine cultivars (Carrie, Keitt, Glenn, Manzanillo, Maya, Rosa, Osteen, Tommy Atkins and Kensington Pride) grown in the Mediterranean subtropical climate through physicochemical, nutraceutical, and sensory analysis. Our results show a large variability among the different observed genotypes and in dependence of the ripening stage at harvest. With the exception of Rosa, mature-ripe fruits are well-colored, sweet and aromatic, and better suited for short supply chains. On the other hand, post-harvest ripened fruits are firmer, frequently (Carrie, Glenn, Keitt, Manzanillo, Maya) possess interesting nutraceutical value and, in the case of Glenn, Maya, Osteen, and Kensington Pride, they can reach market standard quality.
The pregnancy vaginal microbiome contributes to risk of preterm birth, the primary cause of death in children under 5 years of age. Here we describe direct on-swab metabolic profiling by Desorption ...Electrospray Ionization Mass Spectrometry (DESI-MS) for sample preparation-free characterisation of the cervicovaginal metabolome in two independent pregnancy cohorts (VMET, n = 160; 455 swabs; VMET II, n = 205; 573 swabs). By integrating metataxonomics and immune profiling data from matched samples, we show that specific metabolome signatures can be used to robustly predict simultaneously both the composition of the vaginal microbiome and host inflammatory status. In these patients, vaginal microbiota instability and innate immune activation, as predicted using DESI-MS, associated with preterm birth, including in women receiving cervical cerclage for preterm birth prevention. These findings highlight direct on-swab metabolic profiling by DESI-MS as an innovative approach for preterm birth risk stratification through rapid assessment of vaginal microbiota-host dynamics.
The addition of active compounds to enhance the functional properties of foods is a quite common practice. Recently, bread became one of the target foods to incorporate functional ingredients such as ...those deriving from Opuntia spp. So far, only Opuntia ficus-indica cladodes in powder has been tested. The addition of fresh O. ficus-indica mucilage (in substitution to water) did not influence the biological leavening of the doughs. The resulting breads showed a biological role of the cactus mucilage, because their antioxidant activity was higher than that of control wheat bread. The sensory analysis indicated a general appreciation of the breads enriched with O. ficus-indica mucilage by the judges. The inclusion of fresh cactus mucilage in bread production might increase the dietary antioxidant intake due to its daily worldwide consumption.
Mass spectrometry imaging (MSI) data often consist of tens of thousands of mass spectra collected from a sample surface. During the time necessary to perform a single acquisition, it is likely that ...uncontrollable factors alter the validity of the initial mass calibration of the instrument, resulting in mass errors of magnitude significantly larger than their theoretical values. This phenomenon has a two-fold detrimental effect: (a) it reduces the ability to interpret the results based on the observed signals, (b) it can affect the quality of the observed signal spatial distributions.
We present a post-acquisition computational method capable of reducing the observed mass drift by up to 60 ppm in biological samples, exploiting the presence of typical molecules with a known mass-to-charge ratio. The procedure, tested on time-of-flight and Orbitrap mass spectrometry analyzers interfaced to a desorption electrospray ionization (DESI) source, improves the molecular annotation quality and the spatial distributions of the detected ions.
The presented method represents a robust and accurate tool for performing post-acquisition mass recalibration of DESI-MSI datasets and can help to increase the reliability of the molecular assignment and the data quality.
Abstract Pomegranate ( Punica granatum L.) fruit quality depends on many traits including visual, biochemical and mineral characteristics. One of the negative traits is aril whitening (AW) which is a ...frequently observed disorder in hot and dry climates, that leads to decline in desirable fruit quality. Color, antioxidant, and mineral contents of the arils are of prime importance as quality traits. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the effect of shading and foliar minerals on fruit quality during the fruit development stages of pomegranate. Treatments included shaded (50% green net) and unshaded trees and foliar application of trees with potassium sulfate (K, 1% and 2%) or sodium silicate (Si, 0.05, 0.1 and 0.15%) during two growing seasons. Results showed that the severity of AW at harvest decreased significantly when trees were covered with shading compared to control. The color values of L* and ⁰hue for arils were lower in fruits grown under shading conditions indicating darker red arils. Shading significantly reduced chilling injury in cold storage compared to open field fruits. Shading and Si 0.15% increased superoxide dismutase, and catalase enzymes activity while decreased Polyphenol oxidase and peroxidase. Covering trees with shading and Si 0.15% spray resulted in the highest total anthocyanin, antioxidant activity, and total phenolics content in the arils. Shading as well as Si 0.15% increased macronutrients content of the arils. The study concluded that covering pomegranate trees and spraying with Si in hot climate reduced AW, increased antioxidant traits, and led to higher fruit quality.
Fig fruits are usually highly sensitive to some physiopathological disorders during post-harvest life, such as softening and skin cracking. Indeed, the use of edible coating (EC) has been evaluated ...in several fruit crops to reduce fruit post-harvest transpiration and to maintain fruit visual quality. The aim of this study was to determine the post-harvest metabolic response of breba figs treated with mucilage extract from
cladodes, using an untargeted metabolomic approach. Coated and non-coated (control) fruit were sealed in plastic bags, and stored at 4°C for 7 days. The effect of the ECs on their quality fruit during cold storage and qualitative attributes were evaluated by analyzing the fruit primary metabolism and other qualitative parameters such as total soluble solids (TSS) content, titratable acidity (TA), fresh weight loss and firmness. Results underlined that EC was effective in maintaining fruit fresh weight, and fruit firmness. Stepwise discriminant analysis was able to discriminate fruit conditions. Alanine, xylulose, aspartic acid, glutamic, acid and 2,5-dihydroxypyrazine showed a significant role on discriminating edible coated fruit from untreated ones. Principal component analysis (PCA) was able to highlight clear differences in the overall metabolism changes between untreated and treated fruit. The application of EC significantly mitigated the decrease of most of the aminoacid content during cold storage. EC treatment caused the changes of several organic acids in comparison to untreated control, increasing the amount of carbohydrates and other key metabolites, such as beta-sitosterol, glycerol, and uracil. These results clearly showed the drastic effects of EC on fig metabolism during post-harvest and shed light on the beneficial mechanisms of this treatment.
Table grape is a non-climacteric fruit, very sensitive to water loss and gray mold during postharvest handling and storage. The aim of this work was to evaluate the effects of modified atmosphere ...packaging and chitosan treatment on quality and sensorial parameters of minimally processed cv. ‘Italia’ table grape during cold storage (14 days at 5 °C) and shelf-life (7 and 14 days of cold storage plus 5 days at 20 °C), reproducing a retail sales condition. Our data showed a significant effect of high CO2-modified atmosphere in combination with chitosan and alone on preserving quality, sensorial parameters, and delaying decay of minimally processed table grape. The most effective treatment in terms of preservation of quality, sensory, and nutritional quality was high-CO2 modified atmosphere packaging plus chitosan treatment. The overall results showed that when a proper modified atmosphere packaging is combined with a postharvest chitosan treatment, gray mold growth can effectively be controlled in ready-to-eat cv. ‘Italia’ table grape and that modified atmosphere packaging (MAP) with high levels of CO2 and reduced concentration of O2 in combination with chitosan treatment could prevent the negative effect of high-CO2 in-packages level, like berry browning and rachis browning and dehydration.
Background
Loquat cultivars cultivated in Southern Italy are very appreciated by consumers for their sensorial characteristics, such as persistent aroma and taste. Apposite maturity indexes for ...peeling and processing loquat fruit were investigated to increase diffusion of minimally processed loquat. The genotype’s effect on the minimally processed loquat fruit shelf life and quality harvested at commercial maturity (80% yellow color) was investigated on peeled fruit stored at 5 °C for 10 days. The role of sugars, organic acids and phenols composition was observed through in depth qualitative analysis. In addition, several qualitative analyses were carried out to determine the quality of minimal processed fruit.
Results
Loquat fruits harvested at commercial ripening stage performed very good palatability and flesh color persistency. Late ripening fruits genotypes shown a low rate of pulp oxidation and quality decay, while early ripening fruits were not suitable for fresh-cut. Genotype had a great influence on weight loss, β-carotene content, fruit respiration, ascorbic acid and total phenols content during the shelf life.
Conclusions
This work shows how the amount of the composition of sugars and organic acids as an intrinsic characteristic of genotype influences the quality of loquat fruits minimal processed. The higher values of glucose, sorbitol and ascorbic acid accumulated in the cv ‘Nespolone Trabia’ contributed to a reduction in chilling injury and oxidative stress after cutting.
Graphical Abstract
The control of temperature and gas composition is essential to maintain the fresh flavor and quality of perishable fruits like mulberry. This study presented a modified atmosphere experiment (MAP) ...for fresh fruit showing the potential benefits of innovative gas mixing with argon. The effects of MAP were studied on the physicochemical and qualitative attributes of mulberry preserved at 4±1°C and 90±5% R.H. Fresh mulberries were packaged with different gas combinations: MAP1 (4%O2+6%CO2+90%N2), MAP2 (10%O2+5%CO2+85%Ar), CTR1 (20.9%O2+0.04%CO2), and CTR2 (10%O2+5%CO2+85%N2). Changes in quality parameters were evaluated after 0, 4, 8, and 12 days of storage. Mulberries packaged with MAP had a lower weight loss than CTR samples which lost more than 80% of their initial weight. Furthermore, the results showed that the argon treatment was the best in keeping the fruit juice content, preserving its structure. Despite not showing great differences with MAP1 treatment, Ar allowed to maintain high TSS up to 8 storage days, slowed CO2 production. The sensory profile of mulberry fruit was not significantly affected by storage in modified atmospheres, and the production of potential unpleasant odors in MAP2 could not be perceived. The results of this study confirm that this innovative approach, using MAP technology, has a potential use in maintaining mulberry fruit quality for a longer time.
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