Search Results (10)

Recently, the ecological awareness of society and the need to take care of the natural environment have increased significantly. There is also an urgent problem of searching for new, environmentally friendly, and safe for people plant protection techniques using biological preparations, which reduce the intensive and cause significant health problems chemical protection. The study was conducted in a foil tunnel on the ‘Red House’ cultivar roses grown using an adapted method with shoot bending. Maintaining their health under tunnel conditions is often problematic. The study determined the effect of biopreparations on plant health (disease index), photosynthesis parameters, and gas exchange, as well as the species composition of fungi inhabiting roses. The preparations used did not negatively affect the process of photosynthesis and gas exchange. Among the 25 species of fungi obtained from its organs, the polyphagous species Botrytis cinerea dominated; the organs were very often colonized by fungi from the genera Fusarium, Phoma, and Alternaria alternata. The highest concentration of the Biosept 33 SL biopreparation shows a protective effect similar to that of the preparations used in chemical protection, and the degree of leaf blade infection shows a similar level. Full article

The herbarium Trèmols, preserved in the Botanical Institute of Barcelona (IBB), was created during the second half of the 19th century by the Catalan chemist and botanist Frederic Trèmols Borrell (Cadaqués 1831–1900). He was a member of important scientific institutions, including the Real Acadèmia de Ciències i Arts de Barcelona, the Societat Botànica Barcelonesa, the Société Botanique de France, and the Société Helvétique pour l’Échange des Plantes. The value of this herbarium lies in the large volume of specimens that it preserves (12,953) and the high percentage (61.9%) of material of foreign origin that it contains. The Trèmols herbarium was completely digitised in 2019 as part of a wider study that is aimed to classify, digitise, document, review, and, finally, make the IBB historical herbaria available to the scientific community. Herein, we provide a general overview of the almost 13,000 specimens of this collection, which can give valuable insight into the flora that existed more than 100 years ago. Full article

In recent years, the levels of cadmium (Cd) in agricultural soils have been increasing. Cd is highly toxic and can enter the human body through the food chain, threatening human health, therefore, reducing the Cd content in vegetables and producing green and non-polluting food has become a common concern in society. However, the physiological properties of exogenous selenium in alleviating Cd stress in cabbage seedlings have not been thoroughly investigated. In this study, exogenous Se (10 μMol/L) was applied under Cd (25 μMol/L) stress and the physiological characteristics such as biomass, photosynthetic fluorescence parameters, Se and Cd contents, chloroplast ultrastructure, leaf membrane esterification, and antioxidant enzyme activities were determined. The results showed that the exogenous application of Se could effectively alleviate the decrease in growth, photosynthetic pigment, and the gas exchange characteristics of the cabbage seedlings under Cd stress, improve cabbage root vitality, reduce root leaf Cd content, and alleviate the Cd stress-induced damage. Ultrastructural observation showed that the Cd stress caused the disruption to the chloroplasts’ internal structure in the cabbage leaves, while an exogenous Se treatment alleviated the chloroplast damage to some extent, improved the stability of the inner capsule membrane, and alleviated the Cd stress-induced damage to the photosynthetic organs. Cd stress also caused oxidative damage and the excessive accumulation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in the leaves of cabbage seedlings, as evidenced by the significant accumulation of superoxide anion (O²⁻), hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂), malondialdehyde (MDA), and electrolyte leakage. On the other hand, after the exogenous Se treatment, the Cd stress-induced oxidative damage could be reduced by up-regulating the activities of the antioxidant enzymes, such as superoxide dismutase (SOD), peroxidase (POD), and ascorbate peroxidase (APX). At the same time, Cd stress significantly increased glutathione (GSH) levels, and the exogenous Se treatment further increased the GSH levels, thereby increasing the tolerance of the cabbage to Cd stress. In conclusion, exogenous Se can further improve the Cd tolerance of the cabbage seedlings by protecting the photosynthetic system, eliminating excessive accumulation of reactive oxygen species under Cd stress, alleviating oxidative stress, and reducing Cd levels in plants, among other physiological properties. Full article

Exergy is a thermodynamic concept that ponders the quality of energy. It evaluates the irreversibilities of a machine, demonstrating its capacity to perform work associated with energy conversion. This article focuses on directing public policies and vehicle development toward their most proper usage worldwide. In the urban mobility scenario, there is an obvious demand to decrease greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. In addition, the internal combustion engine (ICE) experiences considerable energy losses through heat exchange through the radiator and exhaust flow gases, which are not considerable in battery electric vehicles (BEVs) since there are no exhaust gases subsequent to combustion, nor combustion itself. This work presents longitudinal dynamics simulations of passenger vehicles to understand the magnitude of exergy destruction in ICEVs and BEVs, considering the Brazilian and European Union electric energy mix. Overall, the method can be applied to any other country. The simulation and model parameters were configured to match production road vehicles commercialized in the Brazilian market based on different versions of the same model. Two vehicle dynamic duty cycles were used, one relating to urban usage and another to highway usage, resulting in an overall exergy efficiency of around 50–51% for BEVs considering the exergy destruction in power plants. In contrast, ICE has an average efficiency of 20% in the urban cycle and around 30% in the highway cycle. By comparing the overall equivalent CO₂ emissions, it is possible to conclude that EVs in the European energy matrix produce more GHG than ICE vehicles running on ethanol in Brazil. Nevertheless, there are increasing uses of coal, natural gas, and oil thermal electric power plants, raising the question of how the transition may occur with a general increase in electrification since there is an increasing electric expenditure in all sectors of society, and the renewable energy plants may not meet all of the demand. Full article

A low amino acid (AA)/protein diet is the principal treatment for many inherited amino acid disorders (IMDs). Due to their low AA content, plant foods constitute an essential part of diet therapy. However, data on their AA composition are limited, which leads to an estimation of AA intake from protein content rather than an accurate calculation of true AA intake. This study describes the AA content of a total of 73 plant foods (fruits, n = 12; vegetables, n = 51; and other plant foods, n = 10), with the analysis commissioned by the UK National Society for Phenylketonuria (NSPKU) over 15 years. For all fruits and some vegetables (e.g., rocket, watercress and pea shoots), raw samples were used during analysis. All other vegetables were cooked prior to analysis to represent the usual condition of the food at the time of serving. AA analysis was performed with ion exchange chromatography. The median percentage of protein was 2.0% [0.6–5.4%] for the fruits and vegetables analysed (n = 56), although higher in vegetables than in fruits. Each of the five reported AAs (leucine, lysine, phenylalanine, tyrosine, and methionine) supplied 1–5% per g of protein content. From the heterogeneous range of plant foods analysed, the AA/protein ratios differed significantly (2–5% in fruits and 1–9% in vegetables). There was a strong correlation between the amounts of each of the five AAs in the plant foods, but only a small, moderate correlation between the protein and AA content. Overall, this study provides data on the AA content of several plant foods, which are suitable for patients treated with a low AA/protein diet, including many novel plant options. However, only a limited range of fruits and vegetables were analysed due to the high costs of analysis. Hence, more extensive studies with an increased number of plant foods prepared by different cooking methods and replicate samples are necessary, particularly to examine the relationship between the protein and AA content in depth. Full article

Healthy forests are essential to human life because they provide food, energy, and other benefits including carbon sequestration. The objective of this study was to assess the forests health status in Mediterranean ecosystems, specifically, arid to semi-arid. Four forest reserves directed by Royal Society for the Conservation of Nature, Jordan were evaluated. Plant health indicators [(gas exchange (photosynthesis, stomatal conductance, transpiration), chlorophyll, middy stem water potential (Ψsmd), relative water content], regeneration, lichens, plant disease, as well as soil variables (respiration CO₂-C, electrical conductivity (EC), pH, microorganisms’ abundance) were measured. The Ψsmd values in those semi-arid/arid ecosystems were within the normal ranges (−0.3 to −1.3 MPa) in spring but was under extreme water stress (−1.6 to −5.3 MPa) in summer in three reserves. Similarly, gas exchange variables reduced by 25%–90% in summer (compared to spring) across the studied forests. Although the regeneration (seedling per 1000 m²) was higher than 100 in two forest (Ajloun and Dibbeen), the number of seedlings in hiking sites was extremely low in both forests. Soil health indicators reveled that soil respiration CO₂-C were higher than 25 mg kg⁻¹ in two forests [Ajloun, Dibbeen, (except hiking zone)]. The mean soil saprophytes (number g⁻¹) ranged from 86 to 377 across the forests reserves. In addition, the mean arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (spores 100g⁻¹ soil) was between 350 and 877. Soil EC was consistently optimal (less than 0.5 dS m⁻¹) and pH was slightly basic (7.5–8.3) across the reserves. The results revealed that the fluctuation of rainfall and anthropogenic pressures (grazing, hiking) led to partial forest degradation. When forests (Dana Biosphere Reserve) received 81 mm annual precipitation, Ψsmd values in Juniperus phoenicea at summer ranged from −4.4 to −5.3 MPa, regeneration and lichens were less than 20 per 1000 m², and several trees were dead after infected with soil and air borne pathogens including wilt diseases and die back. Intensive hiking activities (Dibbeen forests, tourism area) and heavy grazing (Yarmouk frosts) reduced regeneration, lichens and soil respiration. Interestingly, the native species had better water relations (RWC, Ψsmd) and gas exchange performance than the introduced species. Overall, it is better to grow native species, and exclude anthropogenic pressure on the territory of introduced species. The conservation programs must persist to sustain several native historical forest trees including Juniperus phoenicea (>600 year old), Quercus ithaburensis (>500 year old), and Pinus halepensis (>100 year old) at Mediterranean semi-arid forests. Full article

Recently, the ecological awareness of society and the need to take care of our surroundings and the natural environment has significantly increased. There is also an urgent problem of searching for new, environmentally friendly techniques for its purification (soil, ground and surface waters, sewage sludge and air) with the use of living organisms, especially higher plants. One plant species investigated for phytoremediation is canna. Ten varieties of canna, grown on degraded and garden soil, were tested in this respect. The disease index and species composition of fungi inhabiting its organs, growth dynamics, parameters of photosynthesis and gas exchange were determined. The conducted research showed that cannas are able to satisfactorily grow even in seemingly unfavorable soil conditions with its strong degradation. Among a total of 24 species of fungi obtained from its organs, genus Fusarium, considered as pathogenic for canna, Alternaria alternata, and, less frequently, Thanatephorus cucumeris and Botrytis cinerea, dominated. The cultivars ‘Picasso’, ‘Cherry Red’, ‘President’ and ‘La Boheme’ had lower rates of photosynthesis and gas exchange than the least affected ‘Botanica’, ‘Wyoming’, ‘Robert Kemp’ and ‘Lucifer’ cultivars. Those turned out to be the most beneficial and they can be recommended for cultivation on strongly degenerated soils. Full article

Terrestrial evapotranspiration (ET) is crucial to the exchange of global carbon, water, and energy cycles and links the hydrological and ecological processes. The frequency and intensity of extreme droughts are expected to increase due to ongoing climate change, strongly impacting terrestrial ET with implications for ecosystems, societies, and climate systems. However, the response of terrestrial ET to extreme drought and the underlying mechanism of terrestrial ET change during droughts are still unclear. Here, we review previous studies on terrestrial ET’s responses to extreme drought and investigate the control factors of ET change in response to extreme drought under different situations. The response of terrestrial ET to extreme drought is affected by various factors including the duration and intensity of the drought, the original climate conditions, as well as the plant species. Terrestrial ET change during droughts is controlled by complex biological and physical processes that can be divided into four parts including supply, energy, demand, and vegetation activities. The response of terrestrial ET to elevate CO₂ may offset the effects of drought because CO₂ fertilization tends to increase water use efficiency through stomatal regulation. We found that large uncertainties remain in the terrestrial ET response to drought due to the discrepancies among different ET products and simulations. This work highlights the requirement for accurate estimates of ET changes in ET products and models. This review provides a systematic investigation of the terrestrial ET response to extreme drought and the underlying mechanism of terrestrial ET changes during droughts and will significantly improve the development of water management strategies under climate change. Full article

Each year, high amounts of dead seagrass material are washed ashore at beaches world-wide. In the Mediterranean region, the seagrass Posidonia oceanica is responsible for huge agglomerates of ball-like seagrass litter. As these are often removed due to touristic reasons, a reuse method would be a step towards a more ecologically oriented society. In this study, the main polysaccharide components were analyzed, in order to propose possible usage options. To do this, different aqueous fractions were extracted, analyzed by classical carbohydrate analysis methods (GC-FID/MS, colorimetric assay and elemental analysis), and purified by ion-exchange chromatography, as well as selective precipitation with a detecting agent for highly glycosylated glycoproteins. The obtained purified fractions were analyzed in detail and a linkage-type analysis of the most promising extract was conducted via permethylation. Only low amounts of glycoproteins, as well as medium amounts of the characteristic apiogalacturonan were likely to be present, while xylan seemed to be the most abundant polysaccharide in most fractions. A partial structural proposal showed general accordance with land plant xylans, presenting reuse options in the field of biofuel and bioplastic generation. Full article

In phenylketonuria (PKU), variable dietary advice provided by health professionals and social media leads to uncertainty for patients/caregivers reliant on accurate, evidence based dietary information. Over four years, 112 consensus statements concerning the allocation of foods in a low phenylalanine diet for PKU were developed by the British Inherited Metabolic Disease Dietitians Group (BIMDG-DG) from 34 PKU treatment centres, utilising 10 rounds of Delphi consultation to gain a majority (≥75%) decision. A mean of 29 UK dietitians (range: 18–40) and 18 treatment centres (range: 13–23) contributed in each round. Statements encompassed all foods/food groups divided into four categories based on defined protein/phenylalanine content: (1) foods high in protein/phenylalanine (best avoided); (2) foods allowed without restriction including fruit/vegetables containing phenylalanine ≤75 mg/100 g and most foods containing protein ≤0.5 g/100 g; (3) foods that should be calculated/weighed as an exchange food if they contain protein exchange ingredients (categorized into foods with a protein content of: >0.1 g/100 g (milk/plant milks only), >0.5 g/100 g (bread/pasta/cereal/flours), >1 g/100 g (cook-in/table-top sauces/dressings), >1.5 g/100 g (soya sauces)); and (4) fruit/vegetables containing phenylalanine >75 mg/100 g allocated as part of the protein/phenylalanine exchange system. These statements have been endorsed and translated into practical dietary management advice by the medical advisory dietitians for the National Society for PKU (NSPKU). Full article