Search results for " cultivation"
showing 10 items of 66 documents
Medicinal mushrooms: Valuable biological resources of high exploitation potential
2017
Higher Basidiomycetes and Ascomycetes mushrooms possess various immunological and anticancer properties. They also offer important health benefits and exhibit a broad spectrum of pharmacological activities including antibacterial, antifungal, antiviral, cytotoxic, immunomodulating, anti-inflammatory, antioxidative, antiallergic, antidepressive, antihyperlipidemic, antidiabetic, digestive, hepatoprotective, neuroprotective, nephroprotective, osteoprotective, and hypotensive activities. This minireview summarizes the perspectives, recent advances, and major challenges of medicinal mushrooms with reference to their nutraceutical properties and dietary value, the production of mushroom biomass …
Urgent need for preservation of grapevine (Vitis vinifera L. Subsp. vinifera) germplasm from small circum-Sicilian islands as revealed by SSR markers…
2016
Since the last decades grapevine germplasm is undergoing a process of rapid genetic erosion. This process is of particular concern in minor circum-Sicilian islands, because of the sharp reduction of the cultivated surfaces and the shift of their economy from agriculture to tourism. Aiming at valorising and preserving the surviving varieties we collected 185 accessions during several surveys since 2007. Six nuclear microsatellite markers were used for germplasm characterization, yielding 75 different genetic profiles. We found out that most genetic profiles (39) were not listed in national and international grapevine databases, confirming that the Sicilian minor islands represent underexplor…
Wild and cultivated mushrooms as a model of sustainable development
2013
The natural resources are currently overexploited and since 1992 the Conference of Rio de Janeiro has focused on sustainable development to safeguard our planet for future generations. The Fungi kingdom includes producers of goods and services for ecosystems and organisms widely used in the food industry. Besides, macrofungi are recognized as nontimber forest products and could be utilized as agents of environmental management through weed biocontrol and environmental improvement. Moreover, the cultivation of fungi, in particular truffles, can provide an important income in agroecosystems, especially in marginal areas, along with the development of new technologies to produce novel products…
Increased illumination levels enhance biosynthesis of aloenin A and aloin B in Aloe arborescens Mill., but lower their per-plant yield
2021
Abstract Leaves of Aloe arborescens Mill. are a relevant source of secondary metabolites of pharmaceutical relevance. Notwithstanding, specialized cultivations of A. arborescens are still rather limited, and a straightforward agronomical research addressed to the obtainment of high-quality material is lacking. With the purpose to fill this gap, from 2016 to 2018, a trial was arranged to evaluate the growth and development of A. arborescens, along with the production of four active metabolites (aloin A and B, aloenin A, and isoaloeresin D) with varying some growth conditions. Two growth substrates (“A”- a commercial substrate, and “B”- the same substrate + 20 % perlite), two durations of pre…
Variations of essential oil constituents in oregano (Origanum vulgare subsp. viridulum (= o. heracleoticum) over cultivation cycles
2020
Oregano is&mdash
Effects of irrigation, peat-alternative substrate and plant Habitus on the morphological and production characteristics of Sicilian rosemary (Rosmari…
2020
Irrigation and growing substrate are considered as essential cultivation practices in order to obtain good productive and qualitative performance of potted rosemary plants. In pot growing, the chemical, physical and biological characteristics of the substrate must be stable over time in order to allow regular plant growth. However, the effects of cultivation techniques on the characteristics of potted rosemary are little known. Peat is traditionally used as the organic growing medium
Poplar Biochar as an Alternative Substrate for Curly Endive Cultivated in a Soilless System
2020
Imminent necessity for eco-friendly and low-cost substitutes to peat is a defiance in the soilless plant cultivation systems. Wood biochar could entirely or partly substitute peat as a plant growing constituent to produce vegetables. Nevertheless, knowledge concerning potential plant performance of leafy green vegetables grown on wood biochar is restricted. The present study assessed the main physicochemical traits of various growing media constituted by decreasing the content of peat and by increasing the percentages of poplar wood biochar. Yield, nutritional and functional properties of curly endive plants cultivated in a protected environment were also tested. Biochar was pyrolyzed from …
Optimization of Synthetic Media Composition for Kluyveromyces marxianus Fed-Batch Cultivation
2021
The Kluyveromyces marxianus yeast recently has gained considerable attention due to its applicability in high-value-added product manufacturing. In order to intensify the biosynthesis rate of a target product, reaching high biomass concentrations in the reaction medium is mandatory. Fed-batch processes are an attractive and efficient way how to achieve high cell densities. However, depending on the physiology of the particular microbial strain, an optimal media composition should be used to avoid by-product synthesis and, subsequently, a decrease in overall process effi-ciency. Thus, the aim of the present study was to optimise the synthetic growth medium and feeding solution compositions (…
Genetically modified seeds and plant propagating material in Europe: potential routes of entrance and current status
2019
Genetically modified organisms (GMO), mainly crop plants, are increasingly grown worldwide leading to large trade volumes of living seeds and other plant material both for cultivation and for food and animal feed. Even though all the traded GMOs have been assessed for their safety with regards to human and animal health and the environment, there still are some concerns regarding the potential uncontrolled release in the environment of authorized or unauthorized GM plants. In this review, we identify the possible entrance routes of GM seeds and other propagating plant material in the EU which could be linked to unauthorized release of GMOs in the environment. In addition, we discuss the sit…
A systems-wide understanding of photosynthetic acclimation in algae and higher plants
2017
The ability of phototrophs to colonise different environments relies on robust protection against oxidative stress, a critical requirement for the successful evolutionary transition from water to land. Photosynthetic organisms have developed numerous strategies to adapt their photosynthetic apparatus to changing light conditions in order to optimise their photosynthetic yield, which is crucial for life on Earth to exist. Photosynthetic acclimation is an excellent example of the complexity of biological systems, where highly diverse processes, ranging from electron excitation over protein protonation to enzymatic processes coupling ion gradients with biosynthetic activity, interact on drasti…