Search results for "Fruit"

Indicaxanthin, a multi-target natural compound from Opuntia ficus-indica fruit: From its poly-pharmacological effects to biochemical mechanisms and m…

2019

Abstract Over the latest years phytochemical consumption has been associated to a decreased risk of both the onset and the development of a number of pathological conditions. In this context indicaxanthin, a betalain pigment from Opuntia ficus-indica fruit, has been the object of sound research. Explored, at first, for its mere antioxidant potential, Indicaxanthin is now regarded as a redox-active compound able to exert significant poly-pharmacological effects against several targets in a number of experimental conditions both in vivo and in vitro. This paper aims to provide an overview on the therapeutical effects of indicaxanthin, ranging from the anti-inflammatory to the neuro-modulatory…

Identification of a copper chaperone from tomato fruits infected with Botrytis cinerea by differential display

2003

Differential display was used to isolate tomato genes responding to fungal infection. Here we describe the isolation and characterization of a gene that is down-regulated in tomato fruits infected with the phytopathogen Botrytis cinerea. The cDNA identified encodes a protein that shares sequence similarity to the amino terminal region of CCH, a copper chaperone from Arabidopsis thaliana, that participates in intracellular copper homeostasis by delivering Cu to the secretory pathway. The fact that this newly characterized tomato gene, referred to as LeCCH (Lycopersicon esculentum copper chaperone), be differentially expressed after fungal infection, suggests an interesting relationship betwe…

Compositional and morphological analyses of wax in northern wild berry species.

2019

Accepted manuscript version, licensed CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. Aerial surfaces of plants are covered by a waxy cuticle protecting plants from excessive water loss and UV light. In the present study, composition and morphology of cuticular waxes of northern wild berry species bilberry (Vaccinium myrtillus L.), lingonberry (V. vitis-idaea L.), bog bilberry (V. uliginosum L.) and crowberry (Empetrum nigrum L.) were investigated. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) revealed differences in epicuticular wax morphology, and gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS) analysis confirmed variation in chemical composition of cuticular waxes between the berry species. The dominant compounds in bilberry and li…

Recognition and classification of external skin damage in citrus fruits using multispectral data and morphological features

2009

The computer vision systems currently used for the automatic inspection of citrus fruits are normally based on supervised methods that are capable of detecting defects on the surface of the fruit but are unable to discriminate between different types of defects. identifying the type of the defect affecting each fruit is very important in order to optimise the marketing profit and to be able to take measures to prevent such defects from occurring in the future. In this paper, we present a computer vision system that was developed for the recognition and classification of the most common external defects in citrus. in order to discriminate between 11 types of defects, images of the defects we…

A Two-Year Bio-Agronomic and Chemotaxonomic Evaluation of Wild Sicilian Myrtle (Myrtus communis L.) Berries and Leaves.

2019

A collection of nine Myrtus communis samples from different localities of Sicily was evaluated. Morphological traits and production characteristics have been chosen as parameters to arrange the samples into homogeneous groups and to identify the best biotypes for possible future agro-industrial exploitation. The plant material has been subjected to taxonomic characterization from biometric and phytochemical perspectives. Myrtle berries and leaves have been analyzed for their content in metabolites, applying a cascade extraction protocol for M. communis leaves and a single hydroalcoholic extraction for berries, whereas hydrodistillation procedures have been applied to obtain the essential oi…

Study of Biodiversity for Fruit Valorization: the example of Ancient Apple Cultivars (Malus x domestica Borkh.) from Tuscany (Italy)

2010

Application of near Infrared Spectroscopy to the Quality Control of Citrus Fruits and Mango

2016

NIR spectroscopy is a proved tool to measure the optical properties of the samples, which are related to their chemical and textural properties. This technology can be used for determining the internal and external quality of fruits. Accordingly, many studies have been reported for long time to assess the quality of different fresh fruits by using reflectance measurements acquired with visible-NIR spectroscopy. We have been working on the estimation of the quality of fruits using computer vision for more than twenty years, always focused on problems that affect the local industry. As the region of Valencia (Spain) is one of the main producers and exporters of citrus fruits worldwide, most o…

Improvement in yield and fruit size and quality of the main Italian table olive cultivar 'Nocellara del Belice'

2014

Olive (Olea europaea L.) shows alternate bearing, with unreliable cropping patterns and inconsistent fruit size and quality every year. In many countries, thinning with naphthaleneacetic acid (NAA) is used to minimise alternate bearing behavior in olives. However, in Italy, growers are reluctant to employ this practice and no detailed knowledge is available for specific cultivars. We evaluated the effects of spraying NAA on various dates on the productive and vegetative characteristics of the main Italian table olive cultivar'Nocellara del Belice'. Trunk cross-sectional area, fruit set, fruit drop, fruit size, pit size, yield per tree, crop density and flesh to pit ratio were analysed. The …

Protective effect of antioxidants contained in milk-based fruit beverages against sterol oxidation products

2017

Abstract Sterol oxidation products (SOPs) have shown cytotoxic effect in human intestinal cells; however, their effect within a food matrix has not been assayed yet. This study evaluated the possible cytotoxic effect of SOPs within bioaccessible fractions (BFs) of two milk-based fruit beverages with (BFA)/without (BFB) plant sterols in differentiated Caco-2 cells and if the BFs counteracted the cytotoxic effect induced by COPs mixture (30 and 60 μM). BFs did not evoke cytotoxic effect in any of the tests carried out and they protected against the loss of intestinal cohesion, mitochondrial depolarization and necrosis induced by COPs mixture. Moreover, BFB sample protected from cell cycle arr…

Highly sensitive monoclonal antibody-based immunoassays for boscalid analysis in strawberries

2018

Boscalid is an agrochemical recently developed for crop protection and the most significant member of the succinate dehydrogenase inhibitor group of fungicides. In this study, a collection of high-affinity monoclonal antibodies was generated to boscalid. By using a series of haptens with a linker at alternative tethering sites of the boscalid framework, specific antibodies were isolated as well as antibodies that also recognized the main boscalid metabolite. Two immunoassays were developed using different ELISA formats. Optimized assays displayed very high sensitivities (limits of detection were near 0.01 µg/L). Trueness and precision for the determination of the target analyte in strawberr…