The phytoremediator capacity of Quercus cerris L. against heavy metals contamination in the Ezer forest, Lebanon

In this research, some of the phytochemical compounds were detected by using phytochemical screening in leaves and stems of three different plants collected from Al-Gabal Al-Ahder region, Libya, and the concentrations of anti-oxidant capacity, total phenol content, minerals, and total carbohydrate were measured for the selected plants of Capparis spinosa L. (Kabbar), Ceratonia siliqua L. (Kharuwb), and Juniperus phoenicea L (Arar). The spectrophotometer was used to estimate the contents of antioxidants, total phenols, and total carbohydrates, whereas the Flame photometer was used to determine the contents of sodium, calcium, and potassium. The outcomes of this study found that, the levels of anti-oxidant were ranged as follows:(222.72 -302.64 ppm) in leaves and (307.62 -319.03 ppm) in stems, while the contents of total phenols were ranged from 307.62 to 319.03 ppm in stems, the total phenols contents were ranged from 9.07 to 10.59 ppm and from 9.95 to 10.65 ppm in stems, respectively while the concentrations of carbohydrate were ranged from 0.039 to 0.155 ppm and from 0.070 to 0.123 ppm for leaves and stems, respectively. . whereas the sodium, potassium, calcium were ranged from 0.958 to 2.625 ppm in leaves and from 0.88 to 4.08 ppm in stems, for potassium the values were ranged from 3.56 to 77.16 ppm in leaves, but for stems the values of potassium were ranged from 42.96 to 76.96 ppm. While the calcium contents ranged from 0.08 to 0.28 ppm in leaves, and for stems ranged from 0.375 to 0.875 ppm in stems. The phytochemical investigation showed the present important quantiles of sterols, flavonoids, alkaloids, tannins, anthraquinones, saponins, and phenols

In order to examine how carbon and nitrogen status of a macrophyte may affect its total phenolics (TP) production, the contents of free amino acids (FAA), soluble carbohydrate (SC) and TP were examined in leaves of seven submersed, four floating-leaved, and four emergent macrophytes. The floating-leaved and emergent macrophytes had much higher contents of SC and TP than the submersed macrophytes. The contents of FAA were not significantly different among the submersed, floating-leaved, and emergent macrophytes. Correlations among the contents of FAA, SC, and TP indicated that the production of TP was more dependent on the SC content than on the FAA content.

The hawthorn Crataegus mexicana is a traditional Mexican fruit with properties that make this fruit useful for the treatment of many ailments, including diseases of the respiratory and urinary tract. This paper reports the antioxidant capacity of the n-hexane, dichloromethane, ethyl acetate, acetone, ethanol and methanol extracts of C. mexicana. Samples were evaluated for total phenolic and carotenoid contents, 2,2-diphenyl-1-picryl-hydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging, the inhibition of the formation of thiobarbituric acid reactive species (TBARS) and the neutralization of the cation-radical 2,2´-azino-bis(3ethyl benzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) diammonium salt (ABTS). The total phenolic content was 2.65 ± 0.23 mg of gallic acid equivalents per gram, and the carotenoid content was 26.4 ± 0.02 µg/g in dry hawthorn skin. The most active extract in scavenging DPPH radicals and inhibiting TBARS formation was the acetone extract, with activities of 21.9 ± 0.15 and 13.27 ± 0.70%, respectively, at 10 mg/L. The extracts were compared for activity against ascorbic acid, caffeic acid, α- tocopherol and quercetin. The acetone extract was the most active, with an IC50 value of 15.2 mg/L in DPPH and 17.7 mg/L in TBARS. A high correlation was observed between the results for TBARS and DPPH. These results demonstrate the potential nutritional and antioxidant value of this Mexican fruit.

Spectrophotometric measurement of seawater carbohydrate concentrations in neritic and oceanic waters from the U.S. Middle Atlantic Bight and the Delaware estuary

Herbicides reduce the unsafe effects of weeds, but they are likely to have negative impact on essential and secondary metabolism in crops. However, the combined effect of different herbicides on chemical constituents of different varieties of wheat is still not fully obvious. The current investigation was carried out to determine the effects of three post-emergence herbicides (pinoxaden, tribenuron-methyl, and pyroxsulam) on total protein, lipid, and carbohydrate concentrations of three bread wheat cultivars (Misr 1, Giza 171, and Gemmiza 11). These herbicides were added individually and in combinations at recommended and/or half recommended doses. Our findings revealed that the individual application of herbicides decreased total protein and total lipid concentrations in fresh shoots of the three studied wheat cultivars, but increased total carbohydrate concentration. Combined addition of herbicides at recommended and half recommended doses generally decreased the concentrations of total proteins, total lipids, and total carbohydrates. However, the combined addition of tribenuron-methyl and pinoxaden at recommended dose enhanced total protein and total lipid concentrations under Misr1 and Gemmiza 11 cultivars compared to control treatment. Furthermore, the combined addition of tribenuron-methyl and pyroxsulam at half recommended dose enhanced total protein concentration in Giza 171 up to 15.05% and Gemmiza 11 up to 15.09% cultivars, and total lipid concentration in Misr 1 (7.53%) and Giza 171 (9.81%) cultivars against control treatment, where it was the lowest. Total carbohydrate concentration was enhanced by the sole application of pinoxaden by 53.55%, 52.40%, and 51.79% for Misr 1, Giza 171, and Gemmiza 11 cultivars, respectively. Moreover, individual or combined additions of the studied pesticides at recommended and half recommended doses negatively affected wheat grains under all cultivars via decreasing their concentration of nutrients (nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium) as well as total protein and total carbohydrates. The highest reduction of nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium concentrations compared to control was observed when tribenuron-methyl+pyroxsulam was applied at the half recommended dose under the three studied cultivars. However, the combined application of tribenuron-methyl+pyroxsulam at the half recommended dose caused the great depression in total proteins and total carbohydrates of wheat grains. Under the stress effect of herbicides, individual application of pinoxaden gave the best results for nitrogen and potassium content as well as total protein and total carbohydrate concentrations in the three studied wheat grain cultivars.

Water-deficit stress and genotype variation induced alteration in seed characteristics of Camelina sativa

This study was carried out to evaluate the chemical and phenolic contents of some by- products tomato pomace powders (TPP), mango seeds kernel powder (MSKP), and pomegranate peels powder (PPP), Also the effect of substitution of wheat flour with 2.5, 5.0, 7.5 and 10% of (TPP), (MSKP), and (PPP) on chemical, phenolic contents and sensory characteristics of biscuits was studied. Results showed that, wheat flour showed higher moisture and total carbohydrate contents. Tomato pomace powder showed high crude protein, and crude fiber contents. Mango seeds kernel powder had the highest lipids content and pomegranate peels powder had the highest ash and crude fiber contents. For total phenolic and flavonoid content, TPP contain the highest total phenolic and flavonoid content followed by PPP and finally MSKP. Also, the partial replacement of wheat flour with TPP, MSKP and PPP increased chemical composition percentage (moisture, crude protein, lipids, ash, and crude fiber), minerals content (i.e., K, Ca, Mg, Na, Mn, Fe, and Zn) and dietary fiber content (i.e., total, soluble and insoluble dietary fibers) of biscuit samples. However, total carbohydrates were decreased in parallel with increasing the level of substitution compared with control biscuit samples. Biscuit treatments containing TPP, MSKP and PPP had recorded the same minerals dietary fiber content. The partial replacement of wheat flour with TPP, MSKP and PPP increased total phenolic and flavonoid contents of biscuit samples compared with control sample in parallel with increasing the level of substitution. Biscuit treatments containing TPP had the highest total phenolic and flavonoid contents followed by PPP and finally MSKP treatments. The sensory evaluation characters, taste, colour, appearance, crispness, and overall acceptability, have no significant difference between the control sample and biscuit samples which substituted with 2.5, 5, and 7.5% of MSKP and TPP.

Heavy metal (HM) contamination in soils of greenhouse vegetable production (GVP) systems has drawn increasing attention in terms of food safety. In the present study, 64 surface soils were sampled, and the concentrations of select HMs were determined using atomic absorption spectroscopy. The results showed that the concentrations of cadmium (Cd), lead (Pb), zinc (Zn), copper (Cu), nickel (Ni) and chromium (Cr) in the soils were (0.2±0.2) mg/kg, (26.5±8.4) mg/kg, (101.4±43.2) mg/kg, (29.1±8.6) mg/kg, (24.5±3.3) mg/kg, and (56.5±6.3) mg/kg, and the corresponding accumulation index (AI) values were 2.30, 1.10, 1.43, 1.45, 1.07, and 0.97, respectively. The spatial distribution of the HMs suggested that Cd pollution displays a fractionation effect, which may be related to the source of Cd and its mobility. The concentration of Zn was significantly correlated with that of other HMs, implying that a comprehensive interactive effect might occur between Zn and other HMs. Furthermore, the values of the potential ecological risk index (RI) ranged from 41.23 to 185.91, meaning that attention should be paid to HM contamination of GVP soils to ensure food quality and safety. Keywords: heavy metal contamination, cold region, greenhouse vegetable production (GVP), distribution, ecological risk, food quality, food safety DOI: 10.25165/j.ijabe.20191202.4306 Citation: Lv P, Wei Z M, Yu Z M, Zhang J Z, Wang L M. Heavy metal contamination in soils of greenhouse vegetable production systems in a cold region of China. Int J Agric & Biol Eng, 2019; 12(2): 98–102.

Vegetable acts as major valuable source of nutrients. Among different vegetables, okra was analyzed to study moisture content, ash content, soluble dietary fiber (SDF), total carbohydrates, and micro-minerals, fatty acid compositions and pesticide residues. Fatty acid compositions were studied by gas chromatograph equipped with a flame ionization detector (GC-FID) while, gas chromatograph equipped with electron capture detector GC-ECD was used for analysis of pesticide residues. Total carbohydrate content was determined by ultraviolet-visible spectrophotometer. The amount of soluble dietary fiber was estimated by acid extraction method. Fe, Cu and Zn content were analyzed by atomic absorption spectroscopy (AAS). The relative percentage of fatty acids were found to be palmitic, cis-9-oleic, linoleic, linolenic and arachidic acid in a range of 0.27-1.35, 3.78 - 6.32, 30.67- 38.44, 2.13 - 4.85 and 1.29 -3.17 %, respectively. Residual diazinon, chlorpyrifos, fenvalerate, cypermethrin and quinalphos were not found to be present in any sample. Total carbohydrate, SDF, moisture and ash content in fresh okra fruits were found to be 6.01- 6.09, 3.35 - 3.50, 88.02 - 91.84 and 1.72 - 2.04 %, respectively. The amount of Fe, Cu and Zn was 11.41-11.43, 1.78 -1.85 and 8.56 - 9.05 mg per 100 g sample, respectively.
 Dhaka Univ. J. Sci. 68(2): 155-160, 2020 (July)

Different concentrations of selected heavy metals in the form of cadmium chloride (CdCl2), copper sulphate (CuSO4), lead nitrate (Pb (NO3)2) and mercuric nitrate (Hg (NO3)2) were tested against immature and mature stage of C. pipiens to assess the toxicity, LC50, total carbohydrate and lipid content. The survival potential of 2 nd instar larvae was highly affected by the contamination with the tested heavy metals. On the basis of LC50, Cd was the most toxic metal against the larval stage followed by Hg, Cu and Pb. The late toxicity of heavy metals tested on the adult females resulted from larvae treated with the LC50 of each heavy metal decreased significantly the number of eggs laid by female. The fecundity recorded 81.7±5.03, 90.3±2.52, 92.7±3.5 and 78.6±1.52 eggs/♀ for females resulted from larvae treated with the LC50 of CdCl2, CuSO4, Pb (NO3)2 and Hg (NO3)2; respectively, compared to 186±4 eggs/♀ for control females. The hatchability percent of eggs laid with the LC50 of CdCl2, CuSO4, Pb(NO3)2 and Hg (NO3)2 was significantly decreased to 37, 73, 80 and 39 %; respectively, compared to 97 % for eggs laid by untreated females. A significant decrease in total carbohydrate content in the whole body of males and females, C. pipiens resulted from larvae treated with the LC50 of CdCl2 or the LC50 of Hg (NO3)2 was observed. Also, the present study showed a significant decrease in total lipid content of females by the LC50 CuSO4 and the LC50 of Hg (NO3)2, while in males a significant increased was caused by the LC50 CuSO4 and the LC50 of Pb(NO3)2. It is clear from the results obtained in this study that the presence of such elements in the environmental system of the mosquito C. pipiens water as possible to contribute to the reduction of mosquito breeding.

Abstract. Kumari BMR, Nagaraja N. 2023. Effect of chromated copper arsenate on protein, carbohydrate, and chlorophyll content of tropical Eucalyptus and Acacia species. Asian J Trop Biotechnol 20: 56-61. Contamination of heavy metals could cause morphological, physiological, and biochemical changes in plants. Chromated Copper Arsenate (CCA) is a wood preservative that contains Cr, Cu, and As. Leaching these heavy metals into agricultural fields from moderate to higher levels causes a serious threat to the ecosystem. A pot experiment was conducted to evaluate the effect of various concentrations of CCA (250-2,500 mg kg-1 soil) on the protein, carbohydrate, and chlorophyll content of Eucalyptus and Acacia seedlings using commercially available C-type CCA with a proportion of Cr (CrO3-47.5%), Cu (CuO-18.5%), and As (As2O5- 35%). The quantitative estimation of total carbohydrate, protein, and chlorophyll content in control and treated seedlings was carried out by spectrophotometric methods. Results showed that the high concentrations of CCA significantly (p ?0.05) reduced protein, carbohydrate, and chlorophyll content of Eucalyptus and Acacia seedlings. The lowest amount of total carbohydrates, proteins, and chlorophyll content found in E. citriodora Hook. and E. tereticornis Sm. were 0.97±0.05 and 1.70±0.17 mg g-1, 0.42±0.08 and 0.45 ±0.02 mg g-1 and 0.11±0.04 and 0.07±0.03 mg g-1 at 2,500 mg kg-1 soil CCA respectively. Furthermore, the lowest total carbohydrates, proteins, and chlorophyll content in A. mangium seedlings were 1.91±0.43, 0.52±0.13, and 0.13±0.01 mg g-1 at 2,500 mg kg-1 soil CCA, respectively. The present study advocates that the higher concentrations of CCA affect the biochemical parameters of Eucalyptus and Acacia tree species.

In order to make clear varietal difference of the amount of reserved carbohydrate at heading stage, total carbohydrate and total nitrogen contents of the same varieties used for the experiment of planting density in the second paper in this series were analyzed. Also relationships between the total carbohydrate content and plant height, culm length and ear number at heading stage were studied. The results obtained are summarized as follows : 1. Total carbohydrate content at heading stage differed with rice varieties. Varieties with shorter culm and less ears showed higher content of total carbohydrate (Table 1, Table 2). 2. Varieties with a higher plant height at vegetative stage and shorter culm length at heading stage, that is, the ratio of plant height to culm length is greater, had higher reserved carbohydrate until heading stage. This is caused by a difference between higher dry matter productivity and lower carbohydrate consumption during the period until heading stage (Fig. 1). 3. Recently improved high-yielding varieties, such as Nishihomare, Shinrei and Milyang 23 showed a greater ratio of plant height to culm length than that of old varieties. Therefore, it is considered that the ratio of plant height to culm length is one of the indices for improving a high-yielding variety (Fig. 1). 4. There was negative correlation between total carbohydrate content and total nitrogen content at heading stage. The improved high-yielding varieties showed higher contents of total carbohydrate and total nitrogen than that of low-yielding ones (Fig. 3).

به‌‌منظور بررسی اثر تنش قلیائیت بر رشد رویشی و برخی ویژگی‌های فیزیولوژیک گیاه گلرنگ آزمایشی در گلخانه تحقیقاتی دانشگاه ولی‌عصر (عج) رفسنجان به‌صورت فاکتوریل در قالب طرح کاملاٌ تصادفی با سه تکرار اجرا شد. فاکتورهای آزمایش شامل تنش قلیائیت در هفت سطح (0، 10، 20، 30، 40، 50 و 60‌میلی‌مولار) و دو رقم گلرنگ (صفه و 411) بودند. نتایج نشان‌داد که تنش قلیائیت موجب کاهش طول ساقه و ریشه، وزن خشک اندام هوایی و وزن خشک ریشه گردید در حالی‌که میزان پرولین، قندهای محلول و مالون‌دی‌آلدئید را افزایش داد. هم‌چنین با افزایش تنش قلیائیت پتانسیل عملکرد کوانتوم (Fv/Fm)، کارایی شاخص فتوسنتز (PI)، میزان کلروفیل a، کلروفیل b، کلروفیل کل و پتاسیم کاهش پیدا کرد در حالی‌که میزان کاروتنوئید، سدیم و نسبت سدیم به پتاسیم افزایش یافت. رقم 411 از نظر خصوصیات رویشی، میزان کلروفیل a و کل بر رقم صفه برتری نشان‌داد. هم‌چنین هر دو رقم عکس العمل یکسانی به تنش قلیائیت نشان‌دادند.

<p><strong>Título en ingles:</strong> Biochemical characterization of leaves in <em>Theobroma cacao</em> clones and its relation with trichomes</p><p><br /><em>Theobroma cacao</em> L. es un cultivo de gran importancia por sus posibles aplicaciones en la farmacia y la agricultura. Contiene metabolitos que resultan de gran interés por sus funciones biológicas naturales en la respuesta de la planta a los diferentes tipos de estrés, tanto bióticos como abióticos. La presencia, tipo y concentración de los metabolitos (primarios y secundarios) pueden variar de acuerdo al genotipo analizado y se pueden acumular en estructuras asociadas a la arquitectura de la hoja como son los tricomas. El objetivo de este trabajo fue caracterizar 26 clones del banco de germoplasma de Padrón, INIA-Miranda, Estado Miranda, Venezuela y estudiar la relación existente entre los indicadores bioquímicos y el número de tricomas. Se determinó el contenido de compuestos fenólicos, proteínas solubles, prolina libre, carbohidratos totales, ligninas, el número de tricomas y la relación existente entre ellos. Los resultados mostraron que en el espacio bidimensional que explica el 46,68% de la variabilidad total, se definieron cinco grupos homogéneos: diez clones se asociaron con el máximo gradiente de prolina, carbohidratos totales y contenido de ligninas, nueve con alto contenido de proteínas y fenoles y siete con mayor número de tricomas en hojas. Se comprobó que el número de tricomas no se relacionó con la concentración de compuestos fenólicos.Los clones de cacao del tipo forastero mostraron mayor concentración de fenoles totales y carbohidratos, en tanto que los trinitarios presentaron mayor concentración de proteínas y prolina.</p>

Deep eutectic solvent mediated extraction of polysaccharides and antioxidants from Persian manna (Taranjabin): Comparison of different extraction methods and optimization by response surface methodology