Temperature and Different Organs Create Volatile Profile Differences of Edible Gynura [Gynura bicolor (Roxb. ex Willd.) DC]

The volatile profile of the edible vegetable Gynura bicolor [Gynura bicolor (Roxb. ex Willd.) DC] was analyzed using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Isocaryophyllene (23.2%), α-pinene (16.8%), α-humulene (9.1%), β-pinene (7.3%), and copaene (7.0%) were identified as the major compounds in the leaves. In the stems, α-pinene (27.1%), β-pinene (13.0%), isocaryophyllene (7.8%), β-myrceneb (7.8%), 1-undecene (5.7%), and copaene (5.3%) were the main components. G. bicolor grows best at 25 °C. When cultivated at different temperatures (20 to 35 °C in incements of 5 °C), the volatile profiles shifted. The proportion of isocaryophyllene was lower at 20 °C than at the other temperatures. The relative amounts of α-pinene and α-humulene were highest at 20 °C, whereas copaene was highest at 35 °C. Principal component analysis (PCA) was used to explore the correlation between volatile compounds identified from the vegetative tissues and temperature treatments. It reveals the same trend with the previous statements and the first principal component (PC1) and the second principal component (PC2) explains up to 90% of the variance. Experimental results revealed that both temperature and vegetative organ correlate with the volatile emission profile of G. bicolor.

Chlorine Nutrition of Oil Palm Tree (Elaeis Guinq Jacq) in Eastern Amazon

In Brazil, the status of chlorine (Cl) nutrition in plants is still poorly studied. The micronutrient Cl plays an important role in cultures such as coconut and oil palm trees. This study aimed to evaluate the status of chlorine nutrition in oil palm trees as a function of planting age, which ranged from two to eight years of cultivation. The experiment was conducted in Tailândia, state of Pará, Brazil. The soil of the area is characterized as Yellow Latosol of medium texture. A total of four oil palm trees were sampled for each age and the following variables were analyzed: leaf, petioles, rachis, palm heart, arrows, stipe, male inflorescences, peduncles, spikelets and fruits, as well as the accumulated, recycled and immobilized levels of Cl. Oil palm trees proved to be demanding in Cl and the accumulation in the different vegetative organs increased with the development of the plant. The stipe was the main storing vegetative organ of this micronutrient. The highest demand of Cl (16.9-26.0 g/kg) occurred in the palm heart, while for male inflorescence, the values ranged from 3.3-4.1 g/kg of Cl. The levels of Cl recycled by the plant were higher than the immobilized and exported levels considering the development up to 4 years of age. After this age, the levels of recycled Cl are lower than those immobilized. As for the amount of Cl exported by clusters in 8-year-old plants, the values were 3.2 and 1.3 times lower than the recycled and immobilized levels, respectively.