Cluster-Zone Leaf Removal and GA3 Application at Early Flowering Reduce Bunch Compactness and Yield per Vine in Vitis vinifera cv. Pinot Gris

Compact bunches have been often associated with higher susceptibility to Botrytis cinerea and therefore reduction in berry quality in grapevine. The objective of this study was to evaluate three management methods (early leaf removal, gibberellic acid, and their combination) for reducing bunch compactness in Vitis vinifera cv. Pinot gris trained in two different training systems with contrasting vigor (Guyot and pergola). Treatments were applied at BBCH 62 or BBCH 65 and yield components, total soluble solids, fruit set, and bunch compactness parameters were evaluated. Both treatments individually reduced berry number, mean bunches weight and bunches compactness as well as yield per vine when compared to control-untreated vines. However, no major differences were observed when both the treatments were applied in combination for Guyot or pergola although a higher reduction in yield was detected for Guyot and a significant increase in total soluble solids was observed in pergola. Our study suggests that intense leaf removal and gibberellic acid applied at early flowering can help reducing bunch compactness in Pinot gris and showing it in two training systems. In particular, leaf removal represents a valuable alternative to plant growth regulators (i.e., gibberellic acid) as applicable in organic viticulture.

Effect of mechanical damage on the quality characteristics of banana fruits during short-term storage

Fresh fruits like bananas are very susceptible to mechanical damage during postharvest handling which can result in a substantial decline in quality. The study aims to evaluate the effect of bruise damage and storage temperatures on the quality of banana fruits after 48 h storage. Each ‘Grand Naine’ banana fruit was impacted once by using a drop impact test using three different heights (10, 30, and 50 cm) and storage temperatures (13 and 22 °C) after 48 h of storage. Different quality analyses were measured like bruise measurements (impact energy, bruise area, bruise volume, and bruise susceptibility), weight loss, total soluble solids (TSS), color (L*, a*, b*, hue°, chroma, yellowness index, yellowness value) headspace gases (respiration and ethylene production rate). The results showed that bruise measurements (bruise area, bruise volume, and bruise susceptibility) were highly affected by drop height. The quality parameters like weight, color, total soluble solids and headspace gases were affected by drop height and storage condition. Weight loss, total soluble solids, respiration rate, and ethylene production rate increased as drop height and storage temperature rise. Storage at ambient conditions (22 °C) accelerated bruising occurrence in banana fruits. Fewer changes were observed after 48 h of storage. The least value of yellowness index was observed on the non-bruised banana fruits (84.03) under 13 °C storage conditions. The findings of the study can provide baseline data to understand the mechanical damage mechanism on fruit quality, hoping to create awareness and educate farming communities and consumers. Storage temperature management is another approach that needs to be followed to reduce the occurrence of mechanical damage in fresh produce.

A detergent for mango fruit sap-induced injury

This study determined the optimum concentration of, and duration of immersion in a local detergent (“awabla”) that protected fruit skin of Kent and Keitt mango varieties from mango fruit sap-induced injury (sap-burn) at harvest.The resultant skin/peel colour, pulp colour, and total soluble solids content was also evaluated for fruit quality. Randomized Complete Block Design and Completely Randomized Design with four replications in each case were used for field and laboratory experiments respectively. For each of the two varieties, ten mango trees were sampled at random in each of the four replications of a mango plantation.On each sample tree, twenty panicles all initiating fruit-set were identified and tagged. The number of days from fruit-set to physiological maturity were monitored and harvested for the experiments. Concentrations of 0.25,0.50, and 0.75% of “awabla” solution for 25,30,and35 minutes immersion period in all combinations were established as appropriate and recommended for management of Kent and Keitt mango fruit sap-induced injury. The detergent (“awabla”) had a proven efficacy in the range of 87-94 % for Kent and 90-93 % for Keitt. The resultant peel colour, pulp colour, and total soluble solids content of Kent and Keitt mango fruit samples were not significantly influenced by the treatments at p>0.05.

FRUIT PHYSICO-CHEMICAL QUALITY PARAMETERS OF NEW INTRODUCED APPLE CULTIVARS

The apple fruit is the second most frequently consumed, after bananas and some quality characteristics like size, gloss, color, and aroma influenced directly the flesh consumption. In this study, the external (weight, size, skin colour) and internal (firmness, total soluble solids, acidity, pH) fruit quality attributes were measured experimentally before the storage, using well defined techniques. 'Corelita', 'Coreal', 'Corealor', 'Coredova', 'Corejuno', 'Coretard', 'Coreagat', 'Coreor' and 'Coreprim' cultivars were registered, in the last 15 years, by Practical Scientific Institute of Horticulture and Food Technologies Chișinău, Republic of Moldova, as scab resistant varieties. The orchard trial was established at the Research Institute for Fruit Growing Pitesti, Romania in the spring 2014 on MM106 rootstock, at the spacing of 3.5 x 2 m and fruit samples were analyzed in 2019, 2020 and 2021 seasons. All studied cultivars were harvested before 'Florina' cv., used as control. Fruit weight was quite variable among genotypes, between 115.15 g at 'Coreal' cv. and 212.41 g at 'Corejuno', and most of the cultivars had smaller fruits than 'Florina' cv. Firmness and total soluble solids varied from 70.5 to 82.61 N and 12.77 to 16.77%Brix. The Hunter color values L, a, b, were found to be in the range of 46.12 to 56.76, - 6.46 to 14, 13.75 to 23.72, respectively. The data about the external and internal fruit quality of new Moldavian scab resistant apple cultivars are useful for growers, in order to introduce in the new orchards only cultivars with high quality fruits.

Chia Seeds (Salvia hispanica L.): Can They Be Used as Ingredients in Making Sports Energy Gel?

Dehydration during exercise has been shown to limit performance. This study aimed to determine the best hydrocolloid for producing sports energy gel from chia seeds (Salvia hispanica L.). This study was a completed random-design study using one factor: the addition of 0.1% w/w hydrocolloids (SEG1: xanthan gum; SEG2: pectin; and SEG3: carboxymethyl cellulose). A sports energy gel was then analyzed for pH, viscosity, total soluble solids, potassium content, and gross energy. The sensory characteristics that were analyzed include color, texture, aroma, and flavor, using hedonic tests on 25 panelists. The addition of different hydrocolloids resulted in significant differences in pH, viscosity, total soluble solids, potassium, and energy contents (p = 0.026; 0.0001; 0.0001; and 0.0001). Differences in hydrocolloid types also led to differences in the panelists’ perceptions of the sports energy gels’ colors and textures (p = 0.008 and 0.0001). The best formulation was the sports energy gel with added xanthan gum, which showed the highest average energy, total soluble solids, potassium, and viscosity values, and the lowest average of pH values (60.24 ± 0.340, 10.6 ± 0.08, 19.6 ± 0.23, 367.4 ± 9.81, and 5.2 ± 0.38, respectively). The conclusion is that chia seeds can be used as the main ingredient for producing a high-energy sports gel. Energy has a huge impact on a person’s physical and mental health.

Zinc (Zn) and Iron (Fe) Fertilization for Improving the Antioxidant Enzyme Activity and Biochemical Constituents in Capsicum Hybrids

Micronutrients, particularly Iron (Fe) and Zinc (Zn), play a vital role in the growth and development of plants due to their catalytic effect on many metabolic processes. However, the biochemical responses to the applied micronutrients vary with cultivars and their species. A screening experiment was conducted during 2020 to know the antioxidants enzyme activities and biochemical constituents in response to iron and zinc fertilization by six capsicum hybrids grown in grow bags under shade net conditions. The experiment consists of three treatments viz., Control (No Fe & Zn), 50 kg FeSO4 and 37.5 kg ZnSO4 ha-1 as a basal soil application with six capsicum hybrids viz., Indra, Priyanka, Inspiration, Massilia, Bachata, and Local green. Leaf samples of the capsicum hybrids were collected at Fruiting stage and analysed for antioxidant enzyme activities. The fruit samples were used for quantifying the biochemical constituents. The results revealed that, application of ferrous sulphate (FeSO4) and zinc sulphate (ZnSO4) to capsicum hybrids increased the biochemical constituents in fruits and the antioxidant enzyme activities in leaves. Out of the six hybrids tested, Indra possessed higher ascorbic acid content (9.20 mg 100 g-1 fresh weight), acidity (6.0), and total soluble solids (6.10 Brix) in the fruits, which was followed by Inspiration and Bachata. The superoxide dismutase (6.70 unit’s mg-1 protein) and peroxidase (6.90 unit’s g-1 fresh weight) activities were also higher with the same genotypes. The biochemical constituents and antioxidant enzyme response to Zn addition was better than Fe. There was 13.2, 10.9 and 9.5 per cent increase in titratable acidity, total soluble solids, ascorbic acid content in the fruits of Indra due to ZnSO4 application.The Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and hierarchical clustering revealed that Indra is highly responsive to Zn and Fe fertilization, while the local green showed very less response. The rest of the genotypes such as Inspiration, Bachata, Massilia, and Priyanka, are medium responsive for Zn and Fe fertilization.

Fruit Quality of Some Hot Peppers Cultivars from Vegetable Research Development Station Buzau

The aim of this study was to assess phenotypic diversity in terms of fruit quality traits and yield, and also to establish valuable genotypes for breeding purpose suitable for different direction of use. Ten cultivars of hot peppers bred at VRDS Buzau were collected and fruit quality (dry matter content, fruit firmness, the total soluble solids, titratable acidity and ascorbic acid content) was evaluated at different ripening stages. A very highly significant difference (p<0.01) was found for the studied quantitative parameters, showing a great variability among the studied accessions. During ripening, the dry matter content, the firmness, the TSS content and the titratable acidity increase for all studied cultivars and there were significant differences between them. A broad range of variation was noted in Vitamin C content in both stages of maturity. In the present research work, a great variability among the studied accessions was found. Fully ripe fruits were found considerably richer in the bioactive factor than unripe fruits. Our results have selected two important genotypes: A12A, an accession suitable for obtaining chili powder, due to the his low content in dry matter and total soluble solids and accession A135 suited for fresh consumption and for long shelf life because it has a high firmness.

ANTIOXIDANT ACTIVITY, DEXTROSE EQUIVALENT, TOTAL DISSOLVED SOLIDS, AND VISCOSITY OF MALTED RED RICE MILK AT DIFFERENT ENZYME CONCENTRATIONS

Rice milk is a plant-based milk-like product that can be an alternative for people who have an allergy to bovine milk and lactose intolerance. Malting and enzymatic hydrolysis can bring out the natural sweetness of the rice milk product and thus minimize the use of sweeteners. The current research aimed to determine the total value of dissolved solids, viscosity, dextrose equivalent, and antioxidant activity in malted red rice milk with the addition of glucoamylase at different concentrations. The red rice was malted for 48 hours before drying and milling. The resulted malt powder was then diluted and added with glucoamylase enzyme at the concentration of 0%, 1%, 2%, and 3%. Enzymatic hydrolysis occurred at 60°C for 3 hours. Completely Randomized Design was used for the parameters of total soluble solids, viscosity, and dextrose equivalent while the antioxidant activity parameter was analyzed descriptively. The result showed that the addition of glucoamylase significantly (p&lt;0.05) increased the total soluble solids, viscosity, and dextrose equivalent. The highest values were 9.960 °Brix, 1620 cP, and 1.872 for total dissolved solids, viscosity, and dextrose equivalent, respectively. Increasing antioxidant activity was also observed from 6.094% at 0% glucoamylase to 10.762% at 3% glucoamylase addition.