A Review on Pharmacological and Nutritional Benefits of Mango (Mangifera indica Linn): A Remedy for Cancer, Diabetes and Gastrointestinal Infections

Mango is one of the choicest fruits in the world because of its good flavour, attractive colour and fruity fragrance. It belongs to family Anacardiaceae having wide range of varieties and health benefits. It grows in tropical region and has good nutritional profile. Innumerable researches have been done around the world that demonstrated diversified nutritional and pharmacological benefits of Mangifera indica Linn. It has particular composition of nutrients and phytochemicals. Different parts of mango trees have different wide ranges of benefits. The flower, seeds, leaves, bark, raw as well as ripe fruits provide extensive variety of pharmacological, medicinal and many health benefits. In addition to the higher values of macronutrients as well as micronutrients, mangoes have a wide range of bioactive compounds present in different portions of plant for example, the primary active constituent present in mango is mangiferin. In this review article we reviewed a number of beneficial characteristics of mango including its antioxidant, anti-diabetic, anti-bacterial, gastric health, anti-cancer and anti-inflammatory activities.

Pelatihan homestay dan inovasi kuliner sebagai strategi pemberdayaan perempuan dalam pariwisata

The community service activities conducted in Srumbung Gunung was to involve women. Dusun Srumbung Gunung is developing a creative peace tourism village and the tourist products developed is a package program of live. In order to involve women in tourism, the training of homestay and culinary innovation was held, in which some women lost their job due to Covid 19 Pandemic. The method used was explorative qualitative with some stages. The first stage was to identify the house availability for homestay through interview and observation. Next was to identify the ingredient available and produced locally. The third stage was to research the type of snack which can be made with the available ingredient, good flavour and good price, easy to make with simple tools. Besides, the product can be produced as typical and unique food for tourists. Following this step was to choose women involved especially those who are interested in the food business and owning basic baking skill. The fifth step was the training of homestay with the concept of Clean, Healthy, Safe and Environmentally Sustainable, the training of culinary innovation was making bolen pisang and tape. The last stage was the mentoring process of homestay and the start-up food business of bolen pisang and tape. Two of the twenty-two women joined has started to prepare the business. The results showed that women involvement in tourism limited to fund, entrepreneurship experience and skill and the responsibility as housewives.

Standardization of Recipe of Barbados Cherry Pickle

Aim: Barbados cherry is a fruit with magical amount of Vitamin C in it. But the main problem with the fruit is a very low ambient storage life of just 1-2 days. After which the fruit start decaying. Even the loss in nutrients and phytochemicals commence 4-5 hours after harvest. Hence there is a need to preserve the fruit for availing long term benefits of the fruit. Among all processed product, pickling is a very important and stable method of preservation. Design: Completely Randomized Block Design. Methodology: Till now recipe standardization of Barbados cherry pickle is not yet documented. In our products prepared with 4 recipee, 2 each with pickling in oil and pickling in water. Results: The oil picked fruits were having highest amount of vitamin C was retained in Recipe 2 (T2) and Recipe 1 (T1) even after 6 months of storage. Total plate count after 6th month of storage was also low in Recipe 2 (T2) and Recipe 1 (T1). In terms of organoleptic property the best pickle with good flavour, remarkable taste, outstanding texture, brilliant consistency and high overall acceptability was in Recipe 2 (T2) and Recipe 1 (T1). Conclusion: Hence Recipe 2 (T2) can be successfully used for commercial preparation of Barbados cherry pickle.

Plum Research and Growing in Latvia

Plums have been commercially grown in Latvia since the 19th century. Plantations expanded especially in the 1920s–1930s. At that time, many cultivars were introduced, mostly from Western Europe. After the severe winters of 1939/40, 1941/42, 1955/56, and 1978/79, the plum orchard area significantly decreased because of a lack of winter-hardy cultivars. For this reason, cultivars from Russia, Belarus, and Estonia were introduced. Among the old landraces, highly winter-hardy ‘Latvijas Dzeltenā Olplūme’ is still important. Previously it used to be productive and had good fruit quality. Unfortunately, nurseries often propagated the hardiest clones, which lacked productivity. As Latvian consumers love yellow plums, at present breeding and propagation of productive clones from old orchards is ongoing. In the mid-20th century, active plum breeding started in Latvia, crossing hardy genotypes with high quality donors. From this period ‘Lāse’ and ‘Minjona’ are still grown. Since the 1980s, plum breeding has been undedrtaken at the Institute of Horticulture. The crossing work in plums concentrated on the hexaploid group, aiming to combine large fruit size with good flavour, different time of ripening (in particular, early to medium late) and and good winter-hardiness. New cultivars include ‘Sonora’, ‘Ance’, and ‘Adelyn’, which have good quality, and productivity 20–30 kg per tree, and in some years up to 70 kg per tree. The most widely used rootstocks are seedlings of Prunus cerasifera Ehrh. ssp. divaricata C.K. Schneid., which is more hardy that the common myrobalan plum. These rootstocks have good compatibility with most cultivars except gages, and are adapted to different soil types and are disease tolerant. Their drawback is a long growth season which reduces winter-hardiness of grafted cultivars. Also, they tend to form suckers around the stem. A hardy seedling PU-20651 (P. salicina ssp. ussuriensis × P. cerasifera) was bred at the Institute, which was shown to slightly reduce tree vigour. Testing of several Western European and Russian rootstocks did not result in their introduction into production. Trials are presently being carried out with size-reducing root-stocks originated from cultivar Wangenheim VVA-1, Weiwa, S766, and M633. Commercial production of plums in Latvia is relatively small, as the area of orchards is the smallest among fruit trees. Plums are grown mostly for fresh consumption, with a small part for jams, yoghurt, and ice-cream additives. Fruits are sold mostly in small shops, markets and at farms. The main reason is the climate, which allows growing of a limited range of cultivars that tolerate the –30 °C winter temperatures in some years (about every five years). About 20 cultivars are grown commercially; the share of the six most popular plum cultivars is 69% of the total plum production. In recent years, plantations of new cultivars developed at our Institute have expanded, especially regarding the early ripening cultivar ‘Ance’.

Induced Ripening Agents and Their Effect on Fruit Quality of Banana

Ripening is a genetically programmed highly coordinated irreversible phenomenon which includes many biochemical changes including tissue softening, pigment changes, aroma and flavour volatile production, reduction in astringency, and many others. Banana is one of mostly consumed fruit crops in the world. Since banana is a climactic fruit, induced ripening is essential in commercial scale banana cultivation and distribution to assure good flavour, texture, and uniform peel colour. Ethylene gas, acetylene gas liberated from calcium carbide, and ethephon are some of the commercial ripening agents used successfully in the trade and they have been widely studied for their effectiveness on initiating and accelerating the ripening process and their effect on fruit quality and health related issues. Lauryl alcohol was also shown as a ripening agent for bananas. Most studies suggest that there is no difference in biochemical composition and sensory quality in bananas treated with chemicals that induce ripening from naturally ripened bananas. However volatile profiles of artificially ripened bananas were shown to be considerably different from naturally ripened bananas in some studies. This review discusses induced ripening agents and their effect on fruit quality of bananas.

New strawberry genotypes tested for organic production on a Verticillium-infested site

Nineteen new strawberry breeding clones, bred at the Institute for Breeding Research on Fruit Crops in Dresden-Pillnitz, Germany, were evaluated for their suitability for organic production at a Verticillium-infested site in Vienna, Austria. Soil cover, plant vitality, resistance to leaf spot diseases as well as flower damages by the strawberry blossom weevil (Anthonomus rubi) and by spring frost were recorded. In two consecutive years, marketable yield and fruits infested by Botrytis cinerea were assessed. Three breeding clones, P-7189, P-8043 and P-8071, were considered as suitable for organic strawberry production. P-7189 and P-8043 showed high tolerance to Verticillium wilt. The breeding clones P-8155 and P-8166 performed well under organic management but had very soft fruits that were not acceptable for commercial fruit production. The rest of the breeding clones were low-yielding, however, some of them could be of interest for home gardens due to their good flavour and high plant vitality.  

Evaluation of an Innovative Over-the-Counter Treatment for Symptoms of Reflux Disease: Quick-Dissolving Alginate Granules

Traditional antacids and alginate-based reflux suppressants are OTC products commonly used to treat reflux symptoms. There has been a lack of innovation of new formulations in this therapy area despite consumers finding established products unpalatable. Here we evaluate a novel product formulation which takes the form of quick-dissolving alginate granules in single-dose sachets (Gaviscon Direct Powder (GDP)). Market research and taste evaluation confirmed that reflux sufferers considered GDP to have good flavour and taste, no chalky aftertaste and dissolved rapidly in the mouth with 68% noting so within 10 seconds. GDP was considered convenient and easy to use. The consumer-driven product development was also shown to form a strong alginate raft in standardised in vitro conditions that met the specifications of the BP monograph (raft strength > 7.5 g). Gastric retention of GDP and a test meal was investigated in healthy volunteers using gamma scintigraphy in comparison to Liquid Gaviscon. Both products formed an alginate raft in the stomach above the test meal and emptied after the meal. The gastric retention of the GDP product was found to be noninferior to Liquid Gaviscon. In conclusion, the innovative GDP product formed an effective raft and was well liked by consumers.

The dodo and scientific fantasies: durable myths of a tough bird

It is generally accepted that the meat of the extinct dodo was not a great culinary success. The bird even acquired the name of wallowbird for making the consumers sick. It appears that this reputation came from only one source. Other chroniclers were a lot milder in their assessment of dodo meat and independently reported a delicious meal with a very good flavour. Everything left over was salted down, as they could not eat all the 50 dodos that were brought on board. The taste of the dodo has to be reconsidered. The exact date of extinction of the dodo has been the subject of much discussion. The latest records have been dismissed as being identified as other species of birds; the misunderstanding being caused by name hopping between species. The statistical method of Roberts and Solow has indicated an extinction time for the dodo 24 years later than the confirmed last sighting. Logbooks kept by Isaac Lamotius, Governor of Mauritius between 1677 and 1692, recently discovered in the State Archives in Cape Town, shed another light on this matter.

The Nordic Gene Bank’s Prunus clone archive in Finland: I Local races of sour cherry

Morphological variation among 78 local races of sour cherry (Prunus cerasus L.) in the Nordic Gene Bank’s Prunus clone archive in Pälkäne in Southwestern Finland was examined. Each tree was described using 42 characteristics. On the basis of fruit characteristics, 32 samples were classified as morellos, 40 samples as amarelles, and 5 samples distinct from the other amarelles are proposed to be called Rymättylä-type cherries. One sample was found to be Prunus avium. Amarelle type cherries proved to be more self compatible than morello type cherries. In order to find hardy sour cherry cultivars with fruits of good flavour and fit for cultivation in Nordic conditions, the most promising local races from each group were selected for a comparative trial. Additionally, some local races were selected for further use in plant breeding. In 1994-1996, an increasing amount of severe bacterial canker symptoms was observed in the clone achive.

Jenkka and Jatsi, two new red raspberry cultivars

The red raspberry (Rubus idaeus L.) cultivars Jenkka and Jatsi have been released from the berry breeding programme of the Agricultural Research Centre of Finland. Cv. Jenkka was selected for its good winterhardiness and reliable yield, and cv. Jatsi for its good flavour, large fruit size and moderate winterhardiness. Both cultivars are suitable for the fresh and pick-your-own market.