Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture最新文献

Background: Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) have been regarded as promising alternatives to antibiotics but limited by low cell selectivity and high production costs. Sequence truncation is an effective method for activity improvement. Through N-/C-terminal truncation and removal of C-terminal sequences, analogues of bovine myeloid antimicrobial peptide (BMAP-28), a 28-amino-acid peptide, were obtained to develop short peptides with enhanced cell selectivity.

Results: The results indicated that broad-spectrum antibacterial activity was observed in LR-24 and SI-20, particularly against Cronobacter sakazakii. Compared to the template peptide, the therapeutic index of LR-24 and SI-20 increased by four times and 34 times, respectively. The truncated peptides with a β-turn motif and hydrophobic C-terminal residues retained antimicrobial activity. Besides, both cell selectivity and condition sensitivity of LR-24 and SI-20 were improved. At 1 × minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC), LR-24 and SI-20 inhibited 50% of C. sakazakii biofilm formation. Mechanistic studies indicated that AMPs exerted bactericidal activity through membrane disruption.

Conclusion: The results of the present study indicate that the efficacy of LR-24 and SI-20 as therapeutic agents for targeting foodborne pathogens. Moreover, the N-/C-terminal truncation is an effective strategy for developing novel antimicrobials. © 2026 Society of Chemical Industry.

Background: With the growing impacts of salinity and climate change on agricultural systems, developing innovative and resilient solutions has become crucial to meet these challenges. This study aimed to evaluate the tolerance of blue panicgrass (Panicum antidotale Retz.), an alternative forage crop, to increased levels of irrigation water salinity. Six salinity levels (0, 5, 10, 15, 20 and 25 dS m^-1) were tested in a completely randomized design under controlled environment.

Results: Our findings revealed that P. antidotale maintained stable biomass production up to 10 dS m^-1, with a subsequent decline of 44% at 20 dS m^-1 and 65% at 25 dS m^-1. At 25 dS m^-1, hydrogen peroxide and malondialdehyde evels increased significantly by 21% and 98%, respectively, compared to the control. In addition, there was a substantial decrease in stomatal conductance (-55% starting at 10 dS m^-1), chlorophyll content (-25% starting at 20 dS m^-1) and relative water content (-15% starting at 20 dS m^-1), leading to a 53% decrease in the photosynthesis performance index (i.e. PI_ABS) under 25 dS m^-1 compared to the control. Moreover, sodium accumulation significantly increased with salinity treatment, particularly in roots, whereas potassium levels remained unchanged, suggesting ion exclusion as tolerance mechanism. Additionally, the K/Na ratio in shoots was ten-fold higher than in roots.

Conclusion: Overall, the results of the present study demonstrate the salt tolerance of blue panicgrass, highlighting its potential as a superior forage crop in saline environments, and emphasize the need for field-based research to develop strategies that maintain high productivity and quality on marginal lands. © 2026 Society of Chemical Industry.

Background: As the demand for eco-friendly food packaging rises, biodegradable electrospun fiber membranes have attracted wide attention. However, existing single-component membranes face limitations such as insufficient mechanical properties, unstable functional release, and weak antioxidant/antibacterial activity. This work innovatively created a polylactic acid (PLA)/gelatin/ethyl cellulose ternary electrospun fiber membrane (PEG) by encasing low-cost citric acid (CA) and vitamin E/hydroxypropyl-β-cyclodextrin (VE/HP-β-CD) complexes to enhance functionality and stability.

Results: Scanning electron microscopy showed satisfactory compatibility with uniform, defect-free fibers. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction confirmed the successful encapsulation of VE in HP-β-CD, and interactions with the polymer matrix altered the crystalline structure. Thermal analysis revealed enhanced thermal stability, with the decomposition temperature increasing from 340 to 349 °C. As CA and VE/HP-β-CD content increased, the membrane's contact angle decreased, elastic modulus rose (from 18.3 to 60.7 MPa), and elongation at break improved (from 53.8% to 103.7%). Functional tests showed slow continuous release of VE within 200 h, 73.9% DPPH (1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl) scavenging, and increased antibacterial activity. Both MTT (3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide) and live/dead assays showed >90% viability for PEG films. In strawberry preservation, the membrane extended its shelf life by 8 days, improving quality.

Conclusion: These results demonstrate that the combined encapsulation of CA and VE/HP-β-CD and their interactions with the matrix successfully optimized the material structure, properties, and functionality, offering a sustainable direction for developing eco-friendly, functional packaging materials. © 2026 Society of Chemical Industry.

Background: The escalating prevalence of lifestyle- and aged-related conditions, including diabetes, chronic inflammation, and cardiovascular disorders, underscores the urgent need for natural therapies. Such alternatives should offer reduced side effects compared to conventional pharmaceuticals while playing a proactive role in disease prevention. Red wine production generates grape pomace, a by-product rich in valuable yet unstable anthocyanins. Encapsulation by electrospinning can protect these compounds. This study aimed to encapsulate grape pomace extract (5%, 10%, and 15%, w/w) into electrospun ultrafine zein fibers and to evaluate the in vitro biological activities, including antioxidant, antihyperglycemic, and anti-inflammatory properties.

Results: Encapsulated grape pomace extract demonstrated antioxidant activity, showing the ability to capture hydroxyl and nitric oxide free radicals. It exhibited an antihyperglycemic effect by inhibiting carbohydrate-digesting enzymes, α-amylase, and α-glucosidase. Anti-inflammatory activity was observed through the inhibition of thermal protein denaturation. The evaluated activities were concentration-dependent, with fibers containing 15% (w/w) extract showing the highest in vitro bioactivity.

Conclusion: Our findings suggest that grape pomace extract encapsulated in ultrafine zein fibers is a promising new formulation for natural medicine. This potential extends to being integrated into functional foods, offering a dual application for health promotion and potential uses in food and pharmaceutical products. © 2026 The Author(s). Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Society of Chemical Industry.

Background: In recent years, there has been an increasing demand for high-quality dried aquatic products that possess similar organoleptic and nutritional qualities to their fresh counterparts. The present study investigated the effects of hot air drying (HAD), heat pump drying (HPD), vacuum freeze drying (VFD) and microwave vacuum drying (MVD) on drying efficiency, physicochemical and microstructural properties, and volatile compounds of Macrobrachium rosenbergii meat.

Results: MVD achieved the highest drying efficiency, whereas VFD resulted in the highest levels of crude protein and astaxanthin contents. VFD also produced higher lightness but lower hardness compared to the other methods. Low-field nuclear magnetic resonance analysis revealed a leftward shift in the transverse relaxation time values of both free and immobilized water as the drying process continued. Scanning electron microscope analysis revealed dense structures with noticeable muscle fiber contractions for HAD and HPD samples, whereas numerous small voids generated for the VFD sample, but larger pores formed for the MVD sample. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy indicated that VFD better maintained protein structural intergiry. Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry analysis revealed significant differences in volatile compounds, with the key flavors such as 1-octen-3-ol, decyl aldehyde and 1-nonanal present in all samples. Pyrazine compounds contributed roasted and nutty aromas to the HAD, HPD and MVD samples.

Conclusion: Overall, MVD is a promising method for dehydration of M. rosenbergii meat. © 2026 Society of Chemical Industry.

Background: In winter wheat, low nitrogen (N) and zinc efficiency limits production. Although combined application boosts yield and grain zinc, the underlying mechanisms and optimal rates remain unclear. This study aims to uncover these mechanisms and identify the best management strategy.

Results: Applying N at 240 kg ha^-1 significantly enhanced post-anthesis glutamine synthetase (GS) and glutamate synthase (GOGAT) activities in flag leaves compared to 180 kg ha^-1, promoting pre-anthesis N translocation and post-anthesis N accumulation. This extended the grain-filling period by 0.8-1.44 days, increased the maximum grain-filling rate by 3.11-12.30% and boosted yield by 6-8% through improvements in spike number, grains per spike and thousand-kernel weight. Grain Zn concentration and Zn use efficiency increased by 12-21% and 35%, respectively, but N uptake and utilization efficiency declined. Foliar Zn application at anthesis (2.4 kg ha^-1) further enhanced GS and GOGAT activities during grain filling, increased post-anthesis N accumulation and improved the grain-filling rate by 0.63-9.96%. This raised thousand-kernel weight by 0.70-10.97% and yield by 0.71-5.78%. Grain Zn concentration reached 40.59-41.12 mg kg^-1, whereas N uptake efficiency and partial factor productivity of N increased by 1.94-11.61% and 0.71-5.78%. Correlation analysis indicated strong associations of yield with grain N accumulation, post-anthesis GS/GOGAT activities and N partial factor productivity, whereas grain Zn concentration correlated with Zn use efficiency and post-anthesis N metabolism.

Conclusion: The combination of N at 240 kg ha^-1 and foliar Zn at 2.4 kg ha^-1 during anthesis optimized post-anthesis N metabolism, prolonged grain filling and synergistically improved yield, grain Zn content and NZn efficiency. © 2026 Society of Chemical Industry.

Background: Soil salinity is a major abiotic stress limiting crop productivity, particularly for glycophytic species such as sage (Salvia officinalis L.), a medicinal plant of high pharmacological and economic importance. Conventional tolerance mechanisms in sage, including proline accumulation and osmotic adjustment, are energetically costly and insufficient under severe stress. This study investigated the potential of co-cultivation with Aptenia cordifolia and Spergularia salina to enhance sage growth, physiology, and survival under controlled sodium chloride (NaCl) stress.

Results: Glasshouse experiments were conducted with sage in monoculture and in co-culture with halophytes under four salinity levels (0, 2, 5, and 10 g/L NaCl). Morphological, physiological, and biochemical analyses revealed that salinity reduced growth, biomass, and water content, while increasing proline and sugar accumulation. Co-cultivation significantly improved plant performance: survival at 10 g/L NaCl was 30% in monoculture but rose to 90% with A. cordifolia and 85% with Spergularia salina. Co-culture also mitigated proline overaccumulation (710% increase in monoculture versus 471.6% and 386.7% in association with A. cordifolia and Spergularia salina, respectively). Principal component analysis and robust regression confirmed that halophytes buffered stress effects, with Spergularia salina providing the most stable improvements. Machine learning analyses further identified biomass and sugar content as key discriminant traits between treatments.

Conclusion: These findings demonstrate that companion planting with halophytes enhances the tolerance of Salvia officinalis to salt stress by reducing physiological costs and improving survival. This approach represents a sustainable and scalable agroecological strategy for cultivating medicinal plants in saline environments, with implications for resilient agriculture under climate change. © 2026 Society of Chemical Industry.

Background: The quality and commercial value of black tea are significantly influenced by its geographical origin. Traditional traceability methods for black tea are often time-consuming, complex, and inefficient. This study proposes a novel method for the rapid geographical origin traceability of black tea by integrating an electronic tongue (ET) and hyperspectral imaging (HSI) combined with an improved Transformer-graph fusion network (MSTNet). First, taste and spectral image fingerprints of black tea samples are collected by using ET and HSI systems, respectively. To address the complexity and redundancy of ET signals, a composite exponential weighting strategy is employed to optimize the feature representation, followed by a multi-scale parallel fusion Transformer (MPFT) to extract temporal features from ET signals. Meanwhile, given the inherent high dimensionality within HSI images, principal component analysis (PCA) is applied to select informative components, after which a spatial-enhanced Swin Transformer (SEST) is used to capture spatial features from HSI images. Subsequently, a novel graph network is proposed to achieve multi-source feature fusion and classification.

Results: The experimental results indicate that the proposed method achieves superior recognition performance, with a classification accuracy of 99.07%.

Conclusion: This study provides a novel method for black tea origin traceability, which offers broad application prospects for the traceability detection of other food industries. © 2026 Society of Chemical Industry.

Background: Grape is regarded as a functional food because it contains glucose, fructose, and high content of phenolic compounds. The effect of foliar application of selenium (Se) is limited by the leaf absorption barrier and photooxidation loss of grapes. In contrast, soil application may provide a stable Se pool for root absorption, but its effect on Se morphology and nutritional value of grapes is not clear.

Results: In this study, grapes were used as the research object. Through field experiments, different concentrations of Se fertilizer spraying treatments were set up to study the effect of soil Se on improving grape quality and organic Se forms, as well as the effect of Se on nutrient elements and heavy metals. The results showed that total Se (165.6-480.3 μg kg ^-1) was accumulated in a dose-dependent manner, while selenoformic acid (Se-Met, 4.14%), selenocysteine (SeCys₂, 1.13%) and methyl selenocysteine (Se-MeSeCys, 0.97%) constituted the key organic forms.

Conclusion: Soil Se application can effectively improve the Se enrichment ability of grapes. Moreover, the biofortification of Se in soil has a dual role, significantly increasing nutrient elements (Ca, Zn, Mo) and effectively reducing the accumulation of heavy metals (As, Pb). © 2026 Society of Chemical Industry.

Background: Botanical extracts are widely consumed for their claimed health benefits, yet their safety profile with respect to chronic consumption remains poorly characterized. Understanding the potential health risks associated with their inorganic content is a crucial issue for ensuring safe use, along with a characterization of the concurrent nutritional contribution of the mineral component.

Results: The present study aimed to quantitatively assess exposure levels and potential health impacts of chronic intake of ten essential (Ca, K, P, Fe, Mg and Zn) and potentially toxic (Al, As, Ni and Pb) elements through the consumption of botanical extracts (n = 25) among Italian adults. A probabilistic approach was employed to estimate exposure levels and both risk and benefit metrics. Results indicated that botanicals alone contributed only minimally to mineral intakes, with 5^th to 95^th percentile (P5-P95) ranges covering 0.01-16.80% of the dietary reference values. Exposure to inorganic As (iAs) raised health concerns because margin of exposure (MOE) values for skin cancer a ranged between 0.05 and 80.50 (P5-P95). When botanical extracts were considered alongside the baseline reference diet, Pb intake also raised concern because MOEs for nephrotoxic and cardiovascular effects fell below the critical threshold of 10. Similarly, cumulative exposure to Al, iAs, Fe, Ni and Zn revealed potential non-carcinogenic risks (mean hazard index > 1) only when considering the consumption of botanicals in addition to the baseline diet.

Conclusion: The findings of the present study underscore the importance of the cautious dietary use of botanical extracts because of potential risks that may outweigh the presumed benefits. © 2026 The Author(s). Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Society of Chemical Industry.