Journal of Agriculture and Food Research最新文献

Rice (Oryza sativa L.) serves as a vital staple crop for the dietary needs of over half of the world's population. However, it faces considerable challenges, especially biotic factors, which have significant implications for both worldwide rice production and food security. Among these challenges, the decline in crop yield due to harmful phytopathogens remains a pressing issue in the rice farming system, underscoring the limitations of existing strategies. Trichoderma spp. are gaining attention as effective biocontrol agents. These endophytic fungi are considered safe and environmentally friendly, with the ability to directly and indirectly inhibit plant pathogens without adverse impacts on humans, wildlife, or the environment. This article presents a comprehensive overview of Trichoderma's multifaceted roles for controlling rice diseases, exploring the molecular mechanisms underlying rice plant's defense response, the induction of its defensive responses by Trichoderma, and the effectiveness of Trichoderma-based biocontrol strategy in enhancing rice health and fitness. It also serves as a significant resource for advancing knowledge and practices in the field, providing a valuable reference for future research and the application of Trichoderma in sustainable rice production. Lastly, we propose a deeper understanding of sustainable strategies to combat rice disease outbreaks by optimally harnessing the potential of Trichoderma as a biocontrol agent for major rice diseases.

Traditional weed management often involves blanket herbicide spraying, resulting in substantial herbicide wastage, environmental concerns, and herbicide resistant issues. Smart spraying systems utilizing robotics and sensors technologies can minimize herbicide usage and provide a sustainable solution for site-specific weed management. A machine vision-based spraying system was designed and developed for weed identification and precise spray application onto the target weeds. The sprayer platform utilizes a deep learning YOLOv4 model to accurately recognize multiple weed species, facilitating targeted spray application. The platform is equipped with an FLIR RGB camera for real-time image acquisition and Nvidia Jetson AGX Orin edge device for deploying weed detection deep-learning model. The GPIO pins of Nvidia Jetson were utilized to activate relay, providing precise on/off control over the TeeJet solenoid valves for spot spraying. Both indoor and field experiments were conducted to evaluate and compare the performance of vision-based sprayer system for weed identification and precise spraying onto the target weeds. In the indoor experiment, the sprayer system showed the average effective spraying rate of 93.33 %, with the precision of 100 % and recall of 92.8 %. Conversely, the field experiment resulted in a slightly lower average effective spraying rate of 90.6 %, while maintaining a precision of 95.5 % and a recall of 89.47 %. The reduced accuracy of the spraying system in field experiment was due to varying outdoor conditions such as lighting, shadows, and wind velocity. Overall, the result of this study demonstrates the spraying system's potential for targeted herbicide application onto the grid cells containing weeds, effectively reducing herbicide usage and overall weed management costs.

Pumpkin is an imperious vegetable and a large part of the pumpkin flesh goes unused resulting from pumpkin processing, so it needs to be processed properly to be used. The current study's goal was to prepare a drink powder enriched with pumpkin report the impact of storage on bioactive compounds and physicochemical characteristics of drink powder, and also evaluate the sensory properties of beverages prepared from drink powder. The powders were formulated and evaluated based on their physical properties, proximal compositions, minerals, phenolic compounds, and antioxidant ability as measured by DPPH (2,2-Diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl), FRAP (Ferric Reducing Antioxidant Power), and ABTS (2,2′-azino-bis-(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic) acid). Drink powder was made with a mixture of ingredients that were substituted with pumpkin pulp and seed powder in the proportions of 50:50 (S1), 20:30 (S2), 30:20 (S3), and 40:10 (S4). A sensory evaluation was carried out to select the most accepted combination. The most accepted product was subjected to nutritional analysis and storage studies, which were taken as criteria for good quality. Sample S3 had the highest protein, fat, fiber, and ash content while sample S1 had the highest carbohydrate content. It was also observed that enrichment with pumpkin powder enhanced the Mg, P, and Fe content of the drink powder. However, sample S1 had the highest DPPH radical scavenging ability, total phenolic content, and FRAP ability. During storage, a significant increase in moisture content, total sugar, and reducing sugar while a significant decrease in protein, fat, ash, fiber, and titratable acidity was observed. In addition, carotenoids, vitamin C, and antioxidant properties showed significant decreases during long-term storage at ambient temperature. Furthermore, sensory analysis was performed on pumpkin powder beverages, and based on results the color and texture of the drinks were not affected as the pumpkin powder content was increased. The drinks with 20 % pumpkin pulp and 30 % seed powder (S2) obtained the highest score for texture, taste, and overall acceptability assessed. However, the S1 and S3 are the best instances due to their better nutritional content. Hence, the drink powder that utilizes pumpkin may be an efficient means to preserve pumpkin and conserve its bioactive ingredients. In conclusion, pumpkin powder can be successfully incorporated into powdered drinks or other traditional products and also it is recognized as an excellent food source to meet daily nutritional needs.

As global food crises and high food prices continue to impact communities, there is a growing focus on strengthening local food systems and improving livelihoods. Home gardening techniques have gained renewed attention as a means of food production and enhancing household food security. However, there is a lack of empirical studies on the perception and adoption of home gardening techniques. This study therefore fills this gap by examining the perception and adoption of home gardening techniques among households in Ghana. A multistage sampling technique was used to select 348 households and data was collected through a structured questionnaire. Using a 5-point Likert scale, we analyzed the households' perception of home gardening techniques, and utilized a multivariate probit regression model to examine the factors influencing multiple adoption of home gardening techniques. The Kendall’s coefficient of concordance was used to test the level of agreement among ranked constraints in adopting home gardening techniques. The generalized Poisson regression was used to examine the number of adoption of home gardening techniques. The results revealed that most households perceived home gardening techniques as a way to improve household food security. Households were found to adopt multiple home gardening techniques, such as use of pots, sacks, and tires. Empirically, factors such as sex, education, occupation, income, technology cost, and social network had a significant influence on multiple adoption of home gardening techniques. Also, age, education, household size, income, technology cost, social network, inadequate space and insect and disease damages significantly influenced the number of adoptions of home gardening techniques. Furthermore, lack of time and inadequate space were the main constraints limiting the adoption of these techniques. We suggest government interventions to spur the adoption of home gardening techniques to improve household food nutrition.

Snails are molluscs with a muscular foot (edible organ), and their entire body is encapsulated in a calcareous shell. Snail consumption is a popular food culture in Asia and selected regions of Europe. Snail meat is rich in essential nutrients, particularly protein (up to 21 % on a dry matter basis) and several essential amino acids, including leucine, lysine, threonine, valine, and isoleucine, and also unsaturated fatty acids (>45 % of total fat). Snail meat is a rich source of various minerals, particularly calcium and magnesium. Thus, snails seem to have superior meat quality and demonstrate massive potential for utilizing them as an alternative food or feed ingredient. Additionally, snail meat as well as mucus could be used as a bioactive and health-promoting food component with specific health benefits for humans. Snails can play a crucial role as an alternative nutrient source for livestock, in addition to their applications as food. Snails could be used as a feed ingredient in the form of whole snail meal or snail flesh meal in the diets of livestock, particularly monogastric animals, to replace conventional sources of protein, such as soybean meal. Despite their significant nutritional advantages as food or feed, snails are reservoirs of harmful microbes, mainly zoonotic parasites, especially in wild conditions. Thus, future studies are needed to ensure how the immense nutritional potential of snails can be exploited while minimizing the microbial risks and undesirable health consequences in humans or animals.

Nano-delivery of natural compounds has gained increasing attention in the food and pharmaceutical ingredients industry. Avocado seed was extracted by a total lipid extraction and the presence of two acetogenin compounds was confirmed by the high-performance liquid chromatography (LC-MS) technique. Then, the avocado seed extract (Avo) was encapsulated into zein nanoparticles by liquid-liquid dispersion and the formation of zein nanoparticles loaded with avocado seed extract (Avo-ZNPs) was confirmed by FTIR analysis. The Avo-ZNPs with various Avo contents showed an average size ranging from 166.9 ± 14.1 to 305.2 ± 16.2 nm with 0.19–0.26 of polydispersity index (PDI), and a surface charge range was −59.5 ± 8.1 to −32.9 ± 0.4 mV, as measured by dynamic light scattering (DLS). The entrapment efficiency (EE) values were up to 82 % and the highest loading capacity (LoC) was 14.8 %. The Avo-ZNPs were found to have significantly higher antioxidant potency compared to the control, as measured by DPPH and FRAP assays. Moreover, the zein nanoparticles were also biocompatible with the acute myeloid leukemia (AML) cell lines, and encapsulated avocado extract induced leukemia cell death. Thus, zein nanoparticles could be a promising delivery system for natural avocado seed extract to be used in the medical and food industries.

The increasing demand to replace chemical antimicrobial agents with natural compounds leads to the use of some plant extracts and essential oils (EOs) as natural preservatives. Nanoemulsion (NE) with Tween 80 as wall material and Pickering emulsions (PE) stabilized with carbohydrate (Arabic gum (AG)) or protein (sodium caseinate (SC)) wall materials. First of all, the PEO was obtained from two parts of plant: flowers and leave, and characterized by GC-MS and the IC₅₀ index measurement. The Prangos ferulacea essential oil (PEO) extracted from leave was selected for the next tests due to slightly higher antioxidant activity compared to the flower's EO. The leave's PEO was encapsulated in three forms: nanoemulsion (NE) with Tween 80 as wall material and Pickering emulsions (PE) stabilized with carbohydrate (gum Arabic (GA)) or protein (sodium caseinate (SC)) wall materials. The NE had the smallest particle size and the highest antioxidant and antimicrobial (S. aureus and E. coli) activity. AG-stabilized PE recorded the highest encapsulation efficiency (85.37 ± 1.97 %). The occurring of new chemical interactions between PEO and wall materials and uniformly shaped PE microcapsules were approved by FT-IR and FE-SEM tests, respectively. Free and encapsulated PEO were added to the mayonnaise, and the samples were analyzed during storage at 4 °C for 60 days. Peroxide value and TBA index gradually increased for all mayonnaise samples, but this increase was lower for samples containing NE and SC-stabilized PEO capsules. In general, carriers stabilized with the simultaneous application of protein and carbohydrate performed better compared to their single application in sensory tests in mayonnaise.

The red color of red pears is primarily attributed to the accumulation of anthocyanins, which are biosynthesized via the phenylalanine pathway. However, research into the regulation of these processes is currently limited. The study found that increasing the expression of the transcription factor PbMYB5-like resulted in increased expression of genes involved in anthocyanin, proanthocyanidin (PAs), and lignin biosynthesis, as well as anthocyanin accumulation in pear epidermis. The experiments demonstrated that PbMYB5-like interacts with bHLH3, resulting in the formation of the PbMYB5 like-bHLH3-WD40 complex, which regulates the expression of structural genes such as CCR, F5H, LAR, ANS, UFGT, and others. Furthermore, PbMYB5-like has been demonstrated to directly bind to the promoters of CHI, F3H, ANS, and UFGT genes, thereby regulating the synthesis of related metabolites. The findings of this study provide a foundation for understanding the mechanisms by which PbMYB5-like regulates pear skin color, which is a pivotal aspect in pear breeding and germplasm innovation.

Candida species are normally commensal yeasts residing in the human body, under certain circumstances, can trigger pathological conditions such as candidiasis, not to mention antifungal resistance. Lippia sidoides Cham., or pepper-rosmarinus, is a native plant found in the Northeastern semi-arid region of Brazil, cited in ethnobotanical studies for its bioactive potential. This approach aims not only to expand the understanding of the antifungal efficacy of the ethanol extract of L. sidoides (EELs) but also to evaluate synergies that may enhance the available therapeutic arsenal, using the checkerboard method, and to assess potential toxic effects of this extract using model organisms, Artemia salina and Drosophila melanogaster, to evaluate mortality rates. Antifungal activity was observed at high concentrations (>1024 μg/mL) for both strains of Candida albicans and Candida krusei tested, with the most significant inhibition of fungal growth when the compound was used in synergy with fluconazole at 8.0 and 128 μg/mL, respectively. This activity likely occurred due to the interaction between the chemical composition of the ethanol extract rich in flavonoids and tannins with the reference drug. Regarding toxicity, both in relation to D. melanogaster and A. salina, no toxic results were observed at low concentrations. These results suggest that the ethanol extract of EELs may be a potential alternative as an adjuvant to fluconazole in the treatment of fungal infections caused by Candida spp. The observed synergy suggests that this combination may help overcome resistance to conventional antifungals and improve treatment efficacy.

This study aims to develop a novel and rapid method which uses enzymatic spectrophotometric assay and high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) for differentiating adulterated milk from pure fresh milk. Furthermore, this study will use the lactulose and Maillard-derived compounds as indicators to distinguish reconstituted milk from fresh milk. In bottle-sterilized milk, lactulose concentration decreased with the increasing addition of reconstituted skim milk. In addition, the content of lactulose in raw, low-temperature long-time (LTLT), and high-temperature short-time (HTST) skim milk samples increased with the proportion of reconstituted milk. Furosine, which had a retention time (RT) of 4.686 min in standard solution, had the RTs of 4.908, 4.926, 4.940, and 4.973 min in raw, LTLT, HTST, and bottle-sterilized milk samples, respectively. The RT peak increased along with the content of reconstituted milk in raw, LTLT, and HTST milk samples but decreased in bottle-sterilized milk. In conclusion, this work represents an important step toward detecting adulterated milk and tightening food safety regulations.