Annals of Agricultural Science最新文献

Heavy metals (HMs) pollution is becoming influential severe trouble in the farming ecosystem, where it causes serious health problems for many living organisms. This study was conducted to estimate the HMs accumulation under different sites from agricultural soil and its effects on enzymatic activities in tissues of the beetle, Blaps polychresta, as an indicator of soil contamination. Beetle and soil samples were collected from three agricultural sites; (A) a reference site, (B) fields located near the River Nile, and (C) fields closed to drainage. The atomic absorption results showed a significant increase in iron (Fe), manganese (Mn), arsenic (As), lead (Pb), chromium (Cr), aluminum (Al), and zinc (Zn) for both soil and beetles from site B & C compared to site A. The highest bioaccumulation (BAF) ratio was observed for nickel (Ni), As, and cadmium (Cd) in site C, while Zn, copper (Cu), and Pb in site B. HMs accumulation in beetle's tissues (gut, fat body, and testis) from site B & C induced the malondialdehyde (MDA) activity. Thus, a significant reduction of the antioxidant enzymes and total protein contents (TPc) were observed in beetle tissues from site C. However, no significant differences in some tissues of site B compared to other sites. A principal component analysis (PCA) and correlation were conducted between HMs concentrations in beetle tissues and antioxidant enzymes, TPc, and MDA. The current results of a principal component analysis (PCA) and the correlation test were used to assist the differences in the decline of the antioxidant enzymes: glutathione (GSH), Superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), glutathione-S-transferase (GST), glutathione peroxidase (GPx), and glutathione reductase (GR) and TPc, while; the elevation in MDA responses in beetle's tissues due to HMs accumulations in response to protect themselves from metals toxicity. The antioxidant defense and oxidative stress were more prominent in the tissues of the beetle's gut and fat bodies comparing to the testis. Accordingly, the HMs accumulation in agricultural soil can be predicted by the enzymatic activities in beetle tissues.

The recent breeding programs for livestock and poultry projects have aimed at maximizing productivity and minimizing gross costs. It is well known that feed represents the main variable component affecting the productive process. The animal's requirements can be divided into needs for maintenance and productive requests. Consequently, recent breeding programs have aimed at reducing production costs through genetic improvements in residual feed intake (RFI). A bird that consumes less feed than expected for production and preservation requirements has a negative residual feed intake (−RFI). This case is desirable for decreasing feed costs in animal and poultry projects. Chickens with low predicted feed intake (PFI) (R−) need less feed to reach a similar body weight and production performance. On the other hand, birds that eat more feed than expected have a positive RFI. Accordingly, the latter birds (+RFI) must be avoided by breeders via effective selection programs.

Aquaculture effluents are nutrient-rich water containing both inorganic and organic nutrients with a potential to replace chemical fertilizer applications under integrated agricultural systems. A field experiment was conducted to determine the effect of fish effluent as an irrigation water source on the growth, yield, and essential oil composition of sweet marjoram. A randomized complete block design was followed with three irrigation treatments and three replicates i.e. fertigation with chemical fertilizers (control), irrigation with effluents only (effluents), and mixed treatment with 50% effluent and 50% chemical fertilizers (mixed). Marjoram seedlings were transplanted, and two cuts were done at the flowering stage. Samples were analyzed for yield and essential oil. In the first cut, effluents recorded an average of 40.4 cm height and 30.2 branches. It also had significantly higher yields, reaching 12.5ton ha⁻¹ and 2.8ton ha⁻¹ for fresh and dry yields, respectively. For the second cut, mixed had the highest average number of branches (58.8) and average height (59.2 cm). It recorded the highest yields of 26.5ton ha⁻¹ and 10.5ton ha⁻¹ of fresh and dry yields, respectively. Similarly, mixed gave the highest oil content (0.98%), compared to the control (0.84%). Essential oil analysis showed six main constituents; terpinen-4-ol (27.11–32.38%), β-terpineol (9.84–17.22%), γ-terpinene (11.09–15.55%), α-terpinene (6.68–10.34%), sabinene (8.18–9.25%), and cis-sabinene hydrate (5.01–8.64%). The results, therefore, suggest that growing marjoram with a mixed treatment would give the best herbage yields and the highest essential oils with reduced environmental impacts.

Fruits of cardamom (Amomum compactum Sol. Ex Maton), Zingiberaceae family, has long been used as herbs and spices. The aim of the research was to evaluate the total flavonoid content and antioxidant activity in ethanol and ethyl acetate of fruit extract from the accession cardamom. We used ultrasonic extraction with 80% ethanol and ethyl acetate as solvents. Four accessions were performed for total flavonoid content (TFC) by colorimetric method using quercetin as standard flavonoid and antioxidant activity by cupric reducing antioxidant capacity (CUPRAC), and 2,2-diphenyl picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) assays using Trolox as standard antioxidant. TFC varied from 0.19 mg QE/g dry weight (DW) (ethanol extract of accession ‘Sukabumi’) to 2.26 mg QE/g DW (ethyl acetate extract of accession ‘Ciamis’). Antioxidant activity ranged from 3.83 μmol TE/g DW (ethyl acetate extract of accession ‘Bogor-1’) to 21.90 μmol TE/g DW (ethanol extract of accession ‘Bogor-1’) as calculated by CUPRAC method. In DPPH assay, antioxidant capacity reached from 0.19 μmol TE/g DW (ethanol extract of accession ‘Bogor-1’) to 0.40 μmol TE/g DW (ethyl acetate extract of accession ‘Bogor-2’). Ethyl acetate extract exhibited the highest TPC and antioxidant activity (DPPH) than ethanol extract of cardamom fruits. The accession ‘Ciamis’ and ‘Bogor-1’ of cardamom fruits were well-known highest TFC and antioxidant capacities.

Lately, ensuring clear discrimination of the authenticity of natural honey is a concern not only to consumers but also to producers, traders and industries. The intrinsically simple nature of the honey composition, the distinguished health benefits as well as the high price make adulteration and falsification of the honey very common and the detection of authenticity very difficult. Samar honey (n = 59) and Talh honey (n = 64) produced from two species of Acacia trees (Acacia tortilis and Acacia gerrardii Benth, respectively) in different countries, including the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Oman, and Yemen, has been studied by applying Multivariate Data Analysis. The discrimination is based on the official chemical quality parameters that inform about the nectary sources, including glucose, fructose, sucrose content, total reducing sugar, moisture content, acidity and diastase activity. Results show that the total reducing sugar, glucose and fructose were the most important positive loading descriptors that influence the quality of Samar and Talh honey. In addition, most of the Talh honey samples clustered at the top of the hierarchy, while Samar honey samples clustered at the bottom. The Multivariate Data Analysis indicates that the acidity and diastase activity are the most effective characteristics influencing the floral and geographical discrimination of both types of honey. This is the first study in the GCC area to discriminate between Samar and Talh honey using Multivariate Data Analysis by applying the principal component analysis and hierarchical cluster analysis. The Multivariate Data Analysis can be a helpful method to differentiate between Talh and Samar honey.

Vascular streak dieback (VSD) disease, caused by Ceratobasidium theobromae, is one of the cocoa diseases responsible for decreasing cocoa production and declining cocoa plantation area in Indonesia. Planting cocoa clones with partial resistance to VSD has been useful in managing the disease. These have been produced by grafting or budding selected resistant genotype of cocoa onto unselected seedlings. The main objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of rootstock × scion combinations on VSD resistance through top grafting. The experiment used five rootstocks and scions selected from five clones, namely: MCC-01, Sulawesi 1 (S-1), M-05, RB, BB-01 and the disease evaluation was carried out under natural infection conditions for 18 months. The experimental area was surrounded by cocoa trees from a severely VSD-infested cocoa farm. M-05 performed well for suppression of VSD incidence and severity as a scion regardless of the genotype of the rootstocks followed by Sulawesi 1 (S-1). The rootstocks M-05 and S-1 did not significantly reduce VSD incidence or severity on the susceptible scions from different clones such as MCC-01, RB and BB-01. MCC-01 showed a higher incidence and severity of VSD as a scion regardless of the rootstock genotype. This research proves that rootstocks from cocoa genotypes considered resistant, moderately susceptible, or susceptible to VSD, have little effect on cocoa scion resistance to VSD. Cocoa scion genotypes play a crucial role in VSD resistance.