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Cleft grafting methods were applied in order to evaluate the effect of grafting on tomato fruit yield and quality. The tomato cultivars used as scions were Yeni Talya, Swanson and Beri. The cultivars Beaufort and Arnold were used as rootstocks. The following characteristics of grafted and nongrafted plants were recorded: fruit index, number of fruits/truss, fruit weight, fruit yield, dry matter, pH, concentration of soluble solids, titratable acidity, concentrations of total sugar, lycopene and vitamin C. The results showed that fruit yield and fruit index, number of fruits/truss and fruit weights were improved by grafting. Fruit quality, measured in terms of concentrations of dry matter, soluble solids, total sugar, and vitamin C, was lower in grafted plants than in nongrafted ones. No significant difference in lycopene level and pH was found. Titratable acidity was improved by grafting. A positive effect of grafting was recorded when Beaufort was used as rootstock. These results showed that grafting could be an advantageous alternative in tomato production.

We quantified soil acidity and exchangeable cations in the forest floor and upper 7.5 cm of mineral soil beneath the canopies of individual trees of six different species in a mixed-species forest in northwestern Connecticut. Soil pH decreased in a sequence starting with sugar maple (Acer saccharum) > white ash (Fraxinus americana) > red maple (Acer rubrum) > beech (Fagus grandifolia) > red oak (Quercus rubra) > eastern hemlock (Tsuga canadensis). The differences among species were largest in the forest floor and the top 7.5 cm of mineral soil. Exchangeable Ca and Mg in the 0-7.5 cm mineral soil layer were significantly higher beneath sugar maple than all other species, with the exception of white ash. There were negligible differences among species in the quantity of exchangeable Ca and Mg in the forest floor. In the 0-7.5 cm mineral soil layer, exchangeable Ca was positively correlated with the content of unweathered Ca in the parent material, but the relationship differed among species. There was a large increase in exchangeable Ca in the soils beneath sugar maple but a negligible increase in the soils beneath hemlock and red maple. Exchangeable Al and Fe were highest beneath hemlock and lowest beneath sugar maple. The differences in pH and exchangeable cations between sugar maple and hemlock are likely due to interspecific differences in the introduction of acidity (e.g., organic acids) and Ca uptake and allocation. Observing an association between tree species and specific soil chemical properties within mixed-species stands implies that changes in the distribution and abundance of tree species alters the spatial and temporal pattern of soil acidity and cation cycling in this forest.

Extra-virgin oil is obtained from olive fruits only by mechanical means. The quality of extra-virgin olive oils is affected mainly by hydrolytic and oxidative reactions. For this reason, the commercial shelf-life is usually no longer than 18 months. In order to investigate the effects of a prolonged storage, olives from cv. Coratina were crushed using a three phase system to produce extra virgin olive oil analysed for sensory and chemical-physical indices, phenolic profile, tocopherol content, and antioxidant activity during a 8-years storage. The oil lost its characteristics of extra-virgin after 6 years of storage, time at which the median of the defects was higher than 0 and free acidity exceeded the limit fixed for this category by the European Regulation whereas the stability against oxidation persisted for a longer period due to the high concentration of oleuropein derivatives. A strong positive linear correlation was observed between the phenolic content and antioxidant activity measured according to the ABTS+. to indicate a noticeable radical scavenging ability of phenolic compounds.

The effect of malolactic fermentation (MLF) on the flavour quality of cider was examined. Leuconostoc mesenteroides subsp. mesenteroides Z25 was used to start MLF taking place at 25 deg C for 12 days after the completion of alcoholic fermentation (AF) by Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Strain Z25 showed good activity in starting MLF of cider with 10% alcoholic concentration. The content of malic acid, whose high concentration gives negative organoleptic characteristics to the cider, dropped significantly from 4.0 g/l to 0.25 g/l via MLF. The concentration of lactic acid increased significantly from 0.99 g/l to 3.50 g/l, contributing to volatile acidity. The acetic acid content of the ciders was 0.74 g/l. Among 51 volatile compounds detected by GC-MS, higher alcohols, esters, and carbonyl compounds were formed in ciders through MLF. The total concentration of aromatic substances doubled compared to the controls. The occurrence of MLF started by strain Z25 enabled the cider containing more volatile compounds and an acceptable adjustment of organic acids. This is the first report on using L. mesenteroides subsp. mesenteroides strain Z25 to start the MLF of apple wine improving the flavour quality of the cider produced.

The CHL1 (NRT1) gene of Arabidopsis encodes a nitrate-inducible nitrate transporter that is thought to be a component of the low-affinity (mechanism II) nitrate-uptake system in plants. A search was performed to find high-affinity (mechanism I) uptake mutants by using chlorate selections on plants containing Tag1 transposable elements. Chlorate-resistant mutants defective in high-affinity nitrate uptake were identified, and one had a Tag1 insertion in chl1, which was responsible for the phenotype. Further analysis showed that chl1 mutants have reduced high-affinity uptake in induced plants and are missing a saturable component of the constitutive, high-affinity uptake system in addition to reduced low-affinity uptake. The contribution of CHL1 to constitutive high-affinity uptake is higher when plants are grown at more acidic pH, conditions that increase the level of CHL1 mRNA. chl1 mutants show reduced membrane depolarization in root epidermal cells in response to low (250 micromolar) and high (10 mM) concentrations of nitrate. Low levels of nitrate (100 micromolar) induce a rapid increase in CHL1 mRNA. These results show that CHL1 is an important component of both the high-affinity and the low-affinity nitrate-uptake systems and indicate that CHL1 may be a dual-affinity nitrate transporter

The fruit of apricot has been used as food in FYR Macedonia since a long time ago. The results based on fruit physical and chemical analyses clearly showed that different apricot genotypes have very important contents of soluble solids, individual sugars, and titratable acidity. In addition, the contents of these chemical compounds in some genotypes were higher than those in the control cultivar Hungarian Best. Using the PC analysis (PC1 = 32.13%, PC2 = 22.86%, and PC3 = 18.32%), apricot genotypes were separated into groups with similar physical and chemical attributes. These relationships may help to select a set of genotypes with better fruit quality performances which, in our study, might be indicated as DL-1/1/04, DL-1/2/03, D-1/04 and K-5/04.

The presented paper covers the preliminary studies on microwave inactivation of honey enzymes described as diastase number. All the investigations were done on commercially available honey from Polish local market. Microwave processes were compared to the conventional ones. In the case of conventional conditions, the constant rate of diastase enzyme inactivation was estimated using the first order kinetics. In the case of microwave heated samples, it was impossible to establish the rate constant; however, the investigation proved the suitability of such kind of processing for short-term thermal treatment of honey.

The melissopalynological characteristics, three main physicochemical properties (water content, pH, and electrical conductivity), and 19 macro- and microelements concentrations of 15 honey types that were collected throughout Bulgaria from 2006 to 2009 were evaluated. The main honeys studied came from Robinia pseudoacacia, Helianthus annuus, Brassica spp., Tilia spp., and Vicia spp. The botanical origins of unifloral honey samples were identified as Lotus spp., Coriandrum sativum, Daucus-type, Stachys-type, Salix spp., Prunus spp., Castanea sativa, Paliurus spina-christi, Sophora japonica, and Amorpha spp. Based on the physicochemical properties and elements contents, one sample with high percentage of Trifolium spp. pollen was identified as honeydew honey.

The objective of this study was to analyse and critically evaluate the primary metabolites in new interspecific grapevine varieties and to find out the differences between 4 conventional varieties and 11 new interspecific cultivars. Concentrations of different sugars and organic acids were estimated by HPLC. Most of the varieties tested belong to the group with either medium or low levels of malic acid, i.e. with a medium to high beta ratio. The cluster analysis identified the existence of two interesting groups of varieties: the first one involved the varieties Riesling, Nativa, Marlen, and Kofranka while the other group consisted of varieties Blaufraenkisch, Blauer Portugieser, and Laurot. This observation also indicates similarity between conventional varieties and interspecific cultivars.