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Horticulturae
Special Issues
Bioactivity of Horticultural Crops and Extracts
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Bioactivity of Horticultural Crops and Extracts

A special issue of Horticulturae (ISSN 2311-7524).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 August 2024 | Viewed by 4867

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Stefanos Leontopoulos

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Applied Arts and Sustainable Design, Hellenic Open University, Parodos Aristotelous 18, 26335 Patras, Greece
Interests: crop protection; antimicrobial activity; phytochemicals; food science; environmental pollution
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Prodromos Skenderidis

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Applied Arts and Sustainable Design, Hellenic Open University, Parodos Aristotelous 18, 26335 Patras, Greece
Interests: food science; design and optimization of extraction techniques; chemical characterization of natural products
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Horticultural crops are cultivated in many countries around the world in a wide range of climatic conditions. The consumption of fruit and vegetables has been proven to have beneficial effects. Several parts of horticultural crops are important sources of nutrients and other natural substances, such as phenolic compounds, oils, organic acids, dietary fibers, etc., which are vital for human health due to their antimicrobial, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and other health-protective activities.

This Special Issue aims to present the state of the art on the bioactivity of horticultural crops using reviews and original research in order to provide deeper knowledge about bioactive-compound crops, especially their potential health-enhancing properties.

Thus, I would like to invite you to submit research papers to the MDPI scientific peer-reviewed journal Horticulturae to be included in the upcoming Special Issue with the title: “Bioactivity of Horticultural Crops and Extracts”. The topics to be covered by the Special Issue are the following: horticultural crops, bioactivity, natural antimicrobials and antioxidants, encapsulation, advanced drying technologies, novel extraction and separation technologies, non-thermal preservation technologies, and advanced analytical and characterization technologies for natural products. This Special Issue of Horticulturae will highlight the function, evolution, and diversity of the bioactivity potential of horticultural crops.

Dr. Stefanos Leontopoulos
Dr. Prodromos Skenderidis
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Horticulturae is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2200 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • phytochemicals
  • bioacticity
  • horticultural crops
  • natural compounds
  • antimicrobioal activity
  • human health
  • fruit and vegetables
  • cosmetics
  • crop protection
  • extraction methods

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

15 pages, 3106 KiB  
Article
Optimized Production of a Hesperidin-Enriched Extract with Enhanced Antioxidant Activity from Waste Orange Peels Using a Glycerol/Sodium Butyrate Deep Eutectic Solvent
by Dimitrios Kalompatsios, Dimitrios Palaiogiannis and Dimitris P. Makris
Horticulturae 2024, 10(3), 208; https://doi.org/10.3390/horticulturae10030208 - 22 Feb 2024
Viewed by 780
Abstract
Citrus processing side-streams are largely represented by waste orange peels (WOP), and there are several techniques developed for polyphenol extraction from WOP; yet, there are a significant lack of methodologies based on non-conventional, green solvents. On this basis, this study was performed to [...] Read more.
Citrus processing side-streams are largely represented by waste orange peels (WOP), and there are several techniques developed for polyphenol extraction from WOP; yet, there are a significant lack of methodologies based on non-conventional, green solvents. On this basis, this study was performed to assess a deep eutectic solvent (DES) synthesized with glycerol and sodium butyrate, for its capacity to extract WOP polyphenols. Optimization of the process was carried out using a response surface methodology, which revealed that a maximum total polyphenol yield of 73.36 mg gallic acid equivalent (GAE) g−1 dry mass (DM) could be achieved with a solvent system of DES/water (80% w/w), a residence time of 120 min, and a temperature of 90 °C. Using these settings, the polyphenol extraction from WOP with the DES/water solvent system was found to have outstanding performance compared to aqueous or hydroethanolic extraction, while the extracts generated possessed significantly enhanced antioxidant properties. The chromatographic analyses of the extracts demonstrated that the DES/water extract was particularly enriched in hesperidin (21.81 mg g−1 dry mass), a bioflavonoid with promising pharmaceutical potential. This is a first report on the use of this particular DES for WOP polyphenol extraction, which may be used to produce hesperidin-enriched extracts, by implementing the methodology developed. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Bioactivity of Horticultural Crops and Extracts)
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17 pages, 1382 KiB  
Article
Improved Recovery of Antioxidant Compounds from Refined Pumpkin Peel Extract: A Mixture Design Method Approach
by Rim Ben Mansour, Hanen Falleh, Nermine Nefzi, Sarra Dakhlaoui, Sawssen Selmi, Majdi Hammami, Lillian Barros, Spyridon A. Petropoulos, Neji Tarchoun and Riadh Ksouri
Horticulturae 2023, 9(10), 1111; https://doi.org/10.3390/horticulturae9101111 - 08 Oct 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1079
Abstract
This study employed the mixture design method to determine optimal solvent combinations, aiming to obtain refined extracts from squash peels with enhanced antioxidant properties. We optimized extraction solvents, focusing on recovering the total phenolic compounds (TPC) and increased antioxidant properties using a second-order [...] Read more.
This study employed the mixture design method to determine optimal solvent combinations, aiming to obtain refined extracts from squash peels with enhanced antioxidant properties. We optimized extraction solvents, focusing on recovering the total phenolic compounds (TPC) and increased antioxidant properties using a second-order polynomial equation through the response surface methodology (RSM). Six solvents (MeOH, Hexane, DCM, EtOAc, BuOH, and water) were assessed for their effects on TPC and antioxidant activity in preliminary experiments. The refined extracts underwent a HPLC analysis for a phenolic composition determination and were further evaluated for their antibacterial activity and cytotoxicity. The results revealed a rich phenolic content in the refined extract from peels of Bejaoui landrace, primarily catechin (8.06 mg/g dry extract (DE)), followed by epicatechin and kaempferol (5 mg/g DE). Antibacterial tests against Enterococcus faecalis, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Salmonella typhimurium, and Staphylococcus aureus showed significant antimicrobial activities, especially for Karkoubi and batati landraces, where the growth inhibitions were 99%, 96%, 97%, and 80% and 94%, 89%, 98%, and 96% for the respective bacteria. The peel extracts exhibited a negligible cytotoxicity on the RAW264.7 cell line, even at high concentrations. Our findings emphasize the potential antioxidant and antibacterial properties of peel extracts due to diverse phenolic compounds, suggesting the potential use of squash peels in the food and nutraceuticals industries as sources of natural antimicrobial agents. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Bioactivity of Horticultural Crops and Extracts)
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17 pages, 1980 KiB  
Article
Nutritional Quality and Antioxidant Properties of Brown and Black Lentil Sprouts
by Theodoros Chatzimitakos, Vassilis Athanasiadis, Ioannis Makrygiannis, Konstantina Kotsou, Dimitrios Palaiogiannis, Eleni Bozinou and Stavros I. Lalas
Horticulturae 2023, 9(6), 668; https://doi.org/10.3390/horticulturae9060668 - 05 Jun 2023
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2597
Abstract
Lentils are known to be an integral part of a nutritionally balanced diet. Their sprouts are considered even more nutritional since they contain phytonutrients that confer health benefits. As such, incorporating them into a human diet can be advantageous. In this study, seeds [...] Read more.
Lentils are known to be an integral part of a nutritionally balanced diet. Their sprouts are considered even more nutritional since they contain phytonutrients that confer health benefits. As such, incorporating them into a human diet can be advantageous. In this study, seeds from brown and black lentils were germinated aiming to study the changes in their nutritional value after they were grown for different amount of days to different lengths. Since the sprouts can be consumed at various stages of their growth, four growth stages were studied. For each stage, three batches were grown, and one sample of each batch was randomly picked and analyzed in triplicates. The sprouts were examined for their nutritional value. To this end, their content of proteins and carbohydrates was determined, as well as their content in carotenoids and vitamin C. Moreover, emphasis was placed on the phytochemical compounds contained in the sprouts. As results indicate, lentil sprouts not only exhibit high nutritional value but they are also rich in antioxidant compounds. More specifically, an increase of up to 18.8% in the protein content was recorded for 15 cm length sprouts (compared to lentil seeds), accompanied by a decrease in the carbohydrate content of up to 68.9%. Carotenoids and vitamin C content increased up to 224% and 389%, respectively. Additionally, a 34% increase in the polyphenol content was recorded. Moreover, a direct correlation between sprout length and nutritional value was observed, using principal component analysis (PCA) and multivariate correlation analysis (MCA). Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Bioactivity of Horticultural Crops and Extracts)
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