Search Results (4,766)

Phytopathogenic diseases are a major limiting factor in agricultural production. Therefore, scientific research continues to focus on developing effective techniques to mitigate their impact on crop productivity. Seaweed extracts, used as nutritional supplements, organic fertilizers, or bio-pesticides, have demonstrated their ability to enhance plant growth, increase yield, and alleviate the effects of abiotic stress. This study aimed to evaluate the effect of the aqueous extract of Bifurcaria bifurcata, collected from the Atlantic coast of Sidi Bouzid (El Jadida, Morocco), on the growth of Solanum tuberosum L., as well as its bactericidal activity against soft rot caused by Dickeya dadantii. The chemical Characterization revealed that Bifurcaria bifurcata aqueous extract is rich in polar and hydrophilic functional groups. In addition, this extract is particularly rich in phenolic metabolites, particularly phenolic acids, such as p-coumaric acid, ferulic acid, vanillic acid, and caffeic acid, which are known for their potential antimicrobial mechanisms. However, the treatment with 4 g/L extract resulted in a significant reduction in disease symptoms (>60%) and enhanced plant growth parameters, including 21% increase in plant height and 33% increase in leaf number. POX activity increased 6-fold (from 0.12 to 0.7 µmol/min/mg protein), indicating successful elicitation of plant defense mechanisms. The Bifurcaria bifurcata extract could act as novel activators of plant defense mechanisms and serve as potential alternatives to chemical pesticides. Full article

This study investigated whether storage changes the composition of Fontane and Challenger potatoes, including their starch characteristics, and whether these changes impact the properties of (deep-fried) mashes made from these potatoes stored for up to eight months. Fontane mashes showed an increase in firmness and viscoelasticity when potatoes were stored for a longer time. Moreover, when deep-fried mashes were made with Fontane potatoes, more water evaporated during deep frying and the resultant oil content increased as a function of the storage duration of the potatoes used to make them. This was not observed in mashes made from Challenger potatoes. Since the potato composition, starch characteristics and molecular mobility in mashes were minimally impacted by potato storage for both cultivars, it is assumed that storage-induced changes in potato cell walls and/or pectin methyl esterase activity contribute to the observed differences between deep-fried mashes made from fresh versus stored Fontane potatoes. The acquired insights help understand how potato storage can impact the properties of (deep-fried) potato mash-based products and highlight the potential to mitigate storage-induced declines in product quality by selecting cultivars based on the potato storage time. Full article

This study systematically evaluated the potential of five native starches, including corn (CS), potato (PS), tapioca (TS), rice (RS), and sweet potato (SPS), as fat replacers in low-fat pork sausages. The obtained results showed that amylose content varied significantly, with PS and SPS having the highest levels (30.06% and 28.60%, respectively), which were beneficial for forming starch gels. Correspondingly, PS and SPS demonstrated the highest solubility and swelling power. In sausage applications, PS and SPS exhibited superior water-retention capacities, with drying losses of 6.75% and 7.03%, and cooking losses of 2.23% and 2.52%, which were lower than those of the normal control (NC) and low-fat control (LFC) groups. Moreover, the results of texture profile analysis revealed that PS and SPS enabled the sausages to achieve the highest levels of hardness and springiness, contributing to maintaining the moisture retention and toughness of the sausages. Electronic tongue and nose analyses indicated that incorporating these starches did not adversely affect the taste and odor profiles of the sausages, except for RS, which showed distinct flavor encapsulation properties. Overall, PS and SPS served as excellent fat replacers in the meat industry, offering healthier alternatives without compromising product quality. Full article

The occurrence and concentration of potentially toxic elements (PTE) in fertilizers are a concern in tropical regions, and soil properties affect their bioavailability for crops. Cadmium is the most easily bioavailable for plants and so the food chain, and it represents a stepping-stone toward safe food production. So, this study aimed to evaluate the ionomics, metabolism, and growth of potato, tobacco, and rice in response to liming and to monoammonium phosphates (MAP) from different geographic origins and PTE contents (MAP 1, MAP 2, MAP 3). For this, independent experiments were conducted with each crop using MAP fertilizers as a phosphorus source applied to a Red-Yellow Latosol, with and without liming. Our findings indicated that physiological changes were primarily influenced by liming rather than PTE. Most acidic soils negatively impacted plant growth and sugar content and induced metabolic adjustments related to proline. The higher level of Cd in MAP 3 reduced manganese and zinc and increased sugar in plant shoots. Rice also had a lower Cd bioaccumulation than potato and tobacco, followed by a higher tolerance to acidic soil. The concentrations of As, Cd, and Cr present in fertilizers did not impair the growth and life cycle of the evaluated plants; however, metabolic adjustments were observed. Full article

Potato sensory quality is a key determinant of consumer acceptance and processing suitability; however, it remains insufficiently explored in Bulgarian potato breeding programs. This study aimed to characterize the sensory profiles of advanced Bulgarian mutant potato lines developed through induced mutagenesis, in comparison with their parental genotypes and untreated controls, after steaming and oven-frying. A trained descriptive sensory panel evaluated attributes related to appearance, aroma, flavor, texture, taste, and aftertaste, and the resulting data were explored using principal component analysis (PCA). Steamed samples were mainly associated with potato identity, earthy and raw potato peel aromatics, and potato-like flavor, whereas oven-fried samples were more strongly associated with overall sweet impression, buttery, earthy, and potato flavors, together with nutty aftertaste. Texture-related attributes were expressed in both culinary preparations, while undesirable bitter, sour, and astringent aftertastes occurred less frequently and were mainly linked to specific genotypes rather than to the overall sensory profile. Exploratory PCA supported the visualization of genotype-related sensory tendencies across both datasets. Several mutant lines showed favorable sensory profiles aligned with desirable parental characteristics, whereas others were more often associated with less favorable attributes, including increased bitter and astringent aftertastes. Overall, steaming emphasized inherent potato like, earthy, and raw-related notes, whereas oven-frying enhanced color development, sweet–buttery flavor impressions, and richer texture expression. Full article

Powdery scab, caused by Spongospora subterranea, is a major disease of potato in which host resistance remains poorly understood at the biochemical level. While previous transcriptomic and proteomic studies have implicated glutathione S-transferases (GSTs) in cultivar-specific defence responses, orthogonal evidence at the metabolite level remains limited. In this study, untargeted metabolomics was applied to investigate root metabolic responses of two potato cultivars with contrasting resistance to S. subterranea. The relatively resistant cultivar ‘Gladiator’ and the susceptible cultivar ‘Iwa’ were inoculated with S. subterranea, and roots were collected at the stage of visible gall formation for analysis by high-resolution liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). Principal component analysis revealed a distinct metabolic profile in infected ‘Gladiator’ roots compared with both non-inoculated controls and infected ‘Iwa’ roots, indicating a stronger host metabolic response in the resistant cultivar. Among the annotated metabolites, cysteinyl-glycine (Cys-Gly), a central intermediate of glutathione turnover, was significantly more abundant in infected ‘Gladiator’ roots. The accumulation of Cys-Gly provides direct biochemical evidence linking enhanced glutathione cycling and GST activity to effective host defence. These findings highlight glutathione metabolism as a key component of potato resistance and demonstrate the value of metabolomics for additional validation of biochemical mechanisms underlying plant cultivar responses to biotic stress. Full article

Weed control of solanaceous weeds growing with solanaceous crops is a constant challenge. Infected by viruses, they can also act as virus reservoirs, complicating this problem further. Viromes of annual Solanum nigrum, Datura stramonium, and Solanum dulcamara, a perennial climbing shrub, were investigated using RNA sequencing and validated using RT-PCR, revealing infection with nine viruses. Broad bean wilt virus 1 (BBWV1), cucumber mosaic virus (CMV), and potato virus M (PVM) were found to infect S. nigrum. Investigating only 46 plants revealed infection with Solanum dulcamara yellow fleck virus (SDYFV) not only in S. dulcamara but in a new host, D. stramonium, which also represents a new host of turnip yellows virus (TuYV). We described the first presence of a potato virus H (PVH)-like, and Oxybasis rubra mitovirus 1 (OxruMV1)-like virus in Europe, in S. dulcamara as a new host. Our results highlight the unexpected complexity of the viromes of solanaceous weeds, which should be considered during reliable and efficient plant protection strategies, in order to alleviate the virus reservoir role of the weeds. Full article

Bedellia somnulentella (Lepidoptera: Bedelliidae) is an invasive, leaf-mining, and defoliating pest of sweet potatoes (Ipomoea batatas L.) that has recently established in Brazil. Its colonization and infestation levels in cultivated fields are influenced by the availability of wild Ipomoea species that sustain populations during off-season periods. The objective was to evaluate the biology and life history of B. somnulentella feeding on wild plants of the genus Ipomoea and on I. batatas cv. Beauregard. Vegetative and reproductive parts of Ipomoea plants were collected and cultivated, and the biology and life history of B. somnulentella were studied using twenty adult pairs of the insect per host plant in a climate-controlled room. The wild species Ipomoea hederifolia L., Ipomoea indica (Burm.f.) Merr., Ipomoea purpurea L., and cultivated I. batatas were used for the assays. The experiment followed a completely randomized design with ten replicates. Hatching, larval stages, prepupa, pupa, and adult phases were observed and recorded daily. Variations in the coloration of B. somnulentella larvae feeding on leaves of I. hederifolia, I. indica, and I. purpurea were observed. The survival and development of B. somnulentella were higher on I. batatas and I. hederifolia than on I. indica and I. purpurea, mainly during the larval and adult stages. The results provide information on infestation in alternative wild hosts and on biological aspects of B. somnulentella. Full article

A three-year field experiment (2021–2023) in southeast Spain evaluated whether reduced mineral fertilization, with or without plant-growth-promoting microorganisms, could maintain crop productivity and modify selected soil indicators in a Mediterranean vegetable rotation. Four treatments were compared: conventional fertilization (T1), reduced fertilization (T2; −30% or −50%), reduced fertilization plus bacterial inoculants (T3), and reduced fertilization plus bacterial–fungal inoculants (T4). Crop yields were not significantly affected by fertilization strategy. Potato yields ranged from 55,661 to 60,741 kg ha⁻¹, those of broccoli from 14,928 to 16,797 kg ha⁻¹, and those of melon from 30,815 to 33,423 kg ha⁻¹. Inoculated treatments were associated with some quality responses, including higher potato tuber firmness in T4 (16.0 vs. 13.2 kg cm⁻² in T1), whereas melon soluble solids tended to be slightly lower. Soil analyses showed changes in some nutrient-related indicators, including a 217% increase in NH₄⁺ in T4 and a 0.75% decrease in pH in T3. Reduced fertilization lowered production costs by about 9%. Under the conditions of this field trial, reduced fertilization maintained yield and gross margin relative to conventional fertilization, and inoculated treatments under reduced fertilization showed differences in selected soil indicators. Full article

Efficient crop health monitoring is crucial for global food security. Supervised deep learning approaches are often impractical due to the scarcity of large, labeled datasets. To address this limitation, this study adapts EfficientAD, an unsupervised, label-free anomaly detection framework originally designed for industrial inspection, for agricultural imagery on small datasets. The method utilizes a Patch Description Network (PDN) for localized feature extraction, a student network for local anomalies, and an autoencoder for global structural constraints. Benchmarked against AnoGAN, Pix2Pix, InTra, and Teacher–Student models, the framework demonstrated superior performance on the MVTec AD, PlantVillage, Coffee Leaf, and a custom real-world Sweet Potato dataset. The model achieved perfect area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUROC) scores of up to 100% in categories like “Pongamia”, “Potato”, and “Coffee Leaf”. While image-level classification was exceptionally robust, pixel-level localization (AUPRO) proved sensitive to complex agricultural backgrounds. To overcome this, a background interference analysis was conducted using Background Removed (BGRM) and out-of-distribution Background Replaced-Green (BGRP-G) strategies on the custom dataset. Notably, the BGRP-G strategy remarkably improved the image-level AUROC from 88.9% to 99.5% and substantially boosted the pixel-level AUPRO from 47.1% to 61.9%, successfully preserving the boundary integrity of severe structural defects. Achieving millisecond-level latency without complex data augmentation, this adapted label-free framework offers a versatile, highly efficient solution for real-time crop health diagnostics on resource-constrained Edge AI devices. Full article

Heat and mass transfer behaviour of frozen cylindrical potato croquettes was investigated during the deep-fat frying process at different oil temperatures (150, 160, 170, and 180 °C) and times (540, 420, 300, and 240 s), using the product’s actual geometry to better represent real frying conditions. The apparent effective heat transfer coefficient (h_e), effective moisture diffusivity (D_e), and effective mass transfer coefficient (k_e) were estimated experimentally. Increasing oil temperature led to a gradual decrease in h_e, whereas D_e and k_e increased consistently across the investigated range. The calculated h_e values ranged from 82.980 to 119.86 W m⁻² °C⁻¹, while D_e and k_e varied between 1.237 × 10⁻⁶–1.331 × 10⁻⁶ m²s⁻¹ and 6.189 × 10⁻⁶–13.312 × 10⁻⁶ m s⁻¹, respectively. The time-dependent behaviour of the transport parameters was further analyzed using pseudo-first-order (PFO) and pseudo-second-order (PSO) kinetic models. Statistical evaluation based on R² and RMSE showed that PFO best described h_e, whereas PSO provided superior agreement for D_e and k_e. These results demonstrate that heat and mass transport during frying are dynamic processes that can be quantitatively characterized using simplified kinetic formulations, offering a practical engineering tool for process prediction and optimization. Full article

This study examined the distribution and feeding ecology of Grey Crowned Cranes (GCCs) (Balearica regulorum gibbericeps) in the Rushebeya–Kanyabaha wetland watershed in southwestern Uganda, focusing on changes in land use and land cover (LULC) between 1986 and 2022. We documented crane distribution and foraging behaviors through field surveys and analyzed Landsat data of 1986, 1998, 2010, and 2022 using supervised classification. The findings revealed significant changes in LULC, with an increase in built-up areas and subsistence farms, while grassland, bushland, and wetland coverage steadily declined. As the human population increased, leading to a demand for food, subsistence farming emerged as the predominant land use starting in 1998. Data on crane distribution indicates that wetlands are a vital habitat for roosting and breeding; nests are typically located within 140 m of water, along the edges of wetlands, and in vegetation that averages 2.6 m in height. Subsistence farmland, primarily growing beans, potatoes, and sorghum, serves as a key food source for the cranes. The study highlights that while agricultural landscapes provide important foraging sites, crane populations are at risk due to ongoing habitat degradation and disturbances. To effectively conserve these populations, strategies that integrate sustainable land use planning within the catchment area and wetland protection will be essential. Full article

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the world’s leading cause of death and continues to rise in prevalence, contributing to healthcare and economic costs. Following diagnosis, patients are advised to adopt medication regimens, increase physical activity, and modify dietary intake to reduce disease progression and prevent additional comorbidities. Oxalate is a small molecule in plant-derived foods such as spinach, potatoes, almonds, and peanuts and is also produced endogenously. Although oxalate is traditionally studied in the context of kidney stone disease, recent evidence suggests that it may be a dietary contributor to inflammation and oxidative stress in CVD. Elevated systemic oxalate levels promote reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation and activate inflammatory pathways such as nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-κB), mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK), and the NLRP3 inflammasome, which are key players in CVD. In this narrative review, we discuss the current literature describing the role of inflammation in CVD and evaluate emerging evidence that dietary oxalate may influence immune, oxidative, and vascular mechanisms contributing to CVD development and progression. In addition, we highlight populations that may be most vulnerable to oxalate-mediated vascular effects. We conclude by describing existing gaps in knowledge and potential future directions for the field. Understanding these mechanisms further may guide dietary recommendations and delineate oxalate’s potential role as a modifiable risk factor for CVD. Full article

Nitrogen and potassium are the two most essential elements for the growth of sweet potatoes. A balanced nitrogen and potassium supply is crucial for producing high-quality, high-yield sweet potatoes. This study aimed to establish an optimal nitrogen-to-potassium ratio model for diagnosing the nitrogen-to-potassium balance in sweet potato, and to achieve quantitative management of nitrogen and potassium fertilizers in sweet potato cultivation. The experimental design comprised four potassium levels (K0: 0, K1: 100, K2: 200, K3: 300 kg/ha) and four nitrogen levels (N0: 0, N1: 60, N2: 120, N3: 180 kg/ha). Biomass and nitrogen and potassium content were determined in different sweet potato organs. Bayesian modeling was employed to construct the critical plant nitrogen concentration models under varying potassium levels and the critical plant potassium concentration models under varying nitrogen levels. The results established critical nutrient concentration models for sweet potato: N_c = 3.31 DW^−0.46 and K_c = 3.39 DW^−0.47 for nitrogen and potassium, respectively. Furthermore, the critical N/K ratio was modeled as N_c/K_c = 0.976 DW^0.01. Using independent experimental data from 2020, the nitrogen–potassium nutritional balance in plants was diagnosed based on the ratio of the measured N/K ratio to the critical N/K ratio. The results demonstrated that the model exhibited satisfactory predictive performance. Accordingly, the model enables quantitative diagnosis of the in-plant N/K ratio, offering a valuable tool for assessing nutrient balance in sweet potato and providing a theoretical foundation for precise nitrogen and potassium fertilization. Full article

The damage caused by herbivores is generally measured as the amount of leaf tissue consumed, without accounting for the fate of the leftover tissue. As a result, the plant defense mechanisms that promote resistance to herbivore feeding by photosynthetically acclimating the rest of the plant to the feeding spot leaf area have not been well exploited. Plant-insect interactions are now becoming better defined with the development of visualization methods that permit spatial whole-leaf assessment of photosynthetic efficiency after herbivore attack. The purpose of our study was to evaluate the spatial heterogeneity of photosystem II (PSII) function at the whole-leaf level before and after herbivory by the Colorado potato beetles. Twenty minutes after Colorado potato beetle (Leptinotarsa decemlineata) feeding, the maximum efficiency of PSII photochemistry (Fv/Fm) decreased significantly, suggesting photoinhibition due to reduced efficiency of the oxygen-evolving complex (OEC). The decreased quantum yield of PSII photochemistry (Φ_PSII) after feeding, at the neighboring area of the feeding spot and at the rest of the leaf area, was attributed to the reduced efficiency of the open PSII reaction centers (Fv′/Fm′), since there was no change in the fraction of open PSII reaction centers (qp). Nevertheless, plant defense elicitation was activated by the photoprotective mechanism of non-photochemical quenching (NPQ) that reduced the singlet oxygen (¹O₂) formation in potato plants in the neighboring area of the feeding spot and at the rest of the leaf area. In addition, the increased production of hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂) triggered by this increase suggests that it acted as a signaling molecule in the biotic stress defense response. Full article