Search Results (8,058)

Climate change poses significant challenges to agricultural production, water availability, and food and nutrition security, particularly in semi-arid regions where rural livelihoods depend heavily on rain-fed agriculture. In Eswatini, increasing temperatures, erratic rainfall, and recurrent droughts have intensified pressures on smallholder farming systems; however, limited empirical research has examined how climate variability simultaneously affects agriculture, water resources, and household food security within an integrated food–water–nutrition nexus framework. Therefore, this study assessed the impacts of climate change on agricultural production, water availability, food security, and access to nutritious food among smallholder households in the Lubombo Region of Eswatini. A concurrent triangulated mixed-methods approach was employed, combining quantitative data from 880 households with qualitative insights from open-ended responses. Descriptive statistics, Spearman’s correlation, binary logistic regression, and thematic analysis were used to analyse the data. The findings reveal that climate change significantly affects both agricultural and water systems, which in turn directly influence household food security outcomes. The majority of households reported declining crop yields (56.5%), widespread food shortages (79.5%), meal skipping (69.0%), and high levels of food-related anxiety (87.6%). Water insecurity is also prevalent, with over 83% of households experiencing water shortages and nearly all respondents indicating that climate change has affected water access. Correlation and regression analyses demonstrate that drought frequency and reduced rainfall are the strongest predictors of both water insecurity and food insecurity, highlighting the central role of climate variability. Water scarcity emerged as a critical pathway linking climate change to food insecurity, with strong associations between water shortages and reduced crop yields, food shortages, and coping strategies such as skipping meals. Qualitative findings further highlighted declining agricultural productivity, loss of traditional foods, reduced dietary diversity, and increased psychological stress associated with food insecurity. The study concludes that food insecurity in the Lubombo region is multidimensional, driven by the interconnected effects of climate variability, water scarcity, and socio-economic constraints. The findings emphasise the need for integrated, climate-resilient strategies that simultaneously address agricultural production, water resource management, and household adaptive capacity to enhance food and nutrition security. Future research should evaluate the effectiveness of nexus-based adaptation strategies and climate-smart interventions in enhancing long-term food, water, and nutrition security in vulnerable smallholder farming systems. Full article

Culverts are widely used to provide crossings over small rivers and can strongly influence flood hydraulics by controlling upstream water levels. During high flows, insufficient conveyance may cause pressurization and overtopping, with important implications for flood hazard assessment. Although computational fluid dynamics (CFD) is increasingly applied to investigate these complex hydraulic processes, systematic evaluations of its performance remain limited. This study addresses this gap by validating a three-dimensional CFD model against previously published laboratory experiments for culvert-only, weir-only and combined culvert–weir configurations under both steady (rising and receding discharge sequences) and unsteady flow conditions. Beyond benchmark validation, diagnostic analyses examined inlet region mesh resolution, inflow ramp history and turbulence closure, together with the associated outlet ventilation and attachment mechanisms. The model reproduced upstream water levels with mean absolute relative error (MARE) values ranging from 0.90% to 5.42% and captured the main stage–discharge relationships across the tested configurations. However, the experimentally observed transition from partially full to pressurized flow in the combined culvert–weir configuration was not reproduced consistently. The diagnostic analyses showed that inlet resolution influences entrance losses and post-submergence headwater, inflow history alters outlet attachment and ventilation and turbulence closure affects barrel filling and air-pocket morphology. The results indicate that CFD can reproduce water level and overtopping responses well when carefully configured, while regime transition prediction remains more uncertain because of its sensitivity to ventilation and discharge history effects. Full article

In alkaline soils rich in residual phosphorus, phosphorus availability to plants depends not only on the existing reserve, but also on the redistribution of the extractable fraction within the root-explored zone. This study evaluated the effects of water regime, fertilizer treatment, and wheat presence on the distribution of ammonium lactate-extractable phosphorus (P-AL) within the 2–8 cm layer of an alkaline calcareous Chernozem with high initial P availability (P-AL = 178.1 mg kg⁻¹). The pot experiment compared plant-free soil (S0) and wheat-planted soil (SP), four water regimes (H0–H150; 0–150 L m⁻²), and four fertilization treatments: an unfertilized control (F0), a solid NPK fertilizer (FS), and a liquid NP fertilizer applied at low and high rates (FL1 and FL2). These treatments represented practical fertilization options and were not equivalent in P input, supplying 51.8, 13.9, and 27.9 mg P pot⁻¹ for FS, FL1, and FL2, respectively. Soil and plant samples were collected at BBCH 21–22, 20 days after fertilization. Water regime was a major factor shaping P-AL redistribution, significantly affecting P-AL at all three analyzed soil depths (p < 0.001), with its effect depending on vegetation condition and fertilization treatment. Wheat presence reduced P-AL relative to S0, and apparent P-AL depletion (ΔP-AL = S0 − SP) was greatest under H0, ranging from 83 to 99 mg kg⁻¹. FL2 produced the largest S0–SP contrasts under H0–H100, whereas under H150 the largest difference was associated with FS. Under high water input, the higher-input solid NPK treatment (FS), which supplied the largest P input and was the only treatment supplying K, was associated with the highest shoot biomass (16.7 g), root biomass (6.92 g), and root P accumulation (25.2 mg pot⁻¹). The results indicate that P fertilization in high-P alkaline soils should be adapted to water regime, fertilizer input and application method, without allowing for direct conclusions regarding phosphorus use efficiency, total plant P uptake, or leaching losses. Full article

Tajikistan is highly vulnerable to climate change and depends heavily on agriculture, making soil moisture dynamics critical for water and food security. This study provides a comprehensive assessment of soil moisture variability across four depth layers (0–10 cm, 10–40 cm, 40–100 cm, and 100–200 cm) from 2000 to 2021 using NASA’s GLDAS-2 model and remote sensing data for land-air temperature, precipitation, and vegetation to identify key nexus of soil moisture change. Moisture data were converted to volumetric water content (m³/m³) to enable valid cross-layer comparisons. Our findings show that volumetric soil moisture increases with depth, from 0.219 m³/m³ at the surface to 0.293 m³/m³ in the deepest layer. Eastern Tajikistan exhibits higher moisture levels than the west, likely due to differing precipitation patterns. Seasonally, spring replenishes the soil with the highest moisture (0.270 m³/m³ at 0–10 cm), while summer strips it away (0.194 m³/m³ at 0–10 cm), potentially reflecting evapotranspiration losses. A significant warming trend is evident, with mean annual temperature peaking at 4.32 °C in 2016. Precipitation strongly influences upper-layer moisture (correlation: 0.49 at 0–10 cm; 0.44 at 10–40 cm). While annual averages remain stable, seasonal trends reveal significant winter wetting (+0.00043 m³/m³ per year, p < 0.001) and summer drying in the deepest layer, indicating intensifying seasonal contrasts. Vegetation follows a parallel pattern, declining from 2000 to 2010 and recovering thereafter. Greening is observed in 16.74% of the area, concentrated in the western mountains and northern highlands, while only 2.98% shows decline, mostly in small, fragmented patches. These findings highlight the substantial connection between climate, soil moisture, and vegetation in Tajikistan. They also suggest the need for depth-specific and seasonally aware water management strategies in this climate-sensitive region. Managing water here means looking beyond surface averages and thinking in layers, seasons, and geography. Full article

To address rain erosion damage of oriented polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) under high-speed droplet impact, three types of tests (single pulsed jet impact, continuous single pulsed jet impact and continuous twin pulsed jet coupled impact) were conducted using a self-developed continuous jet rain erosion test system. High-speed photography, optical microscopy, optical profilometer and computed tomography (CT) were used to investigate the effects of impact velocity, number of impacts, and twin pulsed jet coupling on damage evolution. Single pulsed jet impact tests show that with increasing velocity, damage evolves from slight annular crazing to a central undamaged region surrounded by extensive annular crazing. Continuous single pulsed jet impact tests indicate that higher velocity shortens the incubation period and accelerates volume loss and damage area growth. The erosion crater profile exhibits a “two valleys and one peak” morphology: a central protrusion from repeated water-hammer compression, and side depressions from lateral outflow scouring. Continuous twin pulsed jet coupled impact tests reveal distinct features: due to mutual hindrance of lateral flows, ring cracks appear only on the side away from the adjacent impact; stress wave superposition may cause stress concentration between impact points, resulting in an asymmetric “single-peak” crater cross-section. This study achieves laboratory simulation of twin pulsed jet coupled impacts, providing an experimental basis for multi-jet interaction damage mechanisms. Full article

Postharvest spoilage of cherry tomatoes caused by pathogenic microorganisms and oxidative browning leads to significant economic losses and food waste. Natural bioactive compounds are gaining increasing attention as alternatives to synthetic pesticides. In this study, a nanoemulsion (NED) formulation of nature-derived 2,4-di-tert-butylphenol was developed and evaluated for its potential to preserve cherry tomato quality during storage. The NED was prepared using high-pressure homogenization, and demonstrated good water solubility and stability. The particles and polydispersity index of NED were an average size of 80–170 nm and 0.2389, respectively. The conductivity and zeta potential of the nanoemulsion were detected as 1.007 mS/cm and 1.611 mV, respectively. Antimicrobial assays showed that the nanoemulsion effectively inhibited the growth of major postharvest pathogens, including human-pathogenic bacterial S. aureus, and phytopathogenic fungal B. cinerea, with minimum inhibitory concentration values of 1.0, 2.0 μL/mL, respectively. Preservation performance tests indicated that the nanoemulsion was effective under both room temperature and refrigerated conditions. When applied to cherry tomatoes, the NED significantly reduced surface bacterial quantity, and preserved fruit quality, as evidenced by a lower weight loss rate, and higher levels of soluble sugars, protein, total phenolics, flavonoids, and ascorbic acid, and total antioxidant capacity (all comparisons were statistically evaluated by one-way ANOVA followed by Tukey’s HSD test, p < 0.05). Importantly, the NED can be completely removed after three times of washing. Collectively, these findings demonstrate that NED is an effective and safe bioactive preservative under laboratory-scale conditions. However, further validation under commercial postharvest handling conditions is necessary prior to practical application. This work provides a fundamental basis for the application of nanoencapsulated natural phenolic compounds in the postharvest preservation of fruits and vegetables. Full article

To address the challenge of balancing flame retardancy and dust suppression in conventional coal mine treatment materials, a multi-component synergistic flame-retardant dust-suppressant gel was fabricated using carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) as the matrix, compounded with ammonium polyphosphate (APP), zinc borate (ZB), and polycarbodiimide (PCDI) as a cross-linking agent. The optimal formulation was determined via orthogonal experimental design combined with performance characterization, yielding a composition of 1 wt% CMC, 8 wt% APP, 2 wt% ZB, and 0.5 wt% PCDI. Systematic evaluations—including wettability tests, thermogravimetric analysis, and fire-extinguishing trials—demonstrated that the resultant CMC-based composite gel exhibits excellent structural stability and environmental tolerance. Specifically, the contact angle on the coal surface decreased sharply from 72.8° to 17.2°, and the mass loss rate after 30 min of wind erosion was merely 4.16%. Treatment with the gel elevated the critical temperature of the coal–oxygen reaction from 70 °C to 80 °C and reduced CO emissions by 40% at 170 °C. Furthermore, the temperatures corresponding to the maximum weight loss rate, ignition, and burnout increased by 12.9 °C, 16.8 °C, and 28.9 °C, respectively. Fire suppression tests revealed that the gel rapidly cools high-temperature coal seams and effectively prevents reignition. Mechanistic investigations indicate that the CMC-PCDI cross-linked network synergizes with the APP-ZB phosphorus–boron flame-retardant system: the three-dimensional gel architecture provides physical encapsulation and water retention, while the intumescent char layer formed by APP-ZB offers efficient oxygen barrier protection. This study provides a reliable gel-based technical solution for the integrated prevention and control of coal dust pollution and spontaneous combustion disasters in underground mines. Full article

While continuously promoting agricultural water-saving and efficiency improvement, Ningxia is confronted with problems such as deepening groundwater tables and growing ecological vulnerability. Exploring the trade-off relationships and their evolutionary characteristics between socioeconomic development and water resource carrying capacity, as well as between water use efficiency improvement and groundwater-ecosystem maintenance, is of great significance for coordinated water resource governance in arid irrigation districts. Based on time-series data covering 2000–2024, this paper establishes a DPSIR evaluation model and constructs a progressive quantitative analytical framework coupling the entropy-weight-Tapio decoupling, rate-scissors difference and PLS-SEM models. During the study period, the growth rate of the response (R) dimension (13.76%) was far higher than that of the state (S) dimension (3.23%) from 2011 to 2020, confirming the objective existence of dual trade-offs. The two categories of trade-offs underwent a three-stage evolution of “latent-intensified-remediation”, showing the counter-intuitive feature of “effective total-volume control alongside continuous groundwater table deepening”. Hidden transmission barriers were identified for 2008–2016 (θ₁, θ₂ dropped to 0.46–1.32°): the transfer of water-saving dividends to industry caused groundwater extraction to rise rather than fall to a certain extent. PLS-SEM analysis reveals that structural lock-in acts as the core inhibiting factor for ecological protection. The total effect of socioeconomic development on ecology reaches 0.921, whereas structural lock-in produces a chained negative mediating effect of −0.192 by suppressing water use efficiency. Improvement in water use efficiency presents dual characteristics of overall ecological gain and localized groundwater-recharge loss. It can be concluded that engineering-only water-saving measures cannot balance water-intake reduction and recharge deficits. It is necessary to simultaneously advance low-water-consumption cropping-pattern restructuring, rigid enforcement of the 2.5 m ecological groundwater table threshold, and the substitution mechanism for saved-water volume between industry and agriculture, so as to build a coordinated “water-saving-recharge-ecology” regulation system. Full article

This article presents a technical and economic analysis of a photovoltaic system operating in conjunction with a heat pump in a single-family home. The aim of this study was to compare the cost-effectiveness of two prosumer billing systems currently in use in Poland, net metering and net billing, implemented in accordance with the provisions of the Renewable Energy Sources (RES) Act and the Energy Law and to assess the effectiveness of a proprietary algorithm for managing surplus electricity produced by the photovoltaic system. The energy performance of the facility was determined using ArCADia Termo 11.1 software, while energy and economic calculations were performed using Microsoft Excel 365 and a developed heat pump control algorithm. The algorithm is based on an analysis of the building’s energy balance with a 15 min resolution and utilizes data on outdoor temperature, energy production from the PV system, building heat loss, heat pump operating parameters, and energy self-consumption. Its goal was to maximize the use of energy produced for the building’s own needs by appropriately controlling the heat pump and storing surplus energy as heat stored in domestic hot-water tanks. The annual electricity consumption of the analyzed building was 6902.18 kWh, of which 3724.13 kWh was for heating and domestic hot water provided by the heat pump. The algorithm reduced grid energy consumption by approximately 900 kWh per year and achieved a self-consumption level of 12.73 (%). Full article

Sudden tailings dam breaches trigger large-scale heavy metal compound pollution in coupled surface water–groundwater systems, requiring systematic full-cycle ecological damage quantification tools applicable to diverse contamination types. This study constructs an integrated full-cycle ecological damage assessment framework for sudden water pollution accidents, integrating three core modules: multi-model pollutant migration prediction, multi-scale aquatic biological damage diagnosis, and three-dimensional ecological-economic loss accounting. The framework adopts a modular design that can potentially accommodate heavy metals (Cd, Cr, As, Pb) and organic pollutants such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), with standardized molecular, individual, and population-level biological endpoints and corresponding pollutant dose–response templates reserved as reference calculation modules. However, applicability beyond this case has not been validated and requires case-specific calibration. To verify the operability and accuracy of the proposed integrated system, a typical tailings dam leakage incident dominated by hexavalent chromium (Cr(VI)) and arsenic (As) pollution was selected as the practical validation case; all field monitoring, pollutant simulation, and final economic loss quantification in this case exclusively rely on on-site measured Cr(VI) and As data, while Cd and PAH-related biological response curves and remediation cost formulas retained in the manuscript only serve as illustrative universal template components of the framework rather than case-measured results. For the Cr(VI)/As pollution case, the advection–diffusion model simulation revealed that the Cr(VI) contamination plume horizontally spread 250 m within 48 h and extended to 560 m after seven days, and anaerobic groundwater environments drove the transformation of toxic mobile trivalent arsenic (As(III)) from primary pentavalent arsenic. The calibrated SWAT model achieved Nash–Sutcliffe efficiency (NSE) coefficients of 0.75 for dissolved Cr(VI) and 0.68 for particulate As. The graph theory-based rapid prediction model cut computation duration down to minutes; when validated against independent field monitoring data, it yielded an average relative error of 14.2%, and its consistency with the SWAT model reached 10.5% relative deviation, satisfying the accuracy requirement for emergency early warning. Field biological monitoring demonstrated substantial ecological impairment: metallothionein (MT) expression in fish tissues was markedly elevated (the reported 6.2-fold induction value derives from standard Cd exposure template tests within the framework, with analogous MT upregulation also observed for field Cr(VI)/As co-stress), and benthic community Shannon diversity declined by over 50% in polluted river reaches. The standardized Ecological Damage Index (EDI) of the case was calculated as 480.2, indicating severe aquatic ecosystem damage, with total comprehensive ecological and economic losses reaching 17.25 million CNY. This study innovatively couples high-precision physical transport models with fast emergency prediction algorithms and establishes a complete multi-tier biological indicator chain linking molecular biomarkers to community integrity metrics; the three-dimensional loss accounting system integrating ecosystem service impairment, restoration expenditure, and post-pollution recovery loss realizes closed-loop full-cycle damage evaluation. The proposed framework, demonstrated for Cr(VI) and As pollution, has a modular design that may potentially be extended to other pollutants such as Cd and PAHs by adjusting model parameters, providing a quantitative reference for emergency disposal, pollution remediation, and ecological compensation of water contamination accidents, although further validation across different pollutants and hydrological settings is required. Full article

Floating plastic pellets spread rapidly after marine spills, reducing the efficiency of surface recovery. This study models floating pellet transport using advection, turbulent diffusion, Stokes drift, and particle loss, and quantifies patch expansion during the first $72\mathrm{h}$. Preliminary experiments with popcorn and styrofoam particles showed no lifting from the water surface under the tested conditions, indicating that wind moves light particles along the surface rather than into the air. A two-dimensional diffusion calculation was initialized with a $5650{\mathrm{m}}^2$ patch associated with a $28{\mathrm{m}}^3$ spill. Under constant diffusivity, the lower and upper cases reached $2.50$ and $6.00{\mathrm{km}}^2$ after $24\mathrm{h}$, followed by projected areas of $4.99$ and $11.99{\mathrm{km}}^2$ after $48\mathrm{h}$. Across diffusion coefficients of $0.5$–$2.0{\mathrm{m}}^2/\mathrm{s}$, the calculated $48\mathrm{h}$ area ranged from $3.26$ to $13.02{\mathrm{km}}^2$. These estimates describe how the patch may expand under the selected diffusion conditions and show that the area requiring surveillance and recovery may increase sharply within two days. The Python code used to generate the numerical results is provided to support reproducibility. Full article

To address the limited cooling range of ventilation in deep, high-temperature development headings and the lack of coordinated design between coil-based cooling and the ventilation system, this study proposes a coupled “twin-forcing–coil” cooling scheme. Building on conventional overlap (forcing–exhausting) ventilation, a rear-mounted second forcing duct is added to the conventional overlap (force–exhaust combined) auxiliary ventilation system, forming a dual-duct forcing, single-exhausting configuration—hereafter termed the “twin-forcing–single-exhausting” (TFSE) system—that provides a booster (relay) air supply to mitigate the along-path attenuation of cooling capacity and the short-circuiting of cold air; an in situ heat-exchange coil wall further provides supplementary cooling where ventilation-based temperature control weakens. Using a development heading at the 790 m level of a metal mine in Yunnan as the engineering background, a three-dimensional numerical model coupling the roadway, ventilation system, and coil wall was established and validated against nine field monitoring points, showing average relative errors of approximately 1% for temperature and 2–3% for humidity, comparable to the measurement uncertainty of the field instrumentation. Because the numerical model does not account for evaporative and condensation phase-change processes, two supplementary development headings with standing water at the face were used for validation; results showed that model error increases with water accumulation and heading length, indicating the model’s applicability is limited to conditions with intact surrounding rock and minimal seepage. Six operating cases were designed with duct placement and coil spacing as variables. Results show that single-duct ventilation cooling decays markedly beyond 30 m from the face, whereas twin-forcing booster (relay) air supply effectively extends the cooling range, reducing the 30–70 m section temperature by 2.7–2.9 K; the second duct should be positioned where the first duct’s cooling capacity begins to attenuate but is not yet depleted. Based on only two spacing configurations tested (10 m and 15 m), coil-staggered spacing showed limited effect on cooling performance under the field conditions examined; this preliminary finding requires validation across a broader range of spacings. Among the chilled-water conditions tested, an inlet temperature of 280.65 K and a flow velocity of 0.5 m/s offered a reasonable trade-off between cooling uniformity and economic efficiency. Under the boundary conditions and equipment parameters of this case, energy consumption estimates further indicate that the cooling effect per unit electricity consumption of twin-forcing ventilation is roughly 6–8 times that of coil-based cooling, primarily due to pumping losses over the ~240 m chilled-water delivery distance. This energy penalty indicates that coil-based cooling is better suited as a localized, short-distance supplementary measure rather than as a means of extending the cooling range over long distances. Full article

Highland barley (HB) is nutritionally rich but its low gluten content limits its use in wheat-based staple products. This study systematically compared the effects of substituting wheat flour with superfine grinding modified highland barley flour (SG-HBF) or ultrasonically modified highland barley flour (US-HBF) at 10–30% ratios on the properties and quality of wheat flour, dough, and noodles. Results showed that SG-HBF reduced the peak viscosity, breakdown, and setback value of the blended flour, enhanced its thermal stability and anti-aging properties; whereas, US-HBF significantly increased the viscosity. Noodles maintained good sensory and cooking quality when SG-HBF ≤ 15% or US-HBF ≤ 20%. Beyond these thresholds, the cooking loss increased sharply and overall acceptability declined. At the same substitution ratio, SG-HBF outperformed US-HBF in terms of water distribution, cooking loss, and sensory scores, offering better processing efficiency, while US-HBF provides higher springiness and lower broken rate, suitable for products requiring noodle integrity. This study provides a reference for the application of modified HBF in wheat-based products. Full article

Underground coal mining faces coupled hazards from respirable coal dust and spontaneous coal combustion. This study developed a dual-function flame-retardant dust suppressant comprising carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC), polycarbodiimide (PCDI), ammonium polyphosphate (APP), and zinc borate (ZB). A four-factor, three-level orthogonal design was used to screen formulations by penetration depth, followed by rheological, water-scour, simulated-roadway, temperature-programmed oxidation, contact-angle, Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR), and Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) analyses. CMC and PCDI significantly affected penetration, whereas APP and ZB showed no significant effects within the tested ranges. The selected formulation (1% CMC, 12% APP, 3.5% ZB, and 1.5% PCDI) showed stable viscosity development and the lowest mass loss under repeated water scour. In simulated-roadway tests, the stock solution achieved an average dust-suppression efficiency of 59.7%. At 170 °C, a 10% treatment reduced CO release by 40.0% and increased the mean apparent activation energy of coal oxidation by 29.73%. Rapid wetting, intermolecular interactions, and formation of a continuous porous crosslinked film supported dust consolidation and oxidation inhibition. The developed material therefore offers a potential integrated approach for controlling coal dust and spontaneous combustion risks in underground mines. Full article

Postharvest spoilage of fresh fruits demands efficient bio-based packaging films. Here, chitosan/gelatin (CG) films were incorporated with β-cyclodextrin-encapsulated clove essential oil microcapsules (β-CD@CEO MCs) at varying loadings. The results suggested that CEO encapsulation occurred within β-CD cavities and hydrogen-bond binding of MCs to the CG matrix. At 0.4% MCs, the composite film showed 60.11% higher tensile strength, excellent UV shielding, lower water vapor transmission rate, and strong antioxidant activity (DPPH 89.6%, ABTS 97.1), along with 58.21% biodegradation after 16 days of soil burial. In vitro release studies revealed a pH-responsive sustained release profile of CEO from the composite films, with faster release under acidic conditions (98.5% at pH 3.5 after 72 h) compared to neutral conditions (87.2% at pH 7.0), indicating the potential for targeted release on the weakly acidic grape surface. The film also exhibited significant antimicrobial effects against Botrytis cinerea, Penicillium gladioli, Staphylococcus aureus, and Escherichia coli. In table grape preservation, CG/MCs-0.4 film effectively delayed decay, reduced weight loss by 38.79%, maintained firmness and color, and preserved higher levels of soluble solids, titratable acidity, reducing sugars, and vitamin C compared to polyethylene packaging and untreated controls. Full article