Azadeh Pagard; Mohammad Rreza Zare-Bavani; Seyed Abdollah Eftekhari
Abstract
Boron deficiency is a prevalent challenge for plant nutrition supply in many alkaline/calcareous soils. The current research aimed to examine the effects of boron supply to bell pepper plants through fertigation and foliar application. The experiment had seven treatments, comprising a control group, ...
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Boron deficiency is a prevalent challenge for plant nutrition supply in many alkaline/calcareous soils. The current research aimed to examine the effects of boron supply to bell pepper plants through fertigation and foliar application. The experiment had seven treatments, comprising a control group, boric acid as fertigation (0.5, 1, and 2 g L-1), and foliar application (0.5, 1, and 2 g L-1) with three replications in controlled greenhouse conditions. The treatments were applied on Lorca bell peppers in a completely randomized design. The results showed that fertigation and foliar application increased all measured characteristics compared to the control group. Increasing the boric acid concentration in foliar application caused a decrease in fruit count per plant, fruit fresh weight, fruit yield per plant, and fruit width. Both fertigation and foliar boric acid applications at a low level (0.5 g L-1) and as separate treatments caused the highest fruit weight, length, width, and fruit count per plant. Higher boric acid concentrations increased chlorophyll a, b, total chlorophyll, leaf carotenoid content, soluble sugars, total soluble solids, titratable acidity, total phenols, and fruit ascorbic acid content. The highest chlorophyll a, b, total chlorophyll, leaf carotenoid content, and fruit ascorbic acid were observed in response to the high concentration of boric acid foliar application (2 g L-1). Overall, the boron supplement as a foliar application (0.5 to 1 g L-1) or fertigation (0.5 to 1 g L-1) improved quantitative and qualitative performance in bell peppers.
Marzieh Babashpour-Asl; Marzieh Piryaei
Abstract
This study aimed to determine the amount of flavonoids, anthocyanins, total phenolic compounds, ascorbic acid and antioxidant activity of the peel and pulp of the quince (Cydonia oblonga Mill.) in the polar and nonpolar sub-fractions of methanol extracts with two extraction methods, Soxhlet and microwave. ...
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This study aimed to determine the amount of flavonoids, anthocyanins, total phenolic compounds, ascorbic acid and antioxidant activity of the peel and pulp of the quince (Cydonia oblonga Mill.) in the polar and nonpolar sub-fractions of methanol extracts with two extraction methods, Soxhlet and microwave. The antioxidant properties were assessed by the ability to quench the stable free radical 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH), ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) and β-carotene bleaching assays. The results showed that the Soxhlet method extracted higher amount of the phytochemicals. In the DPPH system, the highest radical scavenging activity was seen by the polar sub-fraction of the methanol extract in the peel of quince fruit (IC50=52±7.3 μg/mL). Among all the extracts analyzed, the polar sub-fraction of the peel extract exhibited a significantly higher total flavonoid (62.33±3.1 mg CTE/100 g), anthocyanin (1.54±0.24 μg C-3-GE/100 mg fresh weight), phenolic content (108.14 μg GAE/mg) and antioxidant activity than other samples with Soxhlet extraction method. Fruit has a number of bioactive ingredients and many of them were concentrated in the peel of the fruit rather than the flesh. Therefore, enjoy the benefits that unpeeled fruit offers! The present study revealed that the peel of quince fruit has higher phytochemicals and antioxidant properties when compared to the pulp.
