Journal of Food Quality

Foliar calcium (Ca) treatment exhibits strong potential for enhancing yield and quality in some fruit crops. This study aimed to assess the impact of foliar application of Ca-organomineral (Ca-OM) suspension on total soluble solids (TSS) and Ca dynamics in leaves and berries across five red currant cultivars during the vegetation and storage. A randomized block design with two treatments: (1) Control (without Ca-OM treatment) and (2) foliar Ca-OM treatment, with three repetitions, was applied on five different red currant cultivars. Although foliar Ca-OM treatments did not impact Ca or TSS in leaves, they positively influenced Ca and TSS in fruits, displaying significant variability among cultivars. In addition, Ca-OM treatment increased berry density, reduced abscission, and inhibited the development of diseases, extending storage periods for “Lvovyanka,” “Vika,” and “Gazel” cultivars by three to seven days compared to the Ca-OM untreated control. Ca-OM treatment in the early stages of the ontogenesis of currants provided a high percentage of Ca intake in berries. At the stage of complete maturation, the Ca content in berries decreased and depended on the ripening period of the cultivars. Before harvesting, Ca-OM increased the strength of berries (Fc) and reduced the shedding of berries in the clusters (Fs). At the vegetation stage, Ca-OM increased TSS in berries, and the content of TSS depended on the genotype and weather conditions. The Ca-OM treatment and low temperatures contributed to preserving berry density, reducing the shedding of berries and PLW, and restraining the development of diseases during storage. In addition, the high content of TSS and Ca in berries against the background of a slow rate of decrease in berry density in the Ca-OM variants ensured an extension of the shelf life of “Lvovyanka,” “Vika,” and “Gazel” by three to seven days compared to the control untreated with Ca-OM. Clustering analyses identified these cultivars as similar in terms of TSS and calcium content in fruits, emphasizing their common traits. The study underscores the potential of foliar Ca treatment to enhance berry quality during growth and storage, significantly improve storage duration, and fortify resistance against adverse factors, presenting promising opportunities for elevating yield and quality in specific red currant cultivars.

Most of the beverages have a high glycemic index, which is attributed to a sudden rise in blood sugar. The beneficial role of functional foods combination provided the tool to perform and design our study to develop an instant beverage mix (IBM) that might be revealed as the favorable therapeutic potential for the treatment of hyperglycemia and act as a functional beverage. Therefore, resistant fibre-rich ingredients/raw materials were used to formulate the cereal-based instant beverage (CIB). CIB was formulated using black rice flour (40–70%), germinated lentil flour (10–20%), sweet potato flour (10–20%), and mulberry powder (10–20%). The product formulation was optimized with respect to the following responses such as color and appearance, texture, flavor, taste, and overall acceptability using a D-optimal mixture design. The results revealed that the variation in raw ingredients significantly affected the organoleptic properties of trials. The ratio 40 : 20 : 20 : 20 of black rice: germinated lentil: sweet potato: mulberry was found to be optimum for the development of CIB. Optimized CIB had 9.71 ± 0.10 g/100 g of crude protein, 4.73 ± 0.09 g/100 g of fat, and 4.48 ± 0.06 g/100 g of crude fibre. Moreover, the total mineral content and carbohydrate content were found to be 1.08 ± 0.07 g/100 g and 72.45 ± 0.44 g/100 g, respectively, whereas, the energy value was 371.21 ± 4.23 kcal. In vivo glycemic index was also performed for the optimized CIB. The findings showed a lower glycemic response (37.70) than the diabetic control group, and blood glucose was found to be lowered (279.67 ± 20.06 to 227.17 ± 13.44 mg/dL) via the hypoglycemic mechanism. Thus, the optimized CIB exhibited a therapeutic effect against diabetic conditions and might be a healthy instant beverage for human consumption.

The increasing world population needs a standard balanced diet to address malnutrition problems. For this purpose, seed priming is one of the best techniques, which helps to increase the production of functional and nutritional food crops. Different techniques have been used for seed priming, but biological priming is the most frequently used because biocontrol agents offer a friendly environment for the growth of food crops. In this study, Momordica charantia L. seeds were subjected to a strain of Enterobacter sp. FD17 as a biocontrol agent at different time exposures (i.e., 24 h, 48 h, and 72 h). Leaf growth, flavonoids, chlorophyll content, amino acids, soluble sugars, protein, and total soluble phenolics were studied in the vegetative stage. The yield of nutritive components was evaluated from fruit, peel, and pulp of M. charantia. Biopriming was revealed to improve the final emergence rate, mean emergence time, seedling vigor, emergence index, and vigor indices I and II. Among the growth parameters, the root (0.45 ± 0.045 g) and shoot fresh weight (1.23 ± 0.05 g), leaf area (15.52 ± 1.5 cm), shoot length (30.33 ± 0.58 cm), number of flowers (6 ± 1.0), fruit weight (96.33 ± 1.15 g), and germination percentage (56.67 ± 11.55%) were also improved. Among biochemical analyses, biopriming improved chlorophyll a (6.33 ± 0.58 mg/g) and b (8.58 ± 2.5 mg/g), total soluble sugar (33.13 ± 2.24%), and total chlorophyll content (9.0 ± 1.5 mg/g). The nutritional analysis showed that free amino acids (1.43 ± 0.02 mg/g), total soluble sugar (42.53 ± 1.65%), ash (20.53 ± 2.57%), and catalase (347.47 ± 34.76 U/g) were increased in fruit, while crude fiber (3.62 ± 0.1%) and peroxidase (5.61 ± 0.34 U/g) in peel and protein and metabolizable energy in peel and fruit were increased. Among the water, acetone, and methanol extracts, the maximum antibacterial activity was shown by methanol extracts of leaves against Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacterial species (i.e., Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus, respectively) with inhibitory diameters of 3 mm. Biopriming also improved the phenolic contents in the leaves and fruits of M. charantia. Biopriming treatment was also revealed to be directly correlated with antiglycation activity. Therefore, biopriming treatment on seeds could be used to manipulate plant cell metabolism with a substantial improvement in phenolic content, antibacterial activity, and growth of M. charantia.

Traditional fermented beverages are culturally and socially accepted products for consumption, drinking, entertainment, customary practices, and for religious purposes. The purpose of this review was to identify some cereal-based fermented beverages and determine the differences in their production technologies. There are many unique regional variations in the preparation of each of the identified fermented beverages. They are prepared from raw materials such as maize, millet, rice, and sorghum. Majority of the fermented alcoholic beverages (binuburan, amba beer, sake, dolo, pito, and tchoukoutou) were produced using spontaneous fermentation and industrial fermentation (use of starter cultures) techniques. The various microbial communities associated with the traditional fermentation processes were dominated by Limosilactobacillus fermentum and Lactiplantibacillus plantarum for Lactic acid bacterial (LAB) species, Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Candida mycoderma for Saccharomyces and Candida species (yeasts), respectively; and Aspergillus aceti and Rhizopus stolonifer for Aspergillus and Rhizopus species (molds), respectively. Acetobacter, Pseudomonas, Klebsiella, Weissella, Achromobacter, Flavobacterium, Micrococcus, and Bacillus dominated other microbial genera. The involvement of lactic acid bacteria contributed to the safety and extension of the shelf life of the final products. Most of these beverages were found to be very rich in proteins, carbohydrates, calories, and B-group vitamins including thiamine, folic acid, riboflavin, and nicotinic acid. This article reviewed the available information, such as processing techniques of African traditional beverages, the raw materials used to producing them, and the microorganisms associated with the production processes.

Bioactive compounds of medicinal plants, including polyphenols, flavonoids, terpenoids, and alkaloids, are essential sources for developing analgesic, anti-inflammatory, and antidiarrheal drugs. In the current study, secondary metabolites were assessed through phytochemical screening and GC-MS analysis whereas analgesic activity was carried out through hot plate (HP) and acetic acid-induced method (AAI), anti-inflammatory through paw edema model (PEM), and antispasmodic activity via charcoal meal test (CMT) using ethyl acetate and ethanolic extract of Ziziphus mauritiana var. spontanea and Oenothera biennis. The phytochemical screening revealed that the ethyl acetate and ethanolic extracts of Z. mauritiana and O. biennis were rich in alkaloids, flavonoids, tannins, steroids, triterpenoids, and saponins. GC-MS analysis of Z. mauritiana and O. biennis of ethyl acetate and ethanolic extract showed the existence of many bioactive substances at various retention durations (min). These included pharmacologically active compounds such as heptadecane, 2-methoxy-4-vinylphenol, hexadecanoic acid, and tetradecanoic acid. The results of the HP method revealed that ethanolic and ethyl acetate extracts of Z. mauritiana and O. biennis at 300 mg/kg increased basal reaction time significantly () after 90 min. The results of the AAI method revealed that the ethanolic and ethyl acetate extract of Z. mauritiana and O. biennis showed significant () peripheral analgesic activity at the dose of 200 and 300 mg/kg body weight. The dosage of 100, 200, and 300 mg/kg body weight of the ethyl acetate and ethanolic extracts of Z. mauritiana and O. biennis showed significant () anti-inflammatory activity. According to PEM, the ethanolic extract of O. biennis showed the highest reduction in paw volume (73.3%) at 300 mg/kg. The results of CMT revealed that ethanolic and ethyl acetate extract of Z. mauritiana and O. biennis significantly () inhibited charcoal movement at 300 mg/kg. The maximum percent inhibition (67.2%) was shown by ethyl acetate of O. biennis at 300 mg/kg. From the present study, it can be concluded that ethanolic and ethyl acetate extracts of Z. mauritiana and O. biennis have the potential to manage inflammation, pain, and diarrhea-related problems mainly at a higher dose, i.e., 300 mg/kg. The presence of alkaloids, flavonoids, tannins, steroids, triterpenoids, and saponins might be among the responsible bioactive constituents. These plants showed significant medicinal and therapeutic efficacy which are novel. However, further studies are required to investigate the mechanism responsible for the activity.

Diabetes mellitus (DM) is one of the most challenging noncommunicable diseases, as it causes significant costs for medical treatment as well as high morbidity and mortality rates. Dietary plants with antidiabetic properties have been explored as an alternative to synthetic medicines to treat DM because of their safety and nutrition. Hence, the objective of the present study was to determine the inhibitory activities of twenty commonly consumed Thai culinary vegetables against α-glucosidase and α-amylase. All vegetables were extracted using deionized water, ethanol, and hexane at 150 rpm and 30°C for 24 hours. The enzyme inhibitory activities were performed using a colorimetric assay. Diverse results for α-glucosidase and α-amylase inhibitory activities were found for all vegetable extracts. The most potent anti-α-glucosidase activity was obtained from the ethanolic extract of Leucaena leucocephala (Lamk.) de Wit with the half maximal inhibitory concentration (IC₅₀) of 13.39 ± 0.14 μg/mL, followed by the aqueous and ethanolic extracts of Polygonum odoratum Lour with IC₅₀ of 25.60 ± 0.42 and 49.03 ± 0.72 μg/mL, respectively. All the samples exhibited mixed, noncompetitive, and uncompetitive inhibition. It can be concluded that the α-glucosidase and α-amylose inhibitory effects of the investigated extracts may be an indicator of antidiabetic potency, and these extracts might potentially be beneficial as functional components for postprandial hyperglycemia treatment.