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Agronomy
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Bioactivity of Natural Products from Raw Horticultural Crops
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Bioactivity of Natural Products from Raw Horticultural Crops

A special issue of Agronomy (ISSN 2073-4395). This special issue belongs to the section "Horticultural and Floricultural Crops".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 March 2022) | Viewed by 18178

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Filomena Monica Vella

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
National Research Council (CNR), Institute of Biosciences and BioResources (IBBR), Via P. Castellino, 80131 Naples, Italy
Interests: plant-waste valorization; food-processing byproducts; eco-friendly extraction; bioactive compounds; polyphenols; antioxidants; essential oils
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear colleagues,

Horticultural crops are dispersed across the world, from cool temperate to tropical latitudes and over a wide range of elevations and climatic conditions. Among horticultural crops, fruit and vegetables are considered the most important sources of nutrients and health-promoting compounds with proven beneficial qualities. However, in most fruits and vegetables, only the flesh or pulp is consumed, but studies have revealed that significant amounts of phytochemicals and essential nutrients are present in the seeds, peels, and other components not commonly consumed. In fact, an important concern about horticultural crops is linked to waste production. The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has estimated that at least one-third of the fruit and vegetables produced in the world is wasted every year, simultaneously losing the related constituent phytochemicals. Wastage occurs throughout all phases of the horticultural supply and handling chain; other factors include fruits and vegetables that are fit for consumption, but discarded because they are damaged or unsuitable for the market, or derived from food surplus.

Overall, horticultural crops are excellent sources of pigments, phenolic compounds, flavoring agents and aromas, dietary fibers, sugar derivatives, organic acids, and oils. Several of these natural products possess valuable health attributes such as antibacterial, antimicrobial, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antiviral, antitumor, antimutagenic, and cardio-protective activities. These phytochemicals can be utilized in different fields including the food industry, for the development of functional or enriched foods, as well for cosmetic, pharmaceutical and textile applications.

This Special Issue aims to present the state of the art on the valorization of horticultural crops, also considering wastes and by-products, using reviews and original research. This will provide deeper knowledge about phytochemicals and bioactive compounds linked to their potential health properties.

Dr. Filomena Monica Vella
Guest Editor

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. Agronomy 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 2600 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

  • horticultural crops
  • fruit and vegetables
  • phytochemicals
  • high value-added compounds
  • antioxidants
  • waste valorization
  • biological activity
  • cosmetics
  • pharmaceutical application

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

17 pages, 7907 KiB  
Article
Essential Oil Composition and Antioxidant and Antifungal Activities of Two Varieties of Ocimum basilicum L. (Lamiaceae) at Two Phenological Stages
by Guedri Mkaddem Mounira, Zrig Ahlem, Ben Abdallah Mariem, Mehrez Romdhane, Mohammad K. Okla, Abdulrahman Al-Hashimi, Yasmeen A. Alwase, Mahmoud M. Madnay, Gehad AbdElgayed, Han Asard, Gerrit T. S. Beemster and Hamada AbdElgawad
Agronomy 2022, 12(4), 825; https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy12040825 - 28 Mar 2022
Cited by 11 | Viewed by 2318
Abstract
Ocimum basilicum is a valuable source of bioactive metabolites with high preventive and therapeutic effectiveness. Here we aimed to investigate the effect of phenological stages (vegetative and flowering stages) on essential oil composition and biological activities of two varieties of O. basilicum (Fino [...] Read more.
Ocimum basilicum is a valuable source of bioactive metabolites with high preventive and therapeutic effectiveness. Here we aimed to investigate the effect of phenological stages (vegetative and flowering stages) on essential oil composition and biological activities of two varieties of O. basilicum (Fino Verde variety and Genovese varieties). To this end, the level of essential oils, flavonoids and phenols, as well as antioxidant and antifungal activities were measured. At the metabolic level, essential oil at vegetative stage of O. bailicum Fino Verde and Genovese variety was constituted by 22 and 26 compounds representing 71.68% and 82.54% of the total oil, respectively. Where germacrene D (10.07%), bicyclogermacrene (6.07%) and β-elemene (4.88%) were the most present components in Fino Verde variety. Moreover, 22.19% are oxygenated monoterpenes represented mainly by the linalool (15.18%) and 1.8 cineole (6.36%) in Genovese variety. The individuals of essential oils were significantly increased to 40 components in Fino Verde variety (98.01% of total essential oil) and decreased to 15 components (95.6% of total essential oil) in Genovese variety at flowering stage. At this stage, the oxygenated monoterpenes (78.4%) were the major fraction represented by linalool (40.1%) and 1.8 cineole (30.96%) in Fino Verde variety, however 64.69% were esters which mainly represented by the methyl cinnamate (64.69%), and 16.83% of oxygenated monoterpenes and Linalool (12.7%) were recorded for Genovese variety. Genovese variety showed the highest levels at both vegetative and flowering stage compared to Fino Verde variety. At flowering stage, the two varieties showed high antioxidant and antifungal activities. Overall, O. basilicum properties offer prospects for their use as a source, particularly at flowering stage to extend new medicines based on natural bioactive molecules. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Bioactivity of Natural Products from Raw Horticultural Crops)
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13 pages, 1793 KiB  
Article
Phytochemical Analysis and Characterization of Corn Silk (Zea mays, G5417)
by Jyoti Singh, Baskaran Stephen Inbaraj, Sawinder Kaur, Prasad Rasane and Vikas Nanda
Agronomy 2022, 12(4), 777; https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy12040777 - 23 Mar 2022
Cited by 20 | Viewed by 9166
Abstract
Corn silk has long been thought of as a waste product; however, due to its numerous therapeutic attributes, it has remarkably gained popularity in Asian and African countries. Therefore, this study aimed to assess the bioactivity of dried corn silk powder (Zea [...] Read more.
Corn silk has long been thought of as a waste product; however, due to its numerous therapeutic attributes, it has remarkably gained popularity in Asian and African countries. Therefore, this study aimed to assess the bioactivity of dried corn silk powder (Zea mays, G5417) in terms of its physicochemical and bio-functional characteristics. The protein (15.29 ± 1.23) and ash (5.29 ± 0.29) contents in the corn silk powder were found to be high. The high phenolic content (94.10 ± 0.26 mg GAE/g) and flavonoid content (163.93 ± 0.83 mg QE/100 g) are responsible for its high antioxidant activity. The corn silk powder showed 45.40 ± 0.92% FRSA, 75.25 ± 0.59 TEAC mg/gdw of ABTS, and 86.77 ± 0.88% of FRAP. FT-IR spectroscopy revealed stretching, bending, and vibrations of abundantly present polysaccharides and protein functional groups. Moreover, the DSC thermograph revealed the exothermic reactions at on-set temperature (Tonset) = 21.9 °C and end temperature (Tendset) = 102.80 °C, and exothermic reactions at on-set temperature (Tonset) = 252.02 °C, end temperature (Tendset) = 296.80 °C, and denaturation peak temperature (Tpeak) = 277.48 °C, whereas XRD (2θ = 21.5°) confirmed the amorphous nature of the corn silk powder. Therefore, due to the potential bioactivity and thermal stability, dry corn silk powder can be scaled up at an industrial level. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Bioactivity of Natural Products from Raw Horticultural Crops)
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9 pages, 1855 KiB  
Article
Variations in the Antioxidant, Anticancer, and Anti-Inflammatory Properties of Different Rosa rugosa Organ Extracts
by Eunhui Kim, Hae Kyung Mok and Tae Kyung Hyun
Agronomy 2022, 12(2), 238; https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy12020238 - 18 Jan 2022
Cited by 11 | Viewed by 2521
Abstract
Rosa rugosa is widely used as a health food and medicine due to its broad pharmacological properties. Although the bioactivities obtained from plant materials is related to the type and amount of phytochemicals in each extract, no systematic information is available on the [...] Read more.
Rosa rugosa is widely used as a health food and medicine due to its broad pharmacological properties. Although the bioactivities obtained from plant materials is related to the type and amount of phytochemicals in each extract, no systematic information is available on the organ-dependent bioactivities of R. rugosa. Here, the antioxidant, anticancer, and anti-inflammatory activities of R. rugosa stem, leaf, flower, and fruit ethanol extracts were evaluated. Overall, the stem extract exhibited the highest levels of DPPH radical scavenging activity, ferric reducing power, and oxygen radical antioxidant capacity compared with other organ extracts, whereas leaves contained potent anticancer compounds that were particularly effective against A549 cells. Additionally, the leaf extract inhibited the MEK/ERK signaling pathway, resulting in the transcriptional repression of pro-inflammatory mediators in LPS-stimulated RAW 264.7 cells. Furthermore, significant correlation between phytochemical content and bioactivities indicated that phenolic compounds play as a major antioxidant compound of R. rugosa. Taken together, these findings suggested that the spatial distribution of the phytochemicals contributed to the biological activities of R. rugosa. Given that R. rugosa fruits and flowers are already being used in health foods and medicine, these results indicate that the leaves and stems of R. rugosa should also be included and used as natural sources of antioxidant, anticancer, and anti-inflammatory agents. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Bioactivity of Natural Products from Raw Horticultural Crops)
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13 pages, 917 KiB  
Article
Pits of Date Palm: Bioactive Composition, Antibacterial Activity and Antimutagenicity Potentials
by Samy Selim, Mohamed Abdel-Mawgoud, Tarak Al-sharary, Mohammed S. Almuhayawi, Mohammed H. Alruhaili, Soad K. Al Jaouni, Mona Warrad, Hussein S. Mohamed, Nosheen Akhtar and Hamada AbdElgawad
Agronomy 2022, 12(1), 54; https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy12010054 - 27 Dec 2021
Cited by 14 | Viewed by 3387
Abstract
Palm date pits as a source of bioactive chemicals have received only a limited amount of attention. This study was conducted to determine the bioactive components of Ajwa date pits, as well as their antibacterial and antimutagenic activities. Therefore, chromatographic techniques were used [...] Read more.
Palm date pits as a source of bioactive chemicals have received only a limited amount of attention. This study was conducted to determine the bioactive components of Ajwa date pits, as well as their antibacterial and antimutagenic activities. Therefore, chromatographic techniques were used to extract and isolate the phenolic compounds in date pits, which were further elucidated by using spectroscopic techniques (FTIR and NMR) for identification of most abundant bioactive metabolites. Data showed that the methanolic extract of date pits contained high levels of total phenols (17.38 mg GA/g) and flavonoids (5.324 mg QE/g). The HPLC analysis of date pits’ extract showed the presence of six phenolic compounds. Interestingly, there was a significant amount of gallic acid (11.85 mg GA/gFW), which was isolated via chromatography (thin layer chromatography) and identified by spectroscopic investigation (FTIR, MS, 1H, and 13C NMR). An inhibitory effect on Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria was observed for date pit gallic acid purified. S. aureus cell viability was completely inhibited at 200 µg/mL of acid for 6 h. Moreover, gallic acid was found to have a significant antimutagenic activity against Salmonella typhimurium at all tested concentrations, with a decrease in percent mutagenicity from 52 to 32 in the case of test substance TA98, and from 39 to 15 for test substance TA100 in terms of percent antimutagenicity. Gallic acid at a dose of 3000 g/plate had the greatest antimutagenic effect on S. typhimurium TA98, with the lowest toxicity. Overall, the bioactive properties of date pits’ extracts were investigated, with a particular attention to their chemical composition, biological activity, and pharmaceutical applications. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Bioactivity of Natural Products from Raw Horticultural Crops)
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