• Energy Research
• 2. Zero hunger close
• 15. Life on land close
• EG close

The utilization of plants with therapeutic properties in traditional medicine has a longstanding practice. Among them, the well-known Allium cepa L. commonly known as onion has been valued for its anti-inflammatory and antioxidant potential in the treatment of various ailments, including gastric ulcers.This study investigated the gastroprotective potential of red onion peel extract and its fractions in a rat model of ethanol-induced gastric ulcer. Moreover, their phytochemical profiles were compared to identify the active metabolites.Mass spectrometry-based metabolomics and chemometrics were performed for phytochemical analysis. Ethanol-induced gastric ulcer model was used to assess the gastroprotective activity. Nine groups of rats were allocated as follows: Group 1 was the normal control; Group 2 rats were used as a positive control/model and received 1 mL of absolute ethanol; and Group 3 rats were treated with famotidine at a dose of 20 mg/kg orally. Group 4 and 5 rats were treated with total acidified ethanolic extract (T1, T2). Group 6 and 7 rats were treated with anthocyanins-rich fractions (P1, P2). Groups 8 and 9 were the flavonoids-rich fraction (S1, S2) treatment. Prior to scarification, the ulcer index in mm was obtained from gastric tissues photographed beside a ruler with further analysis using ImageJ software.Seventy key major and discriminatory metabolites were identified including flavonoids, anthocyanins, phenolic acids, and miscellaneous compounds. The examined extract and its fractions significantly reduced the ulcer index and inflammatory cytokines via downregulating HMGB-1/NF-κB. Also, they augmented the expression of Nrf2/HO-1 and reduced NOX1/4 mRNA expression. Moreover, there was a significant reduction in the oxidative stress and apoptotic biomarkers as well as a noticeable enhancement in histopathological changes of the stomach tissues.Red onion peels have a promising dose dependent gastroprotective potential in alcohol-induced ulcers via modulating Nrf2/HO-1 and HMGB-1/NF-κB trajectories. This highlights the potential of red onion peels in treating gastric ulcers.

The negative impacts of high stocking density on the commercial poultry industry compromise sustainable birds’ productivity and welfare. Thus, we investigated the potential of colocynth seed (CC) supplementation in alleviating the negative impacts of high stocking density on broilers’ performance, immunity, inflammation, and redox status. A total of 648 one-day-old male Cobb 500 chicks were recruited and distributed into 2 × 2 factorial arrangements. The treatment groups were assigned based on stocking density as low stocking density (9 birds/m2; LSD) or high stocking density (19 birds/m2; HSD), and CC supplementation as without (0 g/kg feed; −CC) or with (1 g/kg feed; +CC) supplementation. Data were collected from week three to week five of age. Production performance was monitored and meat quality was assessed. Blood samples were collected to measure stress markers, humoral immune response, inflammatory cytokines, and antioxidant activity levels. The results indicated that HSD induced production performance reduction, immunosuppression, and imbalance redox status, along with elevation in inflammation and stress markers levels. Breast meat weight and yield were reduced in the HSD groups by 9 and 1%, respectively, compared to LSD groups. However, CC supplementation to HSD birds was able to slightly improve daily weight gain, body weight gain, and breast weight, showing no significant difference compared to the LSD-CC group, and significantly increased breast yield. Furthermore, CC supplementation significantly reduced inflammatory cytokines and stress markers levels. Under HSD, both cell-mediated and humeral immune responses were elevated with CC supplementation compared with the non-supplemented group. It can be concluded that HSD is a detrimental factor in the commercial poultry industry, which generates oxidative and inflammatory responses and, subsequently, immunosuppression and impaired performance. Nevertheless, dietary CC supplementation can be used as a natural antioxidant source to mitigate the negative impacts of HSD on broilers’ production performance, as well as physiological competency.

The increasing global population has led to an increase in food demand; consequently, aquaculture is one of the food production sectors that has offered opportunities to alleviate hunger, malnutrition, and poverty. However, the development of a sustainable aquaculture industry has been hindered by the limited availability of natural resources as well as its negative impact on the surrounding environment. Hence, there is an urgent need to search for better aquacultural production systems that, despite their high productivity and profitability, utilize fewer resources such as water, energy, land, and capital in conjunction with a negligible impact on the environment. Biofloc technology (BFT) is one of the most exciting and promising sustainable aquaculture systems; it takes into account the intensive culture of aquatic species, zero water exchange, and improved water quality as a result of beneficial microbial biomass activity, which, at the same time, can be utilized as a nutritious aquaculture feed, thus lowering the costs of production. Furthermore, BFT permits the installation of integrated multi-trophic aquaculture (IMTA) systems in which the wastes of one organism are utilized as feed by another organism, without a detrimental effect on co-cultured species. This review, therefore, highlights the basics of BFT, factors associated with BFT for the successful production of aquatic species, the significance of this food production system for the sustainable production of economically important aquatic species, its economic aspects, drawbacks, limitations, and recommended management aspects for sustainable aquaculture.

Chromium (Cr) is among the most widespread toxic trace elements found in agricultural soils due to various anthropogenic activities. However, the role of micronutrient-amino chelates on reducing Cr toxicity in crop plants was recently introduced. In the current experiment, the exogenous application of micronutrients [iron (Fe)] chelated with amino acid [lysine (lys)] was examined, using an in vivo approach that involved plant growth and biomass, photosynthetic pigments and gaseous exchange parameters, oxidative stress indicators and antioxidant response. The uptake and accumulation of Fe and Cr were determined under different levels of tannery wastewater (33, 66, 100%) used along with the exogenous supplementation of Fe-lys (5 mM) to Spinacia oleracea plants. Results revealed that tannery wastewater in the soil decreased plant growth and growth-related attributes, photosynthetic apparatus and Fe contents in different parts of the plants. In contrast, the addition of different levels of tannery wastewater to the soil significantly increased the contents of malondialdehyde (MDA), hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) and electrolyte leakage (EL), which induced oxidative damage in the roots and leaves of S. oleracea plants. However, S. oleracea plants increased the activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD), peroxidase (POD), catalase (CAT) and ascorbate peroxidase (APX), which scavenge the over-production of reactive oxygen species (ROS). Cr toxicity can be overcome by the supplementation of Fe-lys, which significantly increased plant growth and biomass, improved photosynthetic machinery and increased the activities of different antioxidative enzymes, even in the plants grown under different levels of tannery wastewater in the soil. Furthermore, the supplementation of Fe-lys increased the contents of essential nutrients (Fe) and decreased the contents of Cr in all plant parts compared to the plants cultivated in tannery wastewater without application of Fe-lys. In conclusion, the application of Fe-lys is an innovative approach to mitigate Cr stress in spinach plants, which not only increased plant growth and biomass but also decreased the Cr contents in different plant organs.

Fermentative production of optically pure lactic acid has roused interest among researchers in recent years due to its high potential for applications in a wide range of fields. More specifically, the sharp increase in manufacturing of biodegradable polylactic acid (PLA) materials, green alternatives to petroleum-derived plastics, has significantly increased the global interest in lactic acid production. However, higher production costs have hindered the large-scale application of PLA because of the high price of lactic acid. Therefore, reduction of lactic acid production cost through utilization of inexpensive substrates and improvement of lactic acid production and productivity has become an important goal. Various methods have been employed for enhanced lactic acid production, including several bioprocess techniques facilitated by wild-type and/or engineered microbes. In this review, we will discuss lactic acid producers with relation to their fermentation characteristics and metabolism. Inexpensive fermentative substrates, such as dairy products, food and agro-industrial wastes, glycerol, and algal biomass alternatives to costly pure sugars and food crops are introduced. The operational modes and fermentation methods that have been recently reported to improve lactic acid production in terms of concentrations, yields, and productivities are summarized and compared. High cell density fermentation through immobilization and cell-recycling techniques are also addressed. Finally, advances in recovery processes and concluding remarks on the future outlook of lactic acid production are presented.

The practical usage of untraditional feedstuffs such as sunflower meal (SFM) in laying hens nutrition in developing countries has received considerable attention. SFM is a by-product of the sunflower oil industry and has been progressively added to bird’s diets. Sunflower meal (SFM) is gaining great interest as a feed ingredient due to its eminent crude protein content, low anti-nutritional compounds, and low price. The current experiment was aimed to assess the production efficiency, egg quality, yolk fatty acids composition, and nutrient digestibility of laying hens fed SFM. A total of 162 Bovans Brown laying hens aged 60 weeks old were randomly allocated using a completely randomized design into three experimental groups of nine replicates each (n = six/replicate) for eight weeks. The dietary treatments involved a control (basal diet) and two levels of SFM, 50 and 100 g/kg feed. The dietary treatments did not influence live weight gain, feed intake, and egg mass. On one hand, the laying rate was increased; on the other hand, the feed conversion ratio and broken eggs rate of laying hens were decreased (p < 0.05) by the dietary inclusion of SFM. Dietary treatments had no effect on the egg’s quality characteristics except the yolk color and yolk height were larger (p = 0.01) for laying hens fed SFM compared with those fed the control. Dietary inclusion of SFM decreased (p < 0.05) the content of cholesterol in the egg yolk. Still, it increased the yolk contents of vitamin E, calcium, linoleic acid, linolenic acid, and oleic acid (p < 0.05). Furthermore, the dietary inclusion of SFM increased crude protein and calcium digestibility, but decreased the ether extract digestibility. In conclusion, our results suggested that the dietary inclusion of SFM, up to 100 g/kg at a late phase of laying, could improve the production performance, some of the egg quality traits, and nutrient digestibility while decreasing egg yolk cholesterol.

Application of allelopathic bacteria (AB) for weed suppression may be helpful to solve various environmental challenges posed by conventional weed control techniques. In our earlier studies, around 400 strains of rhizobacteria of five weeds and wheat were isolated, screened for production of phytotoxic substances, and tested for phytotoxic activity on wild oat and little seed canary grass, and possible effects on wheat under laboratory conditions. We obtained 13 strains inhibitory to wild oat (Avena fatua L.) and 11 to little seed canary grass (Phalaris minor Retz.). Five of these (13 and 11) strains also suppressed wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) while others either stimulated or remained ineffective on wheat in separate bioassays. The success of any weed biocontrol technique, however, depends on its response under field conditions. Therefore, the present study was conducted to investigate biological weed control of the five most efficient strains of AB under natural conditions in pot and field trials. Wheat was artificially invaded with wild oat in the pot trial through seeding. Wheat of the field trial was artificially invaded with wild oat and little seed canary through seeding. The selected strains belonged to pseudomonads (Pseudomonas putida, P. fluorescence, P. aeruginosa, and P. alcaligenes) and their inocula were prepared using sterilized peat. The inoculated seeds of wild oat and wheat were sown together in a pot trial. The inoculated seeds of wild oat, little seed canary grass, and wheat were sown together in the field experiment. The field was selected based on chronic infestation of these weeds. However, weed invasion was ensured by adding seeds of weeds (inoculated with the respective strains of AB, according to treatment plan). A severe invasion of wild oat was observed in the pot trial, which reduced the grain yield of infested wheat up to 60.8%. The effectiveness of applied strains controlled 22.0–76.3% loss of grain yield of infested wheat. Weed invasion in the field trial reduced the grain yield of the crop up to 56.3% and effectiveness of the applied strains controlled 29.0–60.7% loss of grain yield of infested wheat. The study of other agronomic, physiological, and chemical parameters of the crop and weeds supported these findings. Harnessing the potential of these strains exhibited in our studies may be helpful to introduce an innovative, sustainable, and eco-friendly weed control technique for production of wheat.

Organic wastes have a positive impact on soil physical and chemical properties in the agroecosystems. However, its main effects on soil organic carbon (SOC) or total organic carbon, TOC (SOC and coal-C) contents as well as their effects on soil physico-chemical properties are still unclear. Two types of organic wastes (maize straw and manure) were utilized in dryland affected by mining activities to quantify their relative effect on soil physico-chemical properties. Regression analysis was used to assess the relationship between the soil physical properties, SOC, and TOC as well as their respective contributions to improving these properties. Treatments included control (CK), straw (S), low manure (LM), medium manure plus straw (S-MM), and high manure plus straw (S-HM). The results showed that SOC, soil bulk density, mean weight diameter (MWD), soil total porosity, soil penetration resistance, saturated hydraulic conductivity, and soil infiltration rate were strongly influenced by the application of organic wastes. A stronger linear relationship between SOC and the MWD, (R2 = 0.93, p < 0.05) compared to that between TOC and MWD indicated the important role of SOC in improving soil aggregation relative to the effect of TOC. According to the principal component analysis (PCA), the application of organic wastes had stronger effects on SOC contents and physical properties than TOC (SOC and coal-C). These findings advance our understanding of the actual effect of organic wastes on soil physical properties and SOC in dryland affected by mining activities and could inform fertilizer management decisions to improve soil properties.