Since prehistoric times, humans have relied on plants for a wide variety of needs, including sustenance, shelter, thermal regulation, and medical treatment. Plants are significant organics because of the many ways they may be put to use. The white radish (Raphanus raphanistrum subsp. sativus (L.) Domin) was tested for its antioxidant and antibacterial properties, as were its tuber and aerial portions. A soxhlet was used to extract ethanol from plant material. The antioxidant and oxidant capacities were tested with the use of Rel Assay TAS and TOS kits. The agar dilution technique was used to test for antimicrobial activity against the bacteria and fungus included in the experiment. As a result of the studies, the TAS value of the tuber extract of the plant was measured as 6.698±0.187, the TOS value as 5.609±0.245 and the OSI value as 0.084±0.002. The TAS value of the herbal aerial parts extract was 4.689±0.223, the TOS value was 3.746±0.128, and the OSI value was 0.080±0.003. Inhibition of tuber extract was observed at concentrations varying between 25-100 against bacterial strains and 200 µg/mL against fungal strains. Aerial parts extract showed inhibition against bacterial strains at concentrations varying between 100-200 and against fungus strains at concentrations ranging from 200-400 µg/mL. As a result, it was determined that the white radish plant has significant antioxidant and antimicrobial activity.

The objectives of the study were to determine the aflatoxin M1 (AFM1) content in ınfant formula samples in Türkiye and to assess the risk of infants’ exposure to aflatoxins food contamination. A total number of 72 samples of infant formulas (premature, hipoallergenic, 0-6, 6-9,9-12 and 12-36 months) were analyzed for the presence of AFM1 using the Enzyme Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA) method. 49% of the samples (35 samples) were contaminated with AFM1 and the group most highly contaminated with AFM1 was infant formulas 12-36 (8 samples) months. In addition, this study aimed at evaluating AFM1 levels especially above international (European Commission) (0.025 µg/kg) and local (Türkiye Food Codex Regulation) (0.025 µg/kg) standards and cancer risks associated with the ingestion of infant formula sampled from Türkiye. Five samples of infant formula had AFM1 concentration above maximum allowable concentration according to the standards. Risk assessments of AFM1 for infants ranged between 0.002- 0.035 ng/kg bw/day and >100.000–5263.15 respectively for Estimated Daily Intake (EDI), and Margin of Exposure (MOE). The riskiest group was determined in the 9-12 months samples. Results of our study indicate the high risk of infants’ exposure, who are at the early stage of development and vulnerable to toxic contaminants.

The research was conducted in the year of 2021-2022 in Burera and Musanze District in Northern province as well as Rubavu District in Western Province with the aim of assessing the yield loss in common beans due to anthracnose by using four cultivars with various levels of resistance in field conditions in environment of Northwestern of Rwanda. Randomized complete block design as experiment design was used in this study where each selected cultivar was grown and the yield loss caused by anthracnose was assessed. A level of significance of P<0.05 . In field trials, on the particularly susceptible cultivar Gikundiro 2 particulary showed the maximum harm in terms of incidence and severity in both infection circumstances. The severity of pod infection ranging from 3-9 (0-) resulted in reduction in quantity of seeds which contain a pod ranging from 10.52 % -57.76 % and the loss in weight of seeds per pods ranging from 21.93 % - 68.77 %, both demonstrated a direct impact on seed yield. However, determinate cultivars showed a greater drop in yield (58.5%) than indeterminate cultivars (10.52%) although both were sensitive, based on this research, anthracnose causes economic yield loss on variety Gikundiro 2 and Vuzimpundu.

Lactic acid bacteria are the substantial source for producing polysaccharides used in technological applications as thickeners and viscosifiers in the food industry. A broad variety of lactic acid bacteria species secrete structurally diverse exopolysaccharides that contribute to their surface attachment, protection against abiotic or biotic stress factors and nutrient uptake. The exopolysaccharides are produced naturally during fermentation process by living lactic acid bacteria cells and accepted as postbiotic for these metabolites having various physiological health-promoting effects. Exopolysaccharide producer lactic acid bacteria encode a great number of enzymes and regulatory proteins involved exopolysaccharide biosynthesis process. This process is a complex and occurs through presence of multiple genes. However, it is crucial the understanding of structure, composition, function, chemical, and physical properties of exopolysaccharides which vary from one type of bacteria to another via chemical analysis methods. In this review, the use of lactic acid bacteria exopolysaccharides, their structures, genetic modules and biosynthesis, and the use of exopolysaccharides derived from lactic acid bacteria in the food industry are described, discussed and focused on recent developments.

Skin inhabiting microbes mostly non-pathogenic and commensals on the skin. Among them Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Candida albicans often responsible for symptomatic skin infections. Cellulites, impetigo, ecthyma, red lesions and candidiasis are some of the common microbial skin diseases caused by skin pathogens. Wood apple (Limonia acidissima L.) is an underutilized fruit in Sri Lanka and, all parts of this plant have medicinal value. Considering the high therapeutic value, the aqueous extract of wood apple pulp was used. Antibacterial activity against Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and antifungal activity against Candida albicans was evaluated by using the standard well diffusion method. Above tested bacterial and fungal species were suspended in 3 mL of sterile distilled water separately and 108 CFU/mL population count was prepared. Aliquots of 100 µL of each suspension were inoculated and uniformly spread on Muller Hinton agar plates separately in triplicates. Wells were filled aseptically placing 50 µL of wood apple extracts, antimicrobial compounds specifically as the positive control for bacteria and fungi and sterile distilled water as the negative control. The plates were incubated at 37 °C for 24 - 48 hours and the diameter of the growth inhibition zones around the wells were measured. Furthermore, minimum inhibition concentrations of each extract were also evaluated. Comparisons were performed using one-way ANOVA followed by Tukey’s Pairwise Comparisons. The antimicrobial topical skin cream was prepared using 0.5 g mL-1 of wood apple pulp with sterile distilled water, mixed with the formulated standard ingredients. The results revealed that the aqueous extracts of wood apple pulp concentrations range from 0.15 g mL-1 to 1g mL-1 showed the antimicrobial potential of above skin pathogens variably ranged inhibition zone diameter 16 mm to 34 mm. The antimicrobial effect of the formulated cream against these pathogens was repeatedly tested. Further testing procedures needed to be followed before recommending wood apple topical antimicrobial skin cream as a marketable product.

In this study, challenges experienced by dairy cattle enterprises in Southwestern Uganda and the factors influencing their profitability were respectively analyzed using exploratory factor analysis and multiple regression in STATA 15.0 statistical software. Eighteen questions relating to the challenges experienced by dairy producers in the study area were factor analyzed using principal components analysis with varimax rotation. Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin’s measure of sampling adequacy was 0.643, above the commonly recommended value of 0.6, and Bartlett’s test of sphericity was significant (ꭓ² (153) = 1670.13, P<0.001). Using both the scree plot and eigenvalues greater than 1 to determine the underlying components, the analysis yielded five factors explaining a total of 67.42% of the variance in the data. These factors were investment constraints, productivity constraints, climatic and environmental conditions, veterinary and social security services, and marketing constraints, which explained 21.32%, 13.01%, 11.97%, 11.03%, and 10.097% of the variance after rotation, respectively. The factors hypothesized to influence the profitability of dairy enterprises were; daily milk yield per lactating cow, the prevalence rate of diseases, percentage of lactating cows to those raised on the enterprise, attendance of animal production training, the unit production cost of milk, and enterprise size according to the number of animals raised. Regression analysis results of these factors revealed that the unit production cost of milk, enterprise size, and daily milk yield per lactating cow were statistically significant. The estimated model had an R-squared value of 0.92. The recommendations emphasized in this study were reducing milk production costs, rational use of production resources, adopting improved cattle breeds, improving feeding by supplementing animal diets with concentrate feeds to increase milk yield, and general improvement in dairy herd management practices, including disease control strategies.

This study analyzed the proximate, minerals, phytochemical profiles and antioxidant capacity of Dysphania ambrosioides (L.) Mosyakin & Clemants and Crassocephalum crepidioides (Benth.) S.Moore leaf meals as potential feed additives. The result of the proximate analysis revealed that C. crepidioides contained higher moisture (6.66%), ash (21.04%), crude fibre (3.85%), crude fat (5.41%), crude protein (17.11%) contents and lower carbohydrate content (45.60%) than D. ambrosioide leaf powder which had 6.31% moisture, 13.69% ash, 3.09% crude fibre, 4.48% crude fat, 15.99% crude protein and 56.12% carbohydrate. The result of the mineral analysis showed that D. ambrosioides contained higher concentration of sodium (19.8ppm), potassium (51.05ppm), calcium (29.18ppm), magnesium (24.1ppm), iron (0.42ppm) manganese (0.33ppm) and zinc (0.91ppm) compared to C. crepidioides leaf meal at sodium (18.71ppm), potassium (41.87ppm), calcium (25.77ppm), magnesium (20.34ppm), iron (0.28ppm) manganese (0.13ppm) and zinc (0.36ppm). The result of the phytochemical analysis revealed that aqueous extract of C. crepidoides possessed higher total phenolic (13.34 mgGAE/g) and flavonoid (2.29 mgrutin/g)) contents than that of D. ambrosioides at (13.07 mgGAE/g) and (1.62 mgrutin/g) respectively. The Tannin and phytate contents were significantly higher in D. ambrosioides leaf meal at 2.39mg/g and 40.28 mg/g respectively, compared to that of C. crepidioides at 2.12mg/g and 29.4mg/g, respectively. The aqueous extract of D. ambrosioides exhibited higher that antioxidant free radical scavenging activity (24.83%) than that of C. crepidioides (16.42%). In conclusion, this study has shown that these two vegetables contained nutrients and antioxidant and could be used as alternative feed additives in animal nutrition.

Non-porous materials like cellulose and starch can be extracted from agro- industrial wastes and incorporated with nanoparticles for effective biotechnological purposes. In this study, silver nanoparticles (AgNps), silver-cellulose nanoparticles (AgNps-C) and silver-starch nanoparticles (AgNps-S) were characterized by UV-visible spectroscopy. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) was used to identify viable biomolecules involved in capping and active stabilization of AgNps. Average sizes and morphologies of AgNps, AgNps-C and AgNps-S were further analyzed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and the percentage composition of each element was investigated by energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS). Antimicrobial activity of the synthesized AgNPs-C and AgNPs-S was tested against multiple antibiotic resistance microorganisms isolated from fish and meat. Zones of inhibition displayed by AgNPs-C and AgNPs-S ranged from 8.00 to 13.30 mm and 5.00 to 10.30 mm, respectively. The Minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) for AgNPs-C and AgNPS-S ranged from 125 µg/mL to 500 µg/mL and 500 µg/mL to 1000 µg/mL, respectively. AgNPS-S and AgNPs-C inhibited the growth of microorganisms associated with spoilage of fish and meat. The bio-applications of AgNP –C and AgNP-S can be exploited in food industries as preservative agent or incorporated to packaging materials to elongate the shelf life of food products and reduce the side effects attributed to chemical preservative agents.

In this study, it was aimed to make a breakfast spreadable Cornelian cherry nectar similar to marmalade. Lactiplantibacillus plantarum DA100 strain, which has potential probiotic properties, was added to this nectar.  It was investigated whether this strain has an effect on various sensory properties of nectar. In the study, sensory and various chemical properties of nectar produced without probiotic microorganism were determined. Since the breakfast spreadable Cornelian cherry nectar produced in our study was not exposed to high temperatures for a long time, a very low HMF of 4.290 mg/kg was determined. Vitamin C was determined as 716.800 mg/L and total phenolic content was determined as 3156.64 mg GAE/100g. In the probiotic group, the microorganism viability, which was 1.5×1010 Log CFU/mL initially, was determined below approximately 1.5×106 Log CFU/mL at the end of 5 days. In addition, coliform bacteria and E. coli were not detected in any group during this period. Contrary to the texture score, the difference between the sensory evaluation results of the probiotic-added and the control group of breakfast spreadable Cornelian cherry nectar was significant in taste, bitterness, odor and sourness. An alternative to jams and marmalades, rich in vitamin C and phenolic content, limited HMF production, and a functional product with low sugar content were tried to be obtained, and when the results obtained are evaluated, the product is thought to be promising.

Kuraklık stresi, pek çok kültür bitkisinde olduğu gibi taze fasulye üretimini de sınırlayan başlıca faktörlerden biridir. Son zamanlarda düşük dozda gama ışını uygulamalarının bitki gelişiminin kritik aşamalarında kuraklığın oluşturduğu olumsuz etkinin elemine edilmesinde yardımcı olduğu bazı araştırmacılar tarafından bildirilmiştir. Fakat bu konuda yapılan çalışmalar oldukça sınırlıdır.  Bu çalışmada farklı gama ışın dozları (0, 25, 50 ve 100 Gy) uygulanan Gina ve Romano taze fasulye çeşitlerinde kısıtlı sulamanın etkilerinin belirlenmesi amaçlanmıştır. Fideler iklim odası koşullarında 23 ± 2°C sıcaklık ve 16:8 ışık:karanlık periyodunda tam sulama [%100 (I1)] ve kısıtlı sulama [%50 (I2)] olacak şekilde iki farklı sulama seviyesinde yetiştirilmişlerdir. Çalışma sonunda gama ışını dozları ile kısıtlı sulamanın sürgün ve kök boyu, yaprak sayısı, sürgün ve kök yaş-kuru ağırlıkları, kök-sürgün oranı gibi fide gelişim parametrelerinin yanı sıra yaprak oransal su içeriği, fotosentetik pigment içeriği, lipid peroksidasyonu ve sürgün besin elementi içeriklerine etkisi araştırılmıştır. Çalışmada düşük doz gama uygulamasının kısıtlı sulama koşullarında çeşitlere göre farklı sonuçlar verdiği görülmüştür. Gama ışın dozları %50 sulamada Gina çeşidinde kök boyunda önemli bir etki yaratırken, Romano çeşidinde 50 ve 100 Gy dozlarının sürgün boyu ile yaş ve kuru ağırlıklarda önemli bir artış sağlamıştır. MDA içeriği her iki çeşitte de su stresinde 50 ve 100 Gy gama ışını ile birlikte önemli miktarda azalmıştır. Düşük doz gama ışını uygulamasının özellikle Romano çeşidinde daha etkili olduğu ve genel olarak 50 ve 100 Gy gama ışın dozlarının kısıtlı sulamada uygulanabilir dozlar olduğu belirlenmiştir.