Natural plant protection products (known as biopesticides), derived from natural materials (plants, bacterial strains, and certain minerals) that can be used to control pests, are an alternative to plant protection chemicals (known as pesticides) due to certain advantages: less toxic to humans and the environment, no release/leaching of harmful residues, and usually much specific to the target pests. This review focuses on the systematization of information highlighting the main advantages related to the natural plant protection products used, the extractive methods of obtaining them, their physical-chemical analysis methodology, the specific constituents responsible for their pesticide effects, the mechanisms of action, and methods for direct application on vegetable crops or on seeds stored in warehouses, in order to eliminate the adverse effects occurred in the case of plant protection chemicals use. Special attention has been accorded to natural plant protection products from the spontaneous flora of Moldova (Romania’s macroeconomic region NE), which can be considered a resource of valuable secondary metabolites, especially in the form of vegetable essential oils, with biological effects and biopesticide routes of action. All presented information concludes that biopesticides can successfully replace the chemical plant protection products on small farms and especially in silos (seeds and cereals).

The milk and yogurt products assortment has expanded by their enhancement with herb extracts, fibres extracted from by-products of the fruit processing industry and also fresh spices. The aim of the present study was to test to what extent the addition of different herb extracts in yogurt will improve its qualitative characteristics and antioxidant activity. The aqueous extracts obtained from the four plants are considered in this study, respectively, thistle (Silybum marianum L.), hawthorn (Crataegus monogyna), sage (Salvia officinalis L.), and marjoram (Origanum vulgare L.). It was examined the effect of aqueous extracts prepared from four herbs (0.25/1%) (w/w) on yogurt’s qualitative characteristics (pH, titratable acidity, syneresis, water holding capacity, antioxidant activity, colour parameters, and rheological parameters) on both one day and 28 days after preparation. The final results show that the physicochemical and rheological properties of the yoghurt with herb extracts addition were improved compared to the control sample after 28 days of storage. The best results in terms of antioxidant properties were obtained when marjoram extract (Origanum vulgare L.) was incorporated. According to the data obtained, the best quality in terms of the physicochemical and rheological properties were in the case of the sample with 0.5% thistle extract (Silybum marianum L.) addition, while from point of view of the nutritional value, the best quality was in the case of the sample with 1% marjoram extract (Origanum vulgare L.) addition. The present study leads to the conclusion that yogurts enhanced with natural extracts may serve as functional food products, with significant health benefits.

This study evaluated the effect of the addition of four different types of dietary fibers on the rheological, physicochemical and sensory characteristics of yogurt. The four types of fibers (inulin, pea, oat and wheat) were added in the yogurt formulation in different proportions (1%–2.5%) using classical technology adapted to laboratory conditions. The obtained results showed that, the most viscous samples were obtained with wheat fibers addition (1% and 1.5%), while the best viscous characteristics were obtained for the samples with oat fibers addition (2% and 2.5%). The lowest syneresis value (38.86 ± 0.2) were observed for the samples with 1.5% pea fibers addition. Yogurt samples with the highest acceptance scores were samples with 2% wheat fibers and respectively with 2.5% pea fibers addition. All the tested fibers were compatible with the yogurt-manufacturing process. Therefore, the fibers addition in yogurt could be considered an alternative to incorporate dietary fibers in the human diet.

Pharmaceuticals and dyes are a very important part of the nonbiodegradable or hard biodegradable substances present in wastewater. Microorganisms are already known to be effective biosorbents, but the use of free microbial cells involves difficulties in their separation from effluents and limits their application in wastewater treatment. Thus, this study aimed to develop biosorbents by immobilizing Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Saccharomyces pastorianus and Saccharomyces pastorianus residual biomass on natural polymers (alginate and chitosan) and to evaluate the biosorptive potential for removal of pharmaceuticals and dyes from water. Six types of biosorbents were synthesized and characterized by Scanning Electron Microscopy and Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy techniques and their biosorptive capacities for three drugs (cephalexin, rifampicin, ethacridine lactate) and two dyes (orange II and indigo carmine) were evaluated. The obtained results show that the removal efficiency depends on the polymer type used for the immobilization. In case of alginate the removal efficiency is between 40.05% and 96.41% for drugs and between 27.83% and 58.29% for dyes, while in the case of chitosan it is between 40.83% and 77.92% for drugs and between 17.17% and 44.77% for dyes. In general, the synthesized biosorbents proved to be promising for the removal of drugs and dyes from aqueous solutions.

This work demonstrates new evidence of the efficient destruction and mineralization of an emergent organic pollutant using UV-A and titanium nanosized catalysts. The target compound considered in this work is the primary metabolite of a lipid regulator drug, clofibrate, identified in many studies as refractory during conventional wastewater treatment. The photocatalytic performance study was carried out in batch mode at laboratory scale, in aqueous suspension. Kinetic data showed that titanium dioxide P25 Aeroxide^® exhibits the highest photocatalytic efficiency compared to the other investigated catalysts. Pollutant degradation and mineralization efficiencies strongly increased when decreasing the initial substrate concentration. Target molecules oxidized faster when the catalyst load increased, and the mineralization was enhanced under acidic conditions: 92% of mineralization was achieved at pH 4 after 190 min of reaction. Radical quenching assays confirmed that HO^• and ( ${\mathrm{h}}_{\mathrm{vb}}^{+})$ were the reactive oxygen species involved in the photocatalytic oxidation of the considered pollutant. In addition, further results revealed that the removal efficiency decreased in real water matrices. Finally, data collected through a series of phytotoxicity tests demonstrated that the photocatalytic process considerably reduces the toxicity of the treated solutions, confirming the process’s effectiveness in the removal of persistent and biorefractory emergent organic water pollutants.