The objective of the study was to determine the content and composition of essential oil in the fresh young shoots of garden angelica collected in the first year of plant vegetation and to evaluate the effect of preservation method (convective drying at 35°C and lyophilization) on these parameters. Essential oil content in the fresh, convectively dried, and lyophilized shoots amounted to 0.27, 0.21, and 0.11 mL/100 g dry matter, respectively. In the essential oils obtained from these raw materials 91, 89, and 62 compounds were identified, respectively. In all the investigated essential oils the dominant compounds were: α-pinene (20.4–29.1%) and myrcene (17.0–26.7%). Other constituents included limonene (7.6% in the essential oil from fresh shoots), 6-methylhept-5-enal (3.0%), humulene epoxide II (2.4%), β-pinene (2.1%), perylene (1.9%), and α-humulene (1.8%). Both methods of drying resulted in the decrease in α-pinene content, and the increase in myrcene content. (Z,Z)-undeca-1,3,5-triene and trans-myrtanol were completely lost during drying, irrespective of the method used.

ISHS XXVIII International Horticultural Congress on Science and Horticulture for People (IHC2010): A New Look at Medicinal and Aromatic Plants Seminar DIVERSITY OF WORMWOOD (ARTEMISIA ABSINTHIUM L.) GROWING WILD IN POLAND IN RESPECT OF THE CONTENT AND COMPOSITION OF ESSENTIAL OIL AND PHENOLIC COMPOUNDS

It was found that the taste and quality of tomato fruit can significantly depend on the cultivar, growing conditions, fruit maturity stage, and post-harvest treatments. This study aimed to compare the effects of growing conditions, such as the use of diffusion glass and LED supplementary light (LED+D), with diffusion and standard glass and HPS lamps (HPS+D; HPS) on the quality and post-harvest shelf life of pink tomato fruit cv. ‘Tomimaru Muchoo F1’ in relation to fruit maturity stage and storage temperature. Fruits were harvested at three ripening stages – mature green (MG), breaker (B) and fully ripe (FR). Fruits of each maturity stage were stored under controlled conditions in a cold store at 12 °C for MG and B fruits and at 6 °C for FR fruits (at 85% relative humidity), and 20 °C for all ripening stages (at about 50% relative humidity). Physiological weight loss, dry weight, hardness of fruit, fruit color ( L*, a*, b*, a*/b*), total soluble solids, total sugars, ascorbic acid, titratable acidity, pH, lutein, lycopene, a-carotene, b-carotene were determined. Pink tomato fruits harvested from LED-lighted plants in combination with diffusion glass showed the highest shelf life and post-harvest quality compared to fruits from HPS-lighted plants and HPS-lighted crops in combination with diffusion glass. Stored pink tomato fruits from the LED+D combination were characterized by significantly higher total sugars, vitamin C and β-carotene content than fruits from the combination HPS and HPS+D. Tomato fruits, regardless of the maturity stage, at 20 °C had higher fresh weight loss and lower fruit firmness during storage compared to those stored at lower temperatures. Pink tomato fruits stored in higher temperature colored faster and contained a higher concentration of components such as total soluble solids or ascorbic acid and carotenoids.

Supplemental lighting with light-emitting diode (LED) lamps and/or high-pressure sodium (HPS) lamps was applied to increase the activity of the photosynthetic apparatus and thus productivity of greenhouse cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.) in a high-wire growing system. The colocalisation of the chlorophyll of PSII (located mainly in grana) and carotenoid fluorescence signals in chloroplasts of cucumber leaves was studied under confocal microscopy. Leaf anatomy and some chemical quality traits (dry matter, chlorophyll, carotenoids, total soluble solids, total sugars and nitrate reductase activity) as well as selected chlorophyll fluorescence parameters were also investigated and subjected to the multidimensional principal component analysis together with the data on fruit yield. Under LED lighting, a lower correlation between the occurrence of chlorophyll and carotenoid fluorescence signals was observed, especially in older (lower-located) leaves, which may have resulted from changes in the distribution of carotenoids within chloroplasts and/or relative concentrations of chlorophyll and carotenoids. Compared to toplighting with HPS lamps, most commonly used in commercial greenhouse cucumber production, the application of LED interlighting, especially in combination with LED toplighting, led to the increase in chlorophyll and carotenoid content and photosynthetic performance index in older leaves, which was related to the increased cucumber productivity.