This study aimed to assess the effectiveness of bacterial cellulose nanocrystals (BCNCs)-gelatin (GelA)/cinnamon essential oil (CEO) emulsion coatings containing various CEO concentrations (1200, 1800, and 2400 μL/L) in retarding ripening and senescence of ‘Red Delicious’ apples during cold storage (60 days at 4 °C). Coatings decreased the weight loss (WL) (~3.6%), as compared to uncoated fruit (~4.8%). A direct relationship between CEO concentration and respiration rate/ethylene production was also disclosed. Flesh firmness was higher for coated samples, with better results detected especially when the highest amount of CEO was applied (36.48 N for the 2400 μL/L delivered dose vs. 32.60 N for the 1200 μL/L one). These findings were corroborated by additional tests on the surface color, total acidity, soluble solids content, pH, ascorbic acid, and activities of polyphenol oxidase (PPO) and peroxidase (POD). This study demonstrated the capability of BCNCs-GelA/CEO systems to dramatically enhance the storability and quality of apples during refrigerated storage, thus avoiding undesired losses and increasing the economic performance of fresh fruit industries.

Grapevine is one of the most important economic crops in horticulture, and drought stress is one of the most significant threatening factors in the world. Therefore, the identification and investigation of cultivars under drought stress are the basic steps and important goals in grapevine-breeding programs. In the present study, the 17 parameters of 14 grapevine cultivars under drought stress were first scaled. Based on the initial information, we divided the 14 grape cultivars according to their resistance to drought stress into four groups: tolerant, semi-tolerant, semi-sensitive, and sensitive. Then, the utilization of multivariate techniques comprising principal component analysis (PCA), along with quadratic discriminant analysis (QDA), were utilized to choose the most substantial and accountable traits for the four groups’ discrimination. For the QDA, the 17 parameters were arranged into four sets. The discrimination for all parameters showed 96% correct classification. The first set includes shoot length (Shoot L), shoot number (Shoot N), leaf area (Leaf A), relative water content (RWC), and chlorophyll a (Chl a) parameters that showed 71.5% correct classification. The second set includes chlorophyll b (Chl b), chlorophyll total, peroxidase (POX), and superoxide dismutase (Sod) parameters that had 75% correct classification. Electrolyte leakage (EL), malondialdehyde (MDA), proline, catalase (CAT), and ascorbate peroxidase (APX) parameters were in the third set and had 87% correct discrimination. The best discrimination was obtained by the combination of the first and third set, including the Shoot L, Shoot N, Leaf A, RWC, Chl a, EL, MDA, proline, CAT, and APX with 100% correct discrimination.

This work assessed the antimicrobial potential of natural essential oils (EOs) from cinnamon (CEO), zataria (ZEO), and satureja (SEO), applied natively or as coatings against Penicillium expansum and Botrytis cinerea during both in vitro and in vivo (on apple fruits) experiments. The induced inhibitory effect towards fungal growth, as a function of both EO type and concentration (75–1200 μL/L), was preliminarily investigated to select the most suitable EO for producing bacterial cellulose nanocrystals (BCNCs)/fish gelatin (GelA)-based emulsions. CEO and ZEO exhibited the best performances against P. expansum and B. cinerea, respectively. None of the pristine EOs completely inhibited the fungal growth and “disease severity”, properly quantified via size measurements of lesions formed on fruit surfaces. As compared to pristine CEO, coating emulsions with variable CEO concentration (75–2400 µL/L) curbed lesion spreading on apples, owing to the controlled CEO release during a 21-day temporal window. The strongest effect was displayed by BCNCs/GelA-CEO emulsions at the highest CEO concentration, upon which lesions on fruit skins were barely detectable. This work demonstrated the capability of EOs embedded in BCNCs/GelA-based nanocapsules to efficiently slow down microbial spoilage on postharvest fruits, thus offering viable opportunities for developing innovative antimicrobial packaging systems.

This study investigates the influence of altitudinal gradients on the fatty acid composition, antioxidant capacity, flavonoid and phenolic content of eight hazelnut cultivars. Samples were collected from orchards at low (0–500 m), mid (500–1000 m), and high (> 1000 m) altitudes in Gilan province of Iran. Duncan’s test ( p ≤ 0.01) revealed that altitudinal gradients were significantly alternated the antioxidant capacity, phenolic, and flavonoid contents of hazelnut cultivars. With increasing altitude, a decreasing trend in the antioxidant capacity (ranged from 74.33 to 27.33%) and phenolic content (ranged from 380.22 to 104.68 mg GAE/ 100 g dw) was observed. In contrast, a fluctuating trend in flavonoid content was ranged from 60.33 to 170.99 (mg QE/g dw) across altitudinal gradients; subsequently Round cultivar showed the highest flavonoid at mid altitude. In terms of fatty acids, an increase in the biosynthesis of unsaturated acids, including oleic (46.93–82.37%) and linoleic acid (0.1–6.52%) occurred at high altitude. While an increase in the concentration of saturated acids such as palmitic acid (3.61–37.86%), behenic acid (0.11–0.55%), stearic acid (3.12–7.5%), arachidic acid (0.41–6.05%), 11-Eicosenoic acid (0.33–6.19%), and myristic acid (0.11–0.69%) happened at low altitude. It was found that the ratio of unsaturated/saturated acids increased along with rising altitude, and vice versa. Conversely, the production of palmitoleic, as unsaturated acids, and tetracosanoic and pentadecanoic acids, as saturated acids, induced at low and high altitudes, respectively. In contrast, under all three altitudes condition, the biosynthesis of the oxirane octanoic was enhanced remarkably. These results highlight that the alterations in biochemical and fatty acid profile of hazelnut were cultivar type-, altitude-, and altitude-cultivar type interaction dependents. This aspect validated by PCA and heatmap analysis, which segregated cultivars into distinct groups. This highlights the importance of environmental and genetic factors in shaping hazelnut quality. These findings underscore the significance of considering altitude and cultivar selection in hazelnut cultivation to optimize nutritional quality, which can be valuable to producers, breeders, and the food industry.