Numerous environmental and endogenous factors affect the level of genetic diversity in natural populations. Genetic variability is the cornerstone of evolution and adaptation of species. However, currently, more and more plant species and local varieties (landraces) are on the brink of extinction due to anthropopression and climate change. Their preservation is imperative for the sake of future breeding programs. Gene banks have been created worldwide to conserve different plant species of cultural and economic importance. Many of them apply cryopreservation, a conservation method in which ultra-low temperatures (−135 °C to −196 °C) are used for long-term storage of tissue samples, with little risk of variation occurrence. Cells can be successfully cryopreserved in liquid nitrogen (LN) when the adverse effect of ice crystal formation and growth is mitigated by the removal of water and the formation of the so-called biological glass (vitrification). This state can be achieved in several ways. The involvement of key cold-regulated genes and proteins in the acquisition of cold tolerance in plant tissues may additionally improve the survival of LN-stored explants. The present review explains the importance of cryostorage in agronomy and presents an overview of the recent works accomplished with this strategy. The most widely used cryopreservation techniques, classic and modern cryoprotective agents, and some protocols applied in crops are considered to understand which parameters provide the establishment of high quality and broadly applicable cryopreservation. Attention is also focused on the issues of genetic integrity and functional genomics in plant cryobiology.

The tomato crop is very sensitive to stress conditions. A water deficit is defined as when precipitation is less than the evapotranspiration (ETc) of the crop in a given period, and in this scenario of climate change, it is identified as responsible for global productivity losses. The use of potential technologies for better irrigation management, such as electromagnetically treated water, remains controversial. Thus, the objective of the present work was to investigate the effects of very low-frequency electromagnetic resonance field treatment on water for tomato crops submitted to different irrigation rates. For this, an experiment was carried out under controlled conditions with different types of water: electromagnetically treated water (WTVLF) and untreated water (UNW), as well as four water replacement rates: 40, 60, 80, and 100% ETc. The electromagnetic treatment of the water was carried out using the commercial equipment AQUA4D^®. The experiment was carried out in pots with five replications per treatment. Lower activity of SOD, POD, CAT, and APX enzymes was observed in plants irrigated with water treated with very low-frequency electromagnetic resonance fields (WTVLF), indicating less oxidative stress caused by water deficit. Water deficit reduced chlorophyll content, but the effects were less harmful with WTVLF water. The water deficit resulted in less accumulation of dry matter and less productivity in a linear relationship. However, plants irrigated with WTVLF showed increments of about 20% in dry matter accumulation and 20% in fruit production concerning plants irrigated with untreated water, independent of the irrigation rates. We can conclude that irrigation with WTVLF can be a solution to reduce the damage caused by water deficits and increase the productivity of tomato crops.

The study aimed to characterize bananas in their different stages of ripeness, in order to determine the variables that demonstrate higher levels at each moment. The fruits were analyzed according to physical parameters: weight, texture, and diameter of the fruits; as well as physicochemical parameters: pH, titratable acidity, soluble solids, and Ratio; and also, biochemical parameters: total sugars, phenolic compounds, ascorbic acid, pigments, antioxidant activity by DPPH and FRAP methods. The used samples were collected at the following maturation stages: 2, 4, 6, and 7, determined according to the Von Loesecke Maturation Scale. In relation to the behavior of the parameters evaluated, the fruits showed significant reductions in relation to the physical parameters, while there were increases in relation to pH, titratable acidity and soluble solids. The antioxidant and phenolic activities also showed reductions, which shows that the degradative process caused by ripening also causes reductions in these compounds.

RESUMOA amora-preta é um fruto de alta perecibilidade e por isso seu aproveitamento é preferencialmente industrial. Entretanto, há pouca informação na literatura a respeito do efeito do processamento de produtos elaborados a partir da amora. Neste trabalho, foram avaliados frutos e geleias em três estádios de colheita diferentes. O objetivo foi realizar a caracterização bromatológica, a quantificação de pectina total e solúvel e de macro e micronutrientes dos frutos e geleias. Os resultados mostraram que a amora-preta apresenta alto potencial para industrialização, pois em grande parte dos compostos avaliados, não houve grandes alterações decorrentes do processamento.

It is known that poorly performed fertigation directly impacts on tomato production and biometric components. In addition, consumers are also affected by interrelated characteristics that interfere with the acceptability of the fruit, such as the physicochemical parameters and nutrients in the fruit. Thus, eco-friendly technologies, such as irrigation with ultra-low frequency electromagnetic treated-water, which attenuates the inadequate management of fertigation, are essential to improve marketable fruit yields. Thus, the objective of the present work was to investigate the impact of treated water with very low-frequency electromagnetic resonance fields in physical, chemical and nutritional parameters at different nutrient solution strengths in tomato fruits. In this study, experiments were carried out in randomized blocks and five doses of fertigation were used (1.5; 2.5; 4.0; 5.5; and 7.0 dS m⁻¹), employing two types of water: electromagnetically treated and untreated. It can be seen that the fertigation affected some parameters, mainly the number of fruits with blossom-end rot, fruit size, and weight. Variance analysis (ANOVA) was performed with the subsequent use of the Tukey test. In all statistical tests, a confidence level of 95% was considered. The soluble solids content increased by 28% as a function of the fertigation doses. The electromagnetically treated water reduced the number of fruits with blossom-end rot by 35% (p < 0.05). Overall, electromagnetic water improved the physicochemical quality parameters and the nutritional status of tomato fruits. Thus, this study demonstrated that green technology could leverage tomato fruit production and quality.