The effect of supplementsl irrigation, foliar fertilization and NAA hormone on the alternate bearing in pistachio (pistacia vera L.): تأثير الري التكميلي والتسميد الورقي ومنظم النمو NAA على تبادل الحمل لأشجار الفستق الحلبي Pistacia vera

This research (study)was carried out over four years (2017-2020) on Ashori pistachio nut cultivar in a pistachio orchard located in Soran/Hama region (SYRIA) in order to determine the effect of leaves fertilisation, supplementsl irrigation, and NNA treatment on bud shedding, yield, and nut splitting rate in pistachio trees.The experiment was designed according to the split-split-pot designs, where the main plots included supplementsl irrigation treatment (without irrigation, winter irrigation, summer irrigation, winter and summer irrigation) and the first-order plots included leaves fertilization concentrations (0, 1 and 2 g.liter -1) and the second-order plots included NAA levels (0, 25 and 50 ppm). The results indicated that the percentage of floral buds falling down during the fruit yield season, was higher than the non-fruit yield season and it was at its lowest in the third season because of the combined effect of fertilization (2g/lit) and NAA (50 ppm) and it reached (30.9%) and followed by the treatment of NAA (50 ppm) which reached (31.2%). The yield average was at its highest in the fourth fruit yield season (39.49 kg) at the fourth irrigation treatment (winter + summer) whit it was in the control treatment) 29.17 kg). The average percentage of nut splitting in the fourth season was (97.1%) for the effect of fourth irrigation treatment and fertilization level (1 g/lit), followed by the fourth irrigation treatment which the nut splitting was (96.77%).

ASSESMENT OF AGRICULTURAL PRACTICES AND MACHINERY USE IN PISTACHIO NUT ORCHARDS IN SIIRT PROVINCE OF TURKEY

As is the case in all type of orchards, agricultural practices should be done on regular and timely basis in Pistachio orchards to get abundant and high-quality products. The agricultural practices applied mainly in pistachio orchards include tillage, irrigation, pruning, fertilization, plant protection, harvesting and post-harvest handling and processing. In this study, the use of machinery and the problems encountered in the application of agricultural practices in pistachio orchards were evaluated in Siirt province of Turkey. Study data were collected with the structured questionnaires during the face-to-face farmer interview, which was conducted in 165 pistachio farms in 2019. The sample size was determined by Stratified sampling method. For analysis of the data, descriptive statistics methods and Chi-square test were employed. It was revealed that the mechanization applications and problems encountered in pistachio production were connected with the processes from soil cultivation to harvest and post-harvest. The results showed that the use of machine power in the pistachio farms in Siirt province is very limited with tillage, spraying and transportation. It was also revealed that the orchard acreage had a statistically significant relationship with the machinery use for almost all agricultural practices except tillage and irrigation methods.

Identification of Key Periods of Temperature Influence on ‘Sirora’ Pistachio Nut Quality

The methodology of r contour mapping was used in this study of ‘Sirora’ pistachio (Pistacia vera) to establish whether there are any significant relationships between fruit quality characteristics in commercial pistachio production and air temperature in the year before the harvest of the crop as measured at a nearby meteorological station. The work was done near Mildura in Australia. Blank nut percentages were found to be reduced by lower minimum temperatures in mid to late August (southern hemisphere). The percentage of narrow-split nuts was decreased by higher maximum temperatures across almost the whole growing season. Damaged-shell nuts were reduced by higher average daily minimum temperatures between 26 Nov. and 3 Feb. The technique of r contour mapping is shown to have potential as a way to provide early warning of possible quality problems before harvest and as a means of generating hypotheses for future physiological studies

Interacting Abiotic Factors Affect Growth and Aflatoxin B1 Production Profiles of Aspergillus flavus Strains on Pistachio-Based Matrices and Pistachio Nuts

Pistachio nuts are an economically important commodity produced by many countries. They can be colonized by mycotoxigenic fungi, especially Aspergillus flavus, resulting in contamination with aflatoxins (AFs), especially aflatoxin B1 (AFB1), a Class 1a carcinogen. The objectives were to examine the effect of interactions between the two key abiotic factors, temperature and water activity (aw) on (a) in vitro growth and AFB1 production by four strains of A. flavus isolated from pistachio nuts, on a milled pistachio nut medium modified ionically (NaCl) and non-ionically (glycerol) in the range 20–35°C and 0.995–0.85 aw, (b) colonization of layers of raw pistachio nuts stored at different interacting temperature x aw conditions and on relative AFB1 production and (c) develop models to produce contour maps of the optimal and marginal boundary conditions for growth and AFB1 production by up to 4 strains of this species. On pistachio nut-based media, optimum growth of four strains of A. flavus was at 0.98–0.95 aw and 30–35°C. Optimum AFB1 production was at 30–35°C and 0.98 aw. No significant differences in growth was found on ionic and non-ionically modified media. Colonization of layers of raw pistachio nuts was slower and contamination with AFB1 significantly less than in in vitro studies. Contour maps based on the pooled data for up to four strains (in vitro, in situ) showed the optimum and marginal conditions for growth and AFB1 production. These data can be used to identify those conditions which represent a high, intermediate or low risk of colonization and AFB1 contamination in the pistachio nut processing chain. These results are discussed in the context of the development of appropriate intervention strategies to minimize AFB1 contamination of this economically important commodity.

Aflatoxin B1 in the Iranian pistachio nut and decontamination methods: A systematic review

This study aimed to summarize the occurrence of aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) in the various cultivars of the Persian pistachio nut and the decontamination techniques, with the aid of a systematic review and meta-analysis. In this regard, all published studies up to November 2019 among international and national databases were screened, resulting in 23 articles. According to the findings, the main aflatoxin identified in the pistachio nut was AFB1, with AFB1 concentrations in ~28% of the studies being ? 5 µg/kg, in ~35% of the studies being ? 10 µg/kg, and in ~37% of the studies being ? 10 µg/kg. Generally, in most studies (~72%), AFB1 content in pistachio cultivars was higher than the acceptable level proposed by the Iranian National Standard. Although several physical and chemical techniques for AFB1 reduction have been introduced, most of them are not safe and/or suitable for human consumption.