Isolation and identification of endophytic fungi from mandarin orange (Citrus reticulata L.)

Endophytic fungi are recognised for producing secondary metabolites that have an effect on the host, such as promoting growth and enhancing plant resilience to biotic and abiotic stress. The objective of this study was to explore endophytic fungi from Citrus reticulata. The endophytic fungi were isolated from both healthy and infected roots, stems, and twigs of C. reticulata. The materials were sterilised and inoculated on potato dextrose agar (PDA) media. The fungi grown were transferred onto fresh PDA plates and identified based on their morphological characteristic, including colonial features, hyphae type, and reproduction structure. Five endophytic fungi were identified as Colletotrichum sp. AJSH2-1, Cylindrocladium sp. BJSH1-2, Rhizopus sp. RJSH1-1, Mucor sp. RJSH1-2, and Aspergillus sp. BJSH1-1. Further study is required to understand the ability of the identified genera in protecting the host from plant disease as well as promoting growth.

Factors influencing adoption of major orchard management practices in mandarin orange of Gorkha: A case from mid-hills of Nepal

The mid-hills of Nepal have immense potential for mandarin orange production. However, its productivity is declining over the years despite an increasing trend in the cultivated area. Since the proper adoption of orchard management practices has been associated with increased productivity, it is, therefore, an imminent requirement to sustain the mandarin orange production for long in the country. Therefore, a research survey was carried out to assess the adoption of major orchard management practices and identify factors affecting its adoption so that the insights from this finding would provide potential policy implications for the rejuvenation of the declining orchards. Altogether, 93 households from Gandaki and Sahid Lakhan Rural municipalities, as well as Gorkha Municipality from Gorkha district were chosen for the study using a simple random sampling technique. Data were collected with a semi-structured interview which was analyzed using SPSS and Stata software. A seemingly unrelated regression (SUR) logit model was used for triangulating the effect of different variables on the adoption of major mandarin orange orchard management practices. The findings revealed that nearly two-third of the households reported citrus decline in their orchards. Further, the adoption of major orchard management practices was mostly found driven by regular access to extension agents, and the income generated from agriculture. Nevertheless, the adoption was plagued by the prevalence of citrus decline in the orchard. In light of these findings, participatory training programs related to the rejuvenation of declining orchards, regular advisory and extension services, and input subsidies to the smallholding farmers are suggested so that the adoption of major orchard management practices gets increased among the mandarin orange farmers.

Cross-Species Comparison of Metabolomics to Decipher the Metabolic Diversity in Ten Fruits

Fruits provide humans with multiple kinds of nutrients and protect humans against worldwide nutritional deficiency. Therefore, it is essential to understand the nutrient composition of various fruits in depth. In this study, we performed LC-MS-based non-targeted metabolomic analyses with ten kinds of fruit, including passion fruit, mango, starfruit, mangosteen, guava, mandarin orange, grape, apple, blueberry, and strawberry. In total, we detected over 2500 compounds and identified more than 300 nutrients. Although the ten fruits shared 909 common-detected compounds, each species accumulated a variety of species-specific metabolites. Additionally, metabolic profiling analyses revealed a constant variation in each metabolite’s content across the ten fruits. Moreover, we constructed a neighbor-joining tree using metabolomic data, which resembles the single-copy protein-based phylogenetic tree. This indicates that metabolome data could reflect the genetic relationship between different species. In conclusion, our work enriches knowledge on the metabolomics of fruits, and provides metabolic evidence for the genetic relationships among these fruits.

Simultaneous determination of organic acids and sugars in fruit juices by High performance liquid chromatography: characterization and differentiation of commercial juices by principal component analysis

ABSTRACT: The present research presents an analytical methodology based on High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) and Principal Component Analyses (PCA) for simultaneous quantification and analytical differentiation of organic acids and sugars in commercial fruit juice samples (orange, grape, apple and tangerine). In addition to the development of the method that generated suitable validation paramters for quantitative analytical applications, the analysis of fourteen commercial samples and the use of Principal Component Analysis indicated the relationship between the constituents and the very constitutional chemical nature of the juice. In general, in grape and apple juices, ascorbic acid was not quantified and the citric acid content was very low; however, the concentrations of fructose and glucose were the highest in both juices. In orange and mandarin orange juices, the content of all analytes, except acorbic acid, did not differ statistically from each other. However, these differed significantly from the others, mainly in relation to sucrose content. Finally, the apple juice samples differed according to the content of fructose and malic acid, the predominant constituint of the apple. Results showed that the simultaneous chromatographic method associated with principal component analysis generated important information about characteristics of commercial juices, with the potential to be used in systems of quality control and identification of adulterations.

Lavender Flower/Mandarin Orange Peel Essential Oil-Soybean Oil to Repel Culex sp.

Diseases including Japanese B encephalitis and filariasis can be transmitted to humans by Culex sp. Many methods could be applied to prevent their bites from reducing their population or preventing them from their bites. N, N-diethyl-meta-toluamide (DEET) has been widely used as an effective synthetic repellent, but DEET needs to be applied carefully, especially for children. Other repellents based on natural origin, i.e., Lavandula angustifolia D.C. (lavender) flower and Citrus reticulate L. (mandarin orange) peel essential oil and their combination with soybean oil, were studied in Parasitology Laboratory, Faculty of Medicine, Universitas Kristen Maranatha, Bandung on July–August 2018, for their repellent duration against female Culex sp. to find out the optimal formula. It is a simple randomized design with four replications and seven treatments, i.e., negative control, DEET, pure essential oil, pure soybean oil, three kinds of combination of essential oil and soybean oil in various ratios. The study was carried out using the arm in the cage method against four human arms, following Fradin and Day. The data were analyzed using ANOVA, continued with Tukey HSD with α=0.05. The result shows that DEET has the longest duration (p=0.000), the combination of each essential oil with soybean oil in 1:2 ratio had longer duration than the pure essential oil (p=0.000), soybean oil (p=0.000), and other combination ratios (p=0.000). It was concluded that a mixture of L. angustifolia D.C. flower/C. reticulata L. peel essential oil with soybean oil in a certain ratio was the ideal preparation to repel Culex sp. CAMPURAN MINYAK ATSIRI BUNGA LAVENDER/KULIT JERUK MANDARIN-MINYAK KEDELAI UNTUK MENOLAK CULEX SP.Beberapa penyakit termasuk Japanese B encephalitis dan filariasis dapat ditransmisikan ke manusia melalui gigitan nyamuk Culex sp. Banyak cara dapat dilakukan untuk mencegah gigitan nyamuk ini, baik dengan mengurangi populasinya atau mencegah gigitannya. N, N-diethyl-meta-toluamide (DEET) telah digunakan secara luas sebagai repellent sintetik yang efektif, tetapi pemakaian DEET harus dilakukan dengan hati-hati khususnya pada anak. Repellent lain yang berasal dari alam, yaitu minyak esensial bunga Lavandula angustifolia D.C. (lavender) dan kulit buah Citrus reticulate L., serta campurannya dengan minyak kedelai telah diuji durasi proteksi terhadap Culex sp. betina sehingga diperoleh formula repellent yang optimal. Penelitian dilaksanakan di Laboratorium Parasitologi, Fakultas Kedokteran, Universitas Kristen Maranatha, Bandung pada Juli–Agustus 2018 dan menggunakan desain simple randomized dengan empat replikasi dan tujuh perlakuan, yaitu kontrol negatif, DEET, minyak esensial murni, minyak kedelai murni, dan tiga macam rasio campuran minyak esensial dengan minyak kedelai. Pengujian menggunakan metode lengan dalam kandang menurut Fradin dan Day dengan empat lengan sebagai empat replikasi. Analisis data menggunakan ANOVA, dilanjutkan Tukey HSD dengan α=0,05. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa DEET memiliki durasi proteksi paling lama (p=0,000), durasi proteksi kombinasi minyak esensial dengan minyak kedelai rasio 1:2 lebih panjang dibanding dengan minyak esensial murni (p=0.000), minyak kedelai (p=0.000), dan rasio kombinasi lainnya (p=0.000). Simpulan, rasio tertentu campuran minyak esensial bunga L. angustifolia D.C./kulit buah C. reticulata L. dengan minyak kedelai merupakan sediaan ideal untuk menolak Culex sp.