Hydropriming and Nutripriming of Bread Wheat Seeds Improved the Flour's Nutritional Value of the First Unprimed Offspring

Trends in Seed Priming Research in the Past 30 Years Based on Bibliometric Analysis

Seed priming (SP) treatments are widely used in agriculture and restoration to improve seed germination and seedling vigor. Although there exists a considerable amount of scientific literature on SP, it has seldom undergone visual and quantitative analyses. To gain insights into the patterns observed in SP research over the last three decades, we conducted a bibliometric analysis using the Science Citation Index-Expanded (SCI-E) database, aiming to minimize the similarity score in plagiarism detection. This analysis offers a thorough examination of yearly publications, temporal patterns in keyword usage, the top-performing journals, authors, institutions, and countries within the field of SP. Our research findings suggest a steady annual increase of 10.59% in the volume of SP publications, accompanied by a significant upward trajectory in the average citations received per paper annually. According to the analysis of keywords, it was found that "priming" and "germination" emerged as the most frequently used terms in the field of SP research. Seed Science and Technology ranked first among the top journals, and Plant Physiology had greater influence in the field of SP in terms of number of citations. The majority of the top 10 productive institutions were situated in developing countries. In addition, these nations exhibited the highest volume of published works and citations. Our analysis revealed a shift in research focus within the field of SP over the past three decades, transitioning from agricultural science to encompass plant science and environmental science. With the growing recognition of SP's research across different disciplines, there exist abundant prospects for international and interdisciplinary partnerships, collaborative organizations, and progress in this field.

Combination of Iron and Zinc Enhanced the Root Cell Division, Mitotic Regularity and Nucleolar Activity of Hexaploid Triticale

Hexaploid triticale results from crosses between durum wheat and rye. Despite its high agronomic potential, triticale is mainly used for livestock feed. Triticale surpasses their parental species in adaptability and tolerance to abiotic and biotic stresses, being able to grow in acidic soils where a high amount of iron (Fe) and zinc (Zn) is typical. On the other hand, high amounts of these essential trace elements can be cytotoxic to bread wheat. The cytotoxicity induced by seed priming with a high concentration of Fe and Zn impaired root cell division and induced nucleolar changes in bread wheat. Such cytogenetic approaches were expedited and successfully determined cytotoxic and suited micronutrient dosages for wheat nutripriming. With this study, we intended to analyse the hexaploid triticale cv 'Douro' root mitotic cell cycle and nucleolar activity after seed priming performed with aqueous solutions of iron (Fe) and/or zinc (Zn), containing a concentration that was previously considered cytotoxic, to bread wheat and to infer the higher tolerance of triticale to these treatments. The overall cytogenetic data allowed us to conclude that the Fe + Zn treatment enhanced the root mitotic index (MI), mitosis regularity and nucleolar activity of 'Douro' relative to the control and the individual treatments performed with Fe or Zn alone. The Fe + Zn treatment might suit triticale biofortification through seed priming.

Prunus lusitanica L. Fruits: A Promising Underexploited Source of Nutrients with Potential Economic Value

In recent times, less-known fruit species have increasingly attracted worldwide attention and their health benefits are at the forefront. The fruits of plants from the genus Prunus are good sources of nutrients due to their economic, agronomic, and healthy values. However, Prunus lusitanica L., commonly known as Portuguese laurel cherry is considered an endangered species. Thus, the present work aimed to monitor the nutritional components of P. lusitanica fruits grown in three locations in northern Portugal for four consecutive years (2016-2019), using AOAC (Association of Official Analytical Chemists), spectrophotometric, and chromatographic analysis. The results evidenced the abundance of phytonutrients in P. lusitanica, such as proteins, fat, carbohydrates, soluble sugars, dietary fibre, amino acids, and minerals. It was also highlighted that the variation of nutritional components was relatively linked to the year factor, being especially relevant in the frame of the current changing climate, among others. These findings suggest that P. lusitanica L. deserves to be conserved and planted because of its food and nutraceutical applications. However, more detailed information on this rare plant species, such as phytophysiology, phytochemistry, bioactivity, pharmacology, etc., is certainly required for the design and development of appropriate uses and valorization alternatives for this species.