Zaxinone mimics (MiZax) efficiently promote growth and production of potato and strawberry plants under desert climate conditions

Climate changes and the rapid expanding human population have become critical concerns for global food security. One of the promising solutions is the employment of plant growth regulators (PGRs) for increasing crop yield and overcoming adverse growth conditions, such as desert climate. Recently, the apocarotenoid zaxinone and its two mimics (MiZax3 and MiZax5) have shown a promising growth-promoting activity in cereals and vegetable crops under greenhouse and field conditions. Herein, we further investigated the effect of MiZax3 and MiZax5, at different concentrations (5 and 10 µM in 2021; 2.5 and 5 µM in 2022), on the growth and yield of the two valuable vegetable crops, potato and strawberry, in the Kingdom of Saudi of Arabia. Application of both MiZax significantly increased plant agronomic traits, yield components and total yield, in five independent field trials from 2021 to 2022. Remarkably, the amount of applied MiZax was far less than humic acid, a widely applied commercial compound used here for comparison. Hence, our results indicate that MiZax are very promising PGRs that can be applied to promote the growth and yield of vegetable crops even under desert conditions and at relatively low concentrations.

A Novel Microwave Hot Pressing Machine for Production of Fixed Oils from Different Biopolymeric Structured Tissues

A microwave hot pressing machine (MHPM) was used to heat the colander to produce fixed oils from each of castor, sunflower, rapeseed, and moringa seed and compared them to those obtained using an ordinary electric hot pressing machine (EHPM). The physical properties, namely the moisture content of seed (MCs), the seed content of fixed oil (S_cfo), the yield of the main fixed oil (Y_mfo), the yield of recovered fixed oil (Y_rfo), extraction loss (EL), six Efficiency of fixed oil extraction (E_foe), specific gravity (SG_fo), refractive index (RI) as well as chemical properties, namely iodine number (IN), saponification value (SV), acid value (AV), and the yield of fatty acid (Y_fa) of the four oils extracted by the MHPM and EHPM were determined. Chemical constituents of the resultant oil were identified using GC/MS after saponification and methylation processes. The Ymfo and SV obtained using the MHPM were higher than those for the EHPM for all four fixed oils studied. On the other hand, each of the SG_fo, RI, IN, AV, and pH of the fixed oils did not alter statistically due to changing the heating tool from electric band heaters into a microwave beam. The qualities of the four fixed oils extracted by the MHPM were very encouraging as a pivot of the industrial fixed oil projects compared to the EHPM. The prominent fatty acid of the castor fixed oil was found to be ricinoleic acid, making up 76.41% and 71.99% contents of oils extracted using the MHPM and EHPM, respectively. In addition, the oleic acid was the prominent fatty acid in each of the fixed oils of sunflower, rapeseed, and moringa species, and its yield by using the MHPM was higher than that for the EHPM. The role of microwave irradiation in facilitating fixed oil extrusion from the biopolymeric structured organelles (lipid bodies) was protruded. Since it was confirmed by the present study that using microwave irradiation is simple, facile, more eco-friendly, cost-effective, retains parent quality of oils, and allows for the warming of bigger machines and spaces, we think it will make an industrial revolution in oil extraction field.

Haemodynamic effects of splenectomy and vasoligation in bilharzial hepatic fibrosis

Patients with bilharzial hepatic fibrosis, when compared with control subjects, were found to be hypervolaemic as a result of increased plasma volume. The estimated hepatic blood flow in these patients was not significantly different from that of healthy individuals. Splenectomy and vasoligation was followed by a drop in portal pressure measured through an omental vein at operation. The estimated hepatic blood flow, however, was not altered by this surgical procedure. The blood volume, which was found to correlate with the size of the spleen, diminished and so did the plasma volume when measured after this operation.