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Effect of arsenic treatments on physiological parameters of sunflower and maize plants
81-84Views:155The environment is contaminated with heavy metals and other toxic compounds. One of the most important toxic element is the arsenic (As).
The objective of our study was to investigate the effect of As on fresh and dry weight of sunflower and maize in the early growth phases.
Seedlings were grown in climate room on nutrient solution which were treated with 3, 10 and 30 mg kg-1 arsenic. The plants were treated separately with As(III) and As(V). After 14 day, changes in fresh and dry weight of maize shoots and roots were recorded. In the case of sunflower these parameters were measured after 21 day.
The applied As(III) and As(V) decreased the fresh and dry mass of the shoots and roots of seedlings, especially at concentration 30 mg kg-1. We can draw the conclusion that the treatments of the maize and sunflower roots with arsenic had negative effects on the biomass accumulation. We found that the sunflower plants are more sensitive to arsenic toxicity than maize plants, and all data demonstrate that the As(III) is more toxic to these plants than the As(V).
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Assessment and comparison of selenium-enriched maize with sodium selenite and sodium selenate
11-15Views:156Selenium is an element of environmental interest owing to the narrow range between its nutritionally required and toxic concentrations in many organisms. Its mobility and bioavailability differ greatly depending on individual Se species. In this regard, in present study, the uptake and distribution of Se, the changes in Se content, and the effects of different concentration of Se in two forms of sodium selenite and sodium selenate on maize plants were measured in nutrient solution experiments to clarify their response to the two forms of Se. The results revealed that the Se content in shoots and roots of maize plants significantly increased as the Se level increased. Two Se forms behaved differently and the effects of toxic damage in samples which had been treated with selenite were much more than in the selenate treatments.
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Analysis of maize and sunflower plants treated by molybdenum in rhizobox experiment
11-14Views:182In this study, maize (Zea mays L. cv. Norma SC) and sunflower (Helianthus annuus L. cv Arena PR) seedlings treated by molybdenum (Mo) that were cultivated in special plant growth boxes, known as rhizoboxes. During our research we tried to examine whether increasing molybdenum (Mo) concentration effects on the dry mass and absorption of some elements (molybdenum, iron, sulphur) of shoots and roots of experimental plants.
In this experiment calcareous chernozem soil was used and Mo was supplemented into the soil as ammonium molybdate [(NH4)6Mo7O24.4H2O] in four different concentrations as follow: 0 (control), 30, 90 and 270 mg kg-1.
In this study we found that molybdenum in small amount (30 mg kg-1) affected positively on growth of maize and sunflower seedlings, however, further increase of Mo content reduced the dry weights of shoots and roots. In case of maize the highest Mo treatment (270 mg kg-1) and in case of sunflower 90 mg kg-1 treatment caused a significant reduction in plant growth.
In addition, we observed that molybdenum levels in seedling were significantly elevated with increasing the concentration of molybdenum treatment in comparison with control but the applied molybdenum treatments did not affect iron and sulphur concentration in all cases significantly.
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Elemental content of propolis samples from Pest, Zala and Bács-Kiskun county (Hungary)
149-153Views:202The elemental content of 61 raw propolis samples from Pest, Zala and Bács-Kiskun county (Hungary) were analyzed by ICP-OES. The content of Al, B, Ca, Cu, Fe, K, Mg, Mn, Na, P, S, Sr and Zn were measured in the samples. Median is higher than mean in all cases based on the summarized results. It can be explained by the outliers, moreover it has a non-normal distribution. The concentrations are in an extremely wide range, the ratio of the maximum and minimum is under 10 in case of six elements, between 10 and 35.1 in the case of other six elements,and more than 300 in case of Zn. Significant differences are between counties only in the case of B, K and P based on ANOVA. Other elements have no significant differences. The following order can be set up based on the mean concentrations and the wide ranges: K≥Ca>P≥S≥Fe≥Mg≥Al>Zn≥Na>Mn≥B>Cu≥Sr. Moreover it can be established, that the measured concentrations are near the same or in some cases lower than in other publications.
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Selenium speciation analysis of selenium-enriched food sprouts
23-28Views:182In this present study, we prepared selenium-enriched pea and wheat sprouts. During our research we aimed not only to measure the total selenium content of the sprouts but to identify different selenium species.
Scientifical researches show why the analytical examination of different selenium (Se) species is necessary: consumption of all kind of Se-species is useful for a person who suffers in selenium deficit, while there is significant difference between effects of different Se-species on person, in whose body the Se-level is just satisfactory. Biological availability, capitalization, accumulation, toxicity of Se-species are different, but the main difference was manifested in the anti-cancer effect of selenium.
During our research selenium was used in form of sodium selenite and sodium selenate, the concentration of the solutions used for germination was 10 mg dm-3. Control treatment meant germination in distilled water. Total selenium content of sprout samples was measured after microwave digestion by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). Different extraction solvents were applied during sample preparation in order to separate different Se-species (0.1 M and 0.2 M HCl or 10 mM citric acid buffer). We wanted the following question to be answered: Which extraction solvent resulted the best extraction efficiency? Selenium speciation analysis of sprout sample extracts was performed by high performance liquid chromatography with anion exchange column, detection of selenium species was performed by ICP-MS.
Evaluating our experimental results we have been found that significant amount of selenium of inorganic forms used during germination transformed into organic selenium compounds. There was difference between the amount of Se-species in pea and wheat sprouts and selenium uptake and repartition of selenium species were depended on Se-form used during germination. In addition the chromatogram analysis made us clear as well, that the citric acid solvent proved to be the most effective extraction solvent during sample preparation int he view of organic Se species.
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The impact of various grape stock cultivars on the As, Cu, Co and Zn content of the grape berry (must, seed)
39-44Views:133Scientific research from the last decades showed that the inappropriate industrial and agricultural production caused an abnormal increase of the potentially toxic elements in the soil. Unfortunately the acidification of the soil is an increasing problem in Hungary. According to Várallyay et al. (2008) 13% of the Hungarian soils are highly acid. Accumulation of toxic elements differs in the genetically diverse plant species. The root of the plant constitutes a filter so that the rootstock is also kind of a filter system, which may prevent that the scion part (such as berry) accumulate high levels of various potentially toxic elements from the soil. The aim of research was to determine how different grape rootstocks influence the As, Co, Cu and Zn content of the musts and seeds. Thus, specifying which of the grape rootstocks takes up the lowest level of these 4 elements (As, Co, Cu and Zn), and accumulates in berries, so could reduce the potentially toxic element load of the grape berries. The grape rootstock collection of the University of Debrecen was set up in 2003 in 3x1 m spacing on immune sandy soil. Grafting of ‘Cserszegi fűszeres’ was started in 2010. We could evaluate yields harvested from 12 rootstock varieties of the experiment in October 2011. We obtained valuable differences in the arsenic, copper, cobalt and zinc concentrations of musts and seeds of ‘Cserszegi fűszeres’ grafted into different rootstocks. The results obtained from the 2011 harvest support the statement that the choice of rootstock might be an important factor to increase food safety. The differences in concentration of the four elements observed in case of the rootstock may have been caused on one hand by the rootstock effect, and on the other hand, the vintage effect has a very significant impact on the vines element uptake. Several years of experimental results will be needed to answer these questions.
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The effect of the preparation method on the physical and chemical characteristics of propolis tinctures
163-168Views:225The effect of the preparation method was examined with regards to the physical and chemical characteristics of the propolis tincture, namely the extraction time and the ethanol content of the extraction solvent to the dry matter, polyphenol, flavonoid, phosphorus, calcium and copper concentration, respectively. The dry matter, the polyphenol and the flavonoid content were the lowest in the water extract of the propolis; however, significant increase was noticed depending on the extraction time. Significantly higher concentrations were found in 50 V/V% tinctures. The highest dry matter and flavonoid contents were analysed in 100 V/V% tinctures, whereas highest polyphenol content was found in 80 V/V% tinctures. However, the differences were not significant in several cases between latter tinctures. Moreover, the increase was not determined in some cases depending on the extraction time. Phosphorus and calcium concentrations were decreased depending on the increasing ethanol content, whereas copper concentration was increased up to 80 V/V%. Higher increase was found in the case of 0 and 50 V/V% extracts than in 80 and 100 V/V% tinctures. Moreover, in latter cases, no significant differences were found on several occasions, depending on the extraction time. There was no connection between the flavonoids and the calcium as well as the phosphorus content, whereas flavonoids may be made complex with copper. However, the amount of the possible complex was negligible.
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Definition antioxidant activity of selenium-enriched food sprout, as well as their microbiological analysis
25-30Views:179In this present study, we prepared selenium-enriched food sprouts, where the antioxidant capacity was analysed, we also determined their microbiological status. We took into account the fact, we choose micronutrients to our treatment, that selenium can be delivered to the body by a small amount with the most widely consumed food.
We focused during our research to determine that the increasing concentrations of selenium treatment, in which we used sprouts, knowing fully well that it has an impact on aboriginal antioxidant capacity of sprouts, which is mainly due to high vitamin content of sprouts.
Furthermore, we think it is important to make microbiological analysis, because germination conditions, for example temperature, pH, all this will create an ideal environment for the growth of microorganisms. So we had goal to determine, how the used selenium concentration affect the total plate count, coliform bacteria count and Staphylococcus aureus count of sprouts.
We determined the aboriginal water-soluble and lipid-soluble antioxidant capacity of sprout with the PHOTOCHEM chemiluminometer and we applied pour plate technique for the mapping of the mycrobiological state of sprouts.
Experimental results are evaluated, we state that increasing concentrations of selenite or selenate treatment, is primarily water-soluble antioxidant capacity of sprouts was affected. The water-soluble antioxidant capacity of wheat sprout was much higher than the measured values in pea sprout, this may be linked to what we measured. That is much higher ascorbic acid content in case of wheat sprout, which is well known as one of the most important antioxidant properties compounds of wheat sprout.
We conclude from the results of the microbiological, that the highest concentrations of selenite or selenate treatment has a relative significant anti-microbial effect in case of wheat sprouts. Coliform and total plate count showed no clear decreasing tendency, although the values of treatments in both cases obtained were below the control values.