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Both the fruit flesh and seeds of sea buckthorn have multiple uses for medicinal and culinary purposes, including the valuable market for supplementary health foods. Bioactive compounds, such as essential amino acids, vitamins B, C, and E, carotenoids, polyphenols, ursolic acid, unsaturated fatty acids, and other active substances, are now being analyzed in detail for their medicinal properties. Domestication with commercial orchards and processing plants is undertaken in many countries, but there is a large need for improved plant material with high yield, tolerance to environmental stress, diseases, and pests, suitability for efficient harvesting methods, and high contents of compounds that have medicinal and/or culinary values. Applied breeding is based mainly on directed crosses between different subspecies of Hippophae rhamnoides. DNA markers have been applied to analyses of systematics and population genetics as well as for the discrimination of cultivars, but very few DNA markers have as yet been developed for use in selection and breeding. Several key genes in important metabolic pathways have, however, been identified, and four genomes have recently been sequenced. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Commercial fruit production in Norway is located at around latitude 60° north, demanding a careful choice of adapted cultivars. The most comprehensive collection of apple genetic resources in Norway is being kept in the Norwegian Apple Collection (NAC) at the Njøs Fruit and Berry Centre (NJØS). The collection contains around 350 accessions and was recently genotyped with a single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) array. Curated SNP data were used for the assessment of structure and diversity, pedigree confirmation, and core collection development. In the following SNP analysis, we identified several duplicates and parent-child relationships. Across the geographic regions represented, the collection was equally diverse. Different methods for analyzing population structure were applied. K-means clustering and a Bayesian modeling approach with prior assumptions of the data revealed five subpopulations associated with geographic breeding centers. The collection has a distinct genetic structure and low relatedness among the accessions; hence, two core collections with 100 accessions in each were created. These new core collections will allow breeders and researchers to use the NAC efficiently. The results from this study suggest that several of the accessions in the Norwegian Apple Collection could be of high importance for breeding purposes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Interactions between phenolic compounds in black currant leaves and foliar diseases may be important in breeding for resistant genotypes with a nutritional high profile for human applications. For increased understanding of such interactions, we evaluated the presence of major fungal diseases by visual inspection, and content of phenolic compounds by HPLC in leaves of five segregating black currant breeding populations. Eight individual flavonols (e.g. quercetin-3-O-glucoside, quercetin-3-O-rutinoside and kaempferol-malonylgucoside), three flavan-3-ols (epigallocatechin, catechin and epicatechin) and two chlorogenic acids (neochlorogenic acid and chlorogenic acid) were significantly correlated to the leaf diseases. Rib-0701 was the population possessing the highest content for several of the compounds, while genotype differences existed for content of various phenolic compounds and resistance to the diseases. The high variability of content of phenolic compounds opens up for opportunities to breed resistant genotypes with improved health properties of the leaves for functional food products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sea buckthorn is a berry crop with multiple uses. The berries are highly appreciated for their unique taste but are also very rich in bioactive compounds with powerful nutritional and medicinal values. In addition, the plants grow well under adverse conditions, and are often used to fight soil erosion. Utilization of sea buckthorn has therefore increased around the world but serious problems have, nevertheless, been encountered due to drought, salinity, diseases and insect pests. This review covers important aspects of sea buckthorn research, such as heritable and environmentally induced variation in biochemical compounds, causes and effects of the devastating dried-shrink disease, susceptibility to insect pests, methods for conventional breeding, and the utilization of DNA markers for taxonomical and population genetic analyses, and for investigating the inheritance of quality and resistance traits. We also present possibilities to implement innovative biotechnological breeding methods, especially metabolite profiling and MAS/GRC-based markers, for fast and efficient development of elite genotypes with specific nutritional- and health-related bioactive compounds and strong resistance to biotic and abiotic stress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND: Rose hips are used as a food ingredient and in health products. They are rich in various bioactive compounds such as carotenoids and vitamin C, but data on their vitamin E content (tocopherols and tocotrienols) are limited. In this study, four different species of Rosa were analysed for tocopherol and tocotrienol content during ripening in three different years. RESULTS: Only α- and γ-tocopherol were found in the fleshy parts of the rose hips, and the tocopherol content and vitamin E activity varied depending on date of harvesting, species and year. The amount of vitamin E activity differed between species of Rosa and years, whereas the changes during ripening were relatively small. CONCLUSION: The choice of species must be considered if tocopherol content is to be optimised when rose hips are used as a food ingredient. Copyright © 2012 Society of Chemical Industry [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Interest in organic food is increasing among consumers, thus making it possible to improve the profitability of Swedish apples. One way to obtain a swift increase in organic apple production is to convert existing orchards to organic growing. The main objective of this study was to compare the horticultural performance of an apple orchard converted to organic growing with the previous Integrated Fruit Production (IFP). The trial was conducted in the south of Sweden during the years 2000-2002. The accumulated yield for organic 'Aroma' was 66.2 kg/tree compared with 77.9 kg and 99.5 kg for two IFP-treated sections. For 'Karin Schneider,' the yield was 20.7 kg/tree in the organic section, and 21.9 kg and 26.1 kg for the two IFP sections. The lower yield in organic sections was mainly due to a smaller amount of fruit. This reduction may have been caused by the use of a sulphur-containing fungicide, which could have had a fruit-thinning effect. The most important difference between treatments was apparently connected with the use of less efficient fungicides in the organic sections. In these sections, 10% of the fruit was damaged by scab, whereas less than 1% had scab in the IFP sections. Lack of efficient fungicides was also apparent after storage; 8% of organically grown 'Aroma' fruit was affected by the storage disease bull's-eye rot, compared with 0.4% in the IFP sections, while corresponding figures for 'Karin Schneider' were 4% and 0%, respectively. The two cultivars differed considerably from one another in various fruit quality parameters, but no major treatment effects were found in fruit covering colour, ground color, firmness, sugar content or malic acid content. Higher amounts of nitrogen and boron were found in fruit from the IFP sections, but this finding was probably caused by foliar spraying with nutrients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The wound-healing properties of Plantago major L. (plantain) were evaluated using an ex-vivo porcine wound-healing model. Ethanol- and water-based extracts were prepared from greenhouse-grown and freeze-dried leaves of P. major. Both types of extracts stimulated wound healing in porcine skin, but the ethanol-based extracts had a somewhat stronger effect. A concentration of 1.0 mg/mL (on dry weight basis) produced the best results for both types of extracts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and aim: Ischemia-reperfusion (I/R) in the intestines activates leukocytes and reactive oxygen species (ROS) and leads to lipid peroxidation and DNA damage. Rosehips have a high content of polyphenols and might prevent lipid peroxidation. Some Lactobacillus species are capable of degrading polyphenols to simpler and non-toxic constituents, sometimes with enhanced antioxidative capacity. Methods: A mixture of eight polyphenol active Lactobacillus strains (LAB) were administered in feed together with rosehips of Rosa canina (RC) or Rosa pimpinellifolia (RP) to mice to clarify the influence on I/R-induced injury of the intestinal tract. I/R injury was induced by holding the superior mesenteric artery clamped for 30 min followed by reperfusion for 240 min. Tissue and content from colon and cecum were analyzed. Results: Administration of LAB or RP significantly decreased malondialdehyde (MDA) levels in colonic tissue ( p=0.007 and p=0.035, respectively). RC contained significantly higher concentrations of monomer and dimer aglycones, glycosides, and catechin than RP, while cyanidin-3-O-glycoside was significantly higher in RP. There was a tendency towards higher values of phenolics in the mice fed either of the two rose species in combination with bacterial mixture than the mice fed the rose species alone. Total antioxidative capacity and total phenolic content were higher in the groups fed rosehips in combination with LAB than rosehips alone, although these differences were not significant. Conclusion: LAB showed metabolic activity towards polyphenols in rosehips. There is an indication that LAB together with rosehips, especially R. pimpinellifolia, may prevent and suppress I/R injury in the intestines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Genetic relatedness in Chaenomeles was studied by RAPD analysis in 42 plants representing accessions of three wild species and one hybrid taxon. Amplification with 17 primers yielded a total of 156 polymorphic RAPD bands. Estimates of genetic relatedness suggest that C. cathayensis and C. japonica are the most distantly related species, and that the former is comparatively homogeneous. Chaenomeles speciosa, which may have arisen through hybridization between C. cathayensis and C. japonica, takes an intermediate position between these two species. Analysis of diagnostic bands demonstrate that neither C. speciosa nor C. × superba has any bands that do not occur in at least one of C. cathayensis or C. japonica. Moreover, C. speciosa and the partly overlapping taxon C. × superba are comparatively heterogeneous, which is also in accordance with a hybrid origin. Intraspecific variation was studied mainly in C. japonica; plants obtained from different sources of material formed well separated groups in the cluster analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fungal storage rots like blue mould, grey mould, bull's eye rot, bitter rot and brown rot destroy large amounts of the harvested apple crop around the world. Application of fungicides is nowadays severely restricted in many countries and production systems, and these problems are therefore likely to increase. Considerable variation among apple cultivars in resistance/susceptibility has been reported, suggesting that efficient defence mechanisms can be selected for and used in plant breeding. These are, however, likely to vary between pathogens, since some fungi are mainly wound-mediated while others attack through lenticels or by infecting blossoms. Since mature fruits are considerably more susceptible than immature fruits, mechanisms involving fruit-ripening processes are likely to play an important role. Significant associations have been detected between the susceptibility to rots in harvested fruit and various fruit maturation-related traits like ripening time, fruit firmness at harvest and rate of fruit softening during storage, as well as fruit biochemical contents like acidity, sugars and polyphenols. Some sources of resistance to blue mould have been described, but more research is needed on the development of spore inoculation methods that produce reproducible data and can be used for large screenings, especially for lenticel-infecting fungi. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The underlying mechanism(s) behind the potential carcinogenicity of processed meat is a popular research subject of which the lipid oxidation is a common suspect. Different formulations and cooking parameters of a processed meat product were evaluated for their capacity to induce lipid oxidation. Meatballs made of beef or pork, containing different concentrations of fat (10 or 20 g 100 g−1), salt (2 or 4 g 100 g−1), subjected to differing cooking types (pan or deep frying), and storage times (1, 7, and 14 days), were evaluated using thiobarbituric reactive substances (TBARS). The deep-fried meatball type most susceptible to oxidation was used as the model meat product for testing the lipid oxidation inhibiting capacity of 11 plant materials and extracts, in two concentrations (100 and 200 mg kg−1 gallic acid equivalent (GAE)), measured after 14 days of storage using TBARS. Summer savory lyophilized powder was the most efficient plant material, lowering lipid oxidation to 13.8% and 21.8% at the 200 and 100 mg kg−1 concentration, respectively, followed by a sea buckthorn leaf extract, lowering lipid oxidation to 22.9% at 100 mg kg−1, compared to the meatball without added antioxidants. The lipid oxidation was thus successfully reduced using these natural antioxidants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Berries contain bioactive compounds that may affect children’s cognitive function positively, while hunger and thirst during lessons before lunch affect academic performance negatively. This pilot study addresses methodological challenges in studying if a berry smoothie, offered to schoolchildren as a mid-morning beverage, affects academic performance. The objective was to investigate if a cross-over design can be used to study these effects in a school setting. Therefore, in order to investigate assay sensitivity, 236 Swedish children aged 10–12 years were administered either a berry smoothie (active) or a fruit-based control beverage after their mid-morning break. Both beverages provided 5% of child daily energy intake. In total, 91% of participants completed the study. Academic performance was assessed using the d2 test of attention. Statistical analyses were performed using the Wilcoxon signed rank test in StatXact v 10.3. The results showed that the children consumed less of the active berry smoothie than the control (154 g vs. 246 g). Both beverages increased attention span and concentration significantly (p = 0.000). However, as there was no significant difference (p = 0.938) in the magnitude of this effect between the active and control beverages, the assay sensitivity of the study design was not proven. The effect of the beverages on academic performance was attributed the supplementation of water and energy. Despite careful design, the active smoothie was less accepted than the control. This could be explained by un-familiar sensory characteristics and peer influence, stressing the importance of sensory similarity and challenges to perform a study in school settings. The employed cross-over design did not reveal any effects of bioactive compound consumption on academic performance. In future studies, the experimental set up should be modified or replaced by e.g. the parallel study design, in order to provide conclusive results. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]