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In developing countries, food losses occur mainly during the production, harvest, postharvest and processing phases. Because of the lack of awareness in the apple postharvest practices in Lebanon, this study was carried out to check the effect of good harvesting and handling practices, pre-storage sorting, and dipping in calcium and fungicide, on the percent losses of Golden Delicious apples during six months of cold storage. A highly significant reduction in the percent of total damages was observed during storage when good harvesting and handling practices and pre-storage sorting were applied. The magnitude of losses reduction depended on the type of damage registered and the practices performed. The presence of injuries was reduced by all types of good practices, applied alone or in combination. Where good harvesting and handling practices were performed, the incidence of bruising was reduced from 93.3% in the non-treated control to 37.7% and symptoms of rot were not detected. This study emphasized the importance of good harvest and postharvest practices in improving and maintaining the quality of Lebanese apples. Keywords: Apple, Golden delicious, Postharvest losses, Postharvest handling, Lebanon

Background Scientists are still battling severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the virus responsible for the coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic so human lives can be saved worldwide. Secondary fungal metabolites are of intense interest due to their broad range of pharmaceutical properties. Beauvericin (BEA) is a secondary metabolite produced by the fungus Beauveria bassiana. Although promising anti-viral activity has previously been reported for BEA, studies investigating its therapeutic potential are limited. Methods The objective of this study was to assess the potential usage of BEA as an anti-viral molecule via protein–protein docking approaches using MolSoft. Results In-silico results revealed relatively favorable binding energies for BEA to different viral proteins implicated in the vital life stages of this virus. Of particular interest is the capability of BEA to dock to both the main coronavirus protease (Pockets A and B) and spike proteins. These results were validated by molecular dynamic simulation (Gromacs). Several parameters, such as root-mean-square deviation/fluctuation, the radius of gyration, H-bonding, and free binding energy were analyzed. Computational analyses revealed that interaction of BEA with the main protease pockets in addition to the spike glycoprotein remained stable. Conclusion Altogether, our results suggest that BEA might be considered as a potential competitive and allosteric agonist inhibitor with therapeutic options for treating COVID-19 pending in vitro and in vivo validation., Graphical abstract Image 1

International audience; Pinus pinea is an important species for ecological and economic reasons in the Mediterranean area and especially in Lebanon. However, conditions of its natural regeneration have received little attention. Our study aimed to test the influence of soil disturbances, predation and autotoxicity on pine regeneration. A seed sowing field experiment was conducted in a mature stand in which two types of soil disturbances were tested (soil scarification and litter burning) in presence or absence of predation. In addition, a laboratory experiment evaluating the influence of litter (present, absent or burned) and green needle leachates (i.e. in order to mimic potential autotoxicity) on seed germination and seedling growth was conducted. Results showed a strong effect of soil disturbance, in particular soil scarification which promoted seedling emergence and early survival, whereas the role of predation was low. Forty to sixty days after seed installation, seedling density peaked at 14.9 ± 0.4 seedling.m in the scarification treatment, 13.1 ± 0.4 in the burning treatment and 8.4 ± 0.4 in the control treatment. However, an unexpected high mortality rate was recorded at the end of the field experiment in all treatments, as after seven months seedling density dropped to 0.2 ± 0.02. In the laboratory experiment, we emphasized an autotoxic effect of green needle aqueous extract on seed germination and seedling growth in the presence of litter. This allelopathic effect could be potentially linked to the presence of quinic acid which was measured as the major metabolite detected in needle aqueous extracts. In conclusion, we recommend soil preparation treatments to favour seedling emergence in combination with thinning to achieve seedling development on the long term.

The entomopathogenic fungus Beauveria bassiana is used as a natural pest killer in many agricultural systems due to its power of overcoming the host immune system. This is partially due to its genome content that expresses key proteins involved in its virulence. In this study, we used Real-Time PCR technique to analyze the relative expression at 48 and 72 h post inoculation of the Hyd1, Hyd2, Bbchit1, Cdep1, Bbbeas, Bbbsls and Vlp4 genes implicated in the pathogenesis process of an indigenous strain (LTB) and a commercial strain (IND) of B. bassiana. This analysis revealed a higher induction of Bbbeas, Bbbsls and Vlp4 genes by the LTB strain when comparing to the IND strain and the calibrator. Furthermore, a more rapid repression of Hyd1 and Hyd2 gene was notable by LTB strain. No significant difference was recorded by the expression of the Cdep1 gene between the test samples and the control. Finally, a significant difference was recorded with the expression of Bbchit1 gene by the IND strain 72 h post-inoculation. In conclusion, these results suggest that B. bassiana strains have differential expression of virulence genes that could reflect adaptation to their geographical environment and could help classifying their entomopathogenic efficacy accordingly.