Zinc in Food Chain

Zinc is an essential trace element widespread in soil, water, flora and fauna. In the food chain, soil is the main source of zinc. The objective of the work is to summarize the nutritional and toxicity data about the spread of Zn in soils and food from vegetal or animal origin. Zinc toxicity in the plant kingdom was rarely detected (at concentrations > 300 mg kg-1), due mainly by plant capacity to regulate homeostasis accumulation of heavy metals, including zinc. Zn contents in plant foods are between 2-10 mg kg-1, the highest concentrations can be found in roots and seeds. Â

Partial Last Square “NIR-CP” Model for Forages from Hill Permanent Grassland

The aim of this study was to perform a NIR calibration model for crude protein prediction of forages harvested in June 2009 from hill permanent grassland (Gradinari, Caras-Severin District) organized in ten experimental trials fertilized organic, mineral, and organo-mineral. The soil was Calcic Luvisol and the annual average temperature around 10.4oC. The floristic composition was determined gravimetrically. From Poaceae were present Festuca rupicola and Calamagrostis epigejos. Fabaceae family was represented by Trifolium repens and Lathyrus pratensis. From other botanical family: Rosa canina, Filipendula vulgaris, Galium verum and Inula britanica. Like input data was used the results for this parameter by Kjeldahl chemical method and the reflectance values from NIR spectra for analysed samples. Partial last square (PLS) regression was selected to perform the multivariate analysis to obtain the “NIR-CP” model, implemented in Panorama program (version 3, LabCognition, 2009). The statistical parameters (R2=0.8630; RMSEC=1.2844) and the differences between references and predicted values situated in range 0.03 - 1.73 % shows that it is promising to use this calibration model to evaluate the quality of forages from grassland in this period of year

Snail survival as bioindicator of cadmium contaminated soils under semi-realistic field conditions

Juvenile brown garden snails (Helix aspersa Müller) were exposed to Cd-contaminated soils for 60 days under semi-realistic field conditions. The soils were contaminated with increasing concentrations of cadmium chloride (0–2900 mg kg-1 Cd2+/solution CdCl2). The snails were housed in terrariums and were fed exclusively with nettle leaves. The experiments were carried out in Timisoara on 1000 snails.The survival rates differed significantly for different Cd treatments. Only higher cadmium concentrations (> 1000 mg kg-1 Cd2+/solution CdCl2) had a significant influence on survival curves of snails exposed to Cd-contaminated soils. The maximal death rate reached 81.00±9.9% for snails exposed to soils contaminated with 2900 mg kg1 Cd /solution CdCl2. We found dose-dependent survival rates, whereas the half maximal effective concentration was 1365 mg kg-1 Cd2+/solution CdCl2. Our results suggested that longer-term studies are required for assessing the real potential of snail survival rate as bioindicator of Cd-contaminated soils in field conditions

Comparative study on the antimicrobial activity of propolis, catechin, quercetin and gallic acid

Propolis, considered one of the most effective natural broad-spectrum antibiotics, which do not induce resistance or destroy the organism’s commensal flora, together with catechin, quercetin and gallic acid (at different concentrations), have been tested against Gram positive bacteria Streptococcus pyogenes ATTC 19615, Stapylococcus aureus ATCC 25923 and Gram negative Escherichia coli ATCC 25922 Pseudomonas aeruginosa ATCC 27853, Salmonella enterica ATCC 14028, Shigella flexneri ATTC 12022, as well as the yeast Candida albicans ATTC 10231, using the agar diffusion method. Propolis and the three compounds showed antimicrobial potential at most concentrations. The highest sensitivity to propolis (conc. 0.001-1%) was shown by the Gram-positive bacterial strain S. pyogenes, followed by the Gram-negative bacterium Escherichia coli, while the other species had an equal and reduced reaction. Gallic acid showed high antibacterial activity on S. aureus, P. aeruginosa and S. enterica, and a reduced effect on other bacterial strains. The antibacterial efficiency of 3.0224% quercetin was high against the bacterium S. pyogenes and catechin (2.9028%) proved to be the best antifungal, followed by propolis 1%, and quercetin 3.0224%. At certain concentrations, propolis and the three compounds could supplement gentamicin and ampicillin, as they have shown similar or even higher antibacterial efficacy than conventional drugs

Dynamic of Hill Grassland Floristic Composition in Spring on the Effects of Fertilizers

In a permanent grassland agro-ecosystem the floristic composition varied depending on substances flow, soil nutrients availability and climatic conditions (Rotar, 1997; Moisuc et al., 2001). On the floristic composition of forages will depended its quality and the satisfaction of nutritive necessities of animal’s, in relationship with the final quality of row matter (Ammerman et al., 1995; Church&Pond, 1988). The aim of this study was to discuss how the fertilisation influences the floristic composition of hill permanent grassland in spring. Principal Components and Classification Analysis (PC&CA) technique implemented in Statistica 6 software was used to perform the statistical interpretation

Evaluation of iron content in the grain of some winter wheat cultivars

The purpose of the research is to follow the influence of the biological factor on iron content of nine varieties of winter wheat: Alex, Potenzial, Soissons, Kalango, Apache, Kristina, Lovrin 34, Chevalier and Panonnikus. Two of these (Potenzial, Chevalier) are of German origin, three (Apache, Kalango, Soissons) of French origin, one (Kristina) of Yugoslavian origin, one of Austrian origin (Panonnikus) and two (Alex and Lovrin 34) were created at S.C.D.A Lovrin, Romania. The experimental field was placed on a cambic chernozem in Timisoara (west of Romania) in 2010, and the fertilization level was N120P60K60. Quality parameters monitored were: moisture, protein content, hectolitre mass and iron content. Variation in the iron content of different winter wheat cultivars was found in this study. Soissons winter wheat cultivar registered the highest value of iron content (54.3 mg/kg dry matter) followed by Kristina (52.07 mg/kg dry matter) and Kalango (50.45 mg/kg dry matter) winter wheat cultivar. Potenzial and Apache winter wheat cultivars registered the lowest values of iron content: 21.29 (mg/kg dry matter) and 20.5 (mg/kg dry matter), respectively