This review is a comprehensive introduction to pertinent aspects of the extraction methodology, chemistry, analysis and pharmacology of essential oils, whilst providing a background of general organic chemistry concepts to readers from non-chemistry oriented backgrounds. Furthermore, it...

Plants harbor a diverse microbiome existing as bacterial populations on the leaf surface (the phyllosphere) and within plant tissues (endophytes). The composition of this microbiome has been largely unexplored in fresh produce vegetables, where studies have tended to focus on pathogen detection...

Chicken litter or chicken litter-based organic fertilizers are usually recycled into the soil to improve the structure and fertility of agricultural land. As an important source of nutrients for crop production, chicken litter may also contain a variety of human pathogens that can threaten...

Ensuring food security is an ongoing global challenge. Many forecasts point to a need to increase food production by at least 70% if we are to feed the world’s projected population of nine billion in 2050. Recent volatility in commodity prices and the general upward trend in the cost of food...

The effect of soil drought (10 days) on the growth of plants, the accumulation of water and leakage of electrolytes, gas exchange, the contents of chl <i>a</i> + <i>b</i> and carotenoids in leaves and photochemical activity of photosystem II was studied at the seedling stage by transient fluorescent analysis...

There has been an unprecedented demand for inexpensive plant-derived protein hydrolysates in recent years, owing to their potential nutritional applications. This review examines existing evidence regarding protein hydrolysates from agricultural crops such as wheat, soy, rapeseed, sunflower and...

Although science has helped us to identify and measure the threat of soil erosion to food production, we need to cast a wider net for effective solutions. Honest assessment suggests, in fact, that this kind of eco-agri-cultural issue exceeds the traditional boundaries of scientific interest. The...

Promising energy crops such as <i>Jatropha curcas Linnaeus</i> (<i>JCL</i>), which are planted on marginal lands, or microalgae such as <i>Chlorella</i>, which are cultivated in ponds located on mudflats or deserts, have been regarded with high hopes to solve the shortage of food crops and increase the amount of...

Most source attribution studies for <i>Campylobacter </i>use subtyping data based on single isolates from foods and environmental sources in an attempt to draw epidemiological inferences. It has been suggested that subtyping only one <i>Campylobacter</i> isolate per chicken carcass incurs a risk of failing to...

Chokeberries (<em>Aronia melanocarpa</em>) are nowadays believed to exhibit potential cardioprotective and antidiabetic effects principally due to their high content in bioactive phenolic compounds. The stability of the phenolic compounds was studied during different stages of a juice production line and...