Fatemeh Moradi Ganjeh; Rasoul Meamar Dastjerdi; Mokhtar heidari; Mohammad Hadi Movahednejad
Abstract
Introduction Citrus are one of the major agricultural production available in the world and it is one of the popular fruits in the diet. The most well-known varieties of citrus fruits include oranges, lemons, grapefruits and tangerines. Cultivation of sweet lemon requires specific climate situation that ...
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Introduction Citrus are one of the major agricultural production available in the world and it is one of the popular fruits in the diet. The most well-known varieties of citrus fruits include oranges, lemons, grapefruits and tangerines. Cultivation of sweet lemon requires specific climate situation that it is found in many region of Iran. However, the high quality ones are in Jahrom, Ghsre Shirin, Dezfool, Jiroft and the Sorth of Iran. Two major limitation of long-term storage for citrus fruits are decay caused by pathogens, especially fungi, skin fruit damage and water loss, which can cause wrinkles and reduce product marketability and consumer acceptability. Edible coatings are one of the most effective methods to maintaining the fruit quality. Today edible coatings can preserve citrus quality and provide attractive approach to satisfactory performance. Chitosan is used for film or edible coatings to extend the shelf life of foods such as fruits, meat and fish and foods. The results of several studies indicate the effective role of chitosan in controlling fruit during storage. Wax in the fruit is used to prevent moisture loss and wrinkle of the fruit and also to maintain the appearance of the product and its marketability. So, the final goal of this study is investigate the effect of edible coatings (chitosan-clay Nano composite, Wax coatings and olive oil) on some quality attributes of sweet lemon during shelf life storage.Materials and Methods Sweet lemon's fruits (216 N.) were harvested randomly from a citrus orchard in Dezfool, Iran. The samples immediately sent into the laboratory for storage after necessary treatments. All fruits were disinfected by immersion in 4% chlorox for 3 minutes and then dried. Chitosan with low molecular weight (43 KD) was bought from Sigma Aldrich Company. Clay was purchased from Sefid Sang Aligoodarz Company in Iran and wax coating was provided from Pooshesh Hayat sabz company in Iran. The chitosan-clay coating was prepared by dissolving a mixture of chitosan (3w/v% to solution), clay (5, 10 and 15% wt to chitosan) and glycerol (10v/w% to chitosan) and tween 80(5% v/w to chitosan) in acid lactic solution (2%). Nano structure of chitosan-clay nano-composite was approved by XRD analysis. The chemical parameters of fruit juice such as TSS (%), pH(%) and TA (%) of lemon juice were measured. TSS was determined by digital refractometer (model MA882, made in Japan). pH was measured by pHmeter ( portable p-755 model) and TA was determined by AOAC standard method. The experiment was performed at three levels of chitosan-clay nanocomposite, olive oil, Carnoba wax and uncoated samples during 12 days shelf life storage. The experimental design was factorial based on completely randomized design with three replications. Limon samples were maintained at ambient temperature of 25 ℃ and relative humidity of 80-85%. Chemical characteristics (pH, citric acid, fruit juice TSS, vitamin C) and mechanical characteristics (weight loss percentage, sphericity coefficient, maximum shear force, maximum fracture force and maximum tensile strength of the fruit skin) were measured during storage.Results and Discussion The results of experiments showed that the trend of changes in vitamin C content decreased during storage. But this decrease was slower in the different percentages of chitosan-clay, olive oil coating and carnoba wax than in the control samples.The results showed the significant differences at 1% and 5% levels between different coatings at maximum fracture force, percent weight loss and pH. In addition, the effect of storage times on TSS, pH and maximum fracture force was significant. The lowest and highest percentage of weight loss for uncoated samples and olive oil coating were 12.3% and 10.23%, respectively. Results showed that the coated fruits had the better performance in preserving the quality of properties than the uncoated samples and 5% chitosan-clay nanocomposite coatings were higher performance than the other coatings.Conclusion In this study, the effect of chitosan-clay nanocomposite, olive oil, Carnoba wax and uncoated samples during 12 days shelf life storage on Chemical characteristics (pH, citric acid, fruit juice TSS, vitamin C) and mechanical characteristics (weight loss percentage, sphericity coefficient, maximum shear force, maximum fracture force and maximum tensile strength of the fruit skin) were investigated. The results of this study showed that 5% chitosan-clay nanocomposite coatings were higher performance than the other coatings.
Soil Physics, Erosion and Conservation
shamsollah ayoubi; zanyar feizi; Mohammad reza Mosaddeghi; Ali asghaar besaltpour
Abstract
Investigating the application of biochar, bentonite clay and polyvinyl acetate polymer on some mechanical properties of sand deposits IntroductionWind erosion seriously threatens bare soils and is recognized as a global environmental problem; however, little is known about this process in comparison ...
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Investigating the application of biochar, bentonite clay and polyvinyl acetate polymer on some mechanical properties of sand deposits IntroductionWind erosion seriously threatens bare soils and is recognized as a global environmental problem; however, little is known about this process in comparison to rainfall or tillage erosion. Due to the heavy costs of controlling wind erosion and the difficulty of detecting which control measure is the most effective, the correct selection of technical methods is indispensable for a suitable land management. Since the last decades, the methods of sand stabilization studied are diverse, but basically based on wind speed reduction by including chemical, mechanical and biological methods. One of the most important methods of stabilizing sandy soils is the use of mulches. In recent years, due to the disproportionate development of residential in peri-urban areas, humans use polymeric and oil mulches to stabilize sandy soils. Therefore, in this research, the effects of bentonite clay, polyvinyl acetate and palm biochar on reducing soil erosion by wind in peri-urban areas were investigated.Methods and Materials Three selected treatments were compared with a control plot without any treatment: palm biochar, polyvinyl acetate and bentonite clay. In order to prepare the palm biochar, palm remnants including the trunk, foliage and palm leaves were poured into the mill and turned into small pieces. The fragments were passed through a 2 mm sieve. The remnants transmitted from the sieve were poured into the trays of the discharger unit and placed inside a discharger at 350°C for 4 hours, and the biochemicals were prepared to the extent necessary for this research. Polyvinyl acetate treatment was provided by Isfahan Resin Co. and the bentonite clay by the Derin Kashan enterprise (both of them from Isfahan, Iran). To apply the treatments, each of them was mixed with a certain proportion of water per m2: i) 20 g l-1of palm biochar treatments; ii) 7 g l-1 of polyvinyl acetate treatment; and, iii) 20 g l-1 of bentonite clay.In order to apply the treatments, 36 galvanized trays with a same size (5×35×105 cm) were prepared and filled up from the air to the top edge with sand. After 1, 2, 4, 10 and 20 weeks some mechanical and physical properties were measured in laboratory. Results and Discussion A significant difference was observed among different treatments in terms of the impact on aggregates formations and stabilities at different moments. The application of bentonite clay treatment significantly increased the stability of formed aggregates compared to control treatment. The rest of treatments showed lower aggregability. The mean weigh diameter (MDW) for the control plot was 0.28 mm. The lowest MWD was obtained by the palm biochar treatment, which increased by 20.1, 14.9, 9, 2.5 and 1.6% after the first, second, fourth, tenth and twentieth weeks of application, respectively. Polyvinyl acetate treatment increased MDW by 65.1, 61.6, 58.8, 41.9 and 31.5% after the first, second, fourth, tenth and twentieth weeks, respectively. The highest MWD was obtained by bentonite clay treatment, which generated an increase by 77.8, 71, 65.1, 59.9 and 49.7% in the first, second, fourth, tenth and twentieth weeks, respectively). The images from thin sections of bentonite clay and polyvinyl acetate treatments showed that soil particles were joined to form larger aggregates in all of cases.No significant differences was observed for hydraulic conductivity at different times were observed. There was a significant difference among different treatments at different monitoring periods. The application of bentonite clay significantly reduced the fractal dimension. On the contrary, the lowest effect was registered for the palm biochar treatment. The effect of bentonite clay treatment on soils was higher than other selected treatments showing a reduction by 10.6, 9.7, 8.7 6.7 and 6.3% in the first, second, fourth, tenth and twentieth weeks, respectively. The impact of different treatments on shear resistance showed that the application of the selected treatments significantly increased the shear strength in all the cases. Among the selected treatments, the effect of bentonite clay treatment on shear resistance was higher than other treatments. The lowest and the highest shear resistance were registered for the palm biochar and bentointe clay, respectively. Palm biochar increased shear resistance by 9.3, 9.3, 8, 5.3 and 3.3% compared to the control plot in the first, second, fourth, tenth and twentieth weeks after its application. On the other, bentonite clay registered the highest improvement in shear resistance by 44.7, 44.7, 42.7, 37.3 and 31.3% in the first, second, fourth, tenth and twentieth weeks, respectively. Keywords: Mulches, Bentonite, Clay, Biochar, Palm, Mechanical properties
