Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada

About: Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada is a facility organization based out in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Soil water. The organization has 10921 authors who have published 21332 publications receiving 748193 citations. The organization is also known as: Department of Agriculture and Agri-Food.

Polyphenolic profiles in eight apple cultivars using high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC).

Abstract: Polyphenolic compounds of apple may play an important role in physiologic functions related to human health. Different polyphenolics may have varied biological activities including antioxidant activity. The objective of this study was to investigate the profiles of polyphenolic compounds in different apple varieties and different parts of an apple. The total and individual polyphenolics differed significantly among the eight apple cultivars grown in Ontario, and the peels had higher concentrations than the flesh. Among the tested cultivars, Red Delicious and Northern Spy had the highest concentrations and Empire the lowest. Five major polyphenolic groups with a total of 16 identified individual compounds were found, among which the dihydroxycinnamic acid esters, phloretin glycosides, and flavan-3-ols were found in both flesh and peel, whereas quercetin glycosides were almost exclusively found in the peel. Cyanidin 3-galactoside was unique to and found only in red apple peels. In both apple peel and flesh, the predominant group of polyphenolics was the procyanidins, followed by quercetin glycosides in the peel and hydroxycinnamic acid esters in the flesh. 3-Hydroxyphloretin 2'-xyloglucoside was newly identified in apple. The results obtained in this study will further the understanding of the polyphenolic composition of apples and their roles in health-promoting physiological functions.

Role of mineral nutrition in minimizing cadmium accumulation by plants

Abstract: Cadmium (Cd) is a highly toxic heavy metal for both plants and animals. The presence of Cd in agricultural soils is of great concern regarding its entry into the food chain. Cadmium enters into the soil-plant environment mainly through anthropogenic activities. Compounds of Cd are more soluble than other heavy metals, so it is more available and readily taken up by plants and accumulates in different edible plant parts through which it enters the food chain. A number of approaches are being used to minimize the entry of Cd into the food chain. Proper plant nutrition is one of the good strategies to alleviate the damaging effects of Cd on plants and to avoid its entry into the food chain. Plant nutrients play a very important role in developing plant tolerance to Cd toxicity and thus, low Cd accumulation in different plant parts. In this report, the role of some macronutrients (nitrogen, phosphorus, sulfur and calcium), micronutrients (zinc, iron and manganese), and silicon (a beneficial nutrient) has been discussed in detail as to how these nutrients play their role in decreasing Cd uptake and accumulation in crop plants.