Processing, food industry and biochemistry
Jalal Ghanbari; Gholamreza Khajoei-Nejad
Abstract
Modifications in saffron quality characteristics due to storage time between samples harvested from two consecutive years have not been studied well. For this purpose, saffron samples harvested from 2016 and 2017 were analyzed using proton transfer reaction-time of flight-mass spectrometry (PTR-TOF-MS) ...
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Modifications in saffron quality characteristics due to storage time between samples harvested from two consecutive years have not been studied well. For this purpose, saffron samples harvested from 2016 and 2017 were analyzed using proton transfer reaction-time of flight-mass spectrometry (PTR-TOF-MS) and ISO 3632 trade standard procedures to determine volatile compounds as well as crocin and picrocrocin contents, respectively. The results of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) analysis revealed that 11 main compounds including safranal, acetic acid, 2(5H)-furanone, isobutanal, biogenic aldehyde fragment, 4-ketoisophorone, acetaldehyde, butyrolactone, acetone/propanal, methanol, and isophorone were responsible for the overall VOCs profile of saffron, as accounted for more than 80% of the identified VOCs. Comparisons between samples stored from two years showed that safranal, acetic acid, 2(5H)-furanone, biogenic aldehyde fragment, and butyrolactone compounds were significantly increased for samples stored from 2016 (between 56-82 percent) compared with the samples obtained from 2017. On the contrary, isophorone isomers contents as safranal precursors, decreased their contents relatively. Similarly, crocin and picrocrocin contents measured by ISO method differed significantly between samples of two studied years. For all the studied samples, color and flavor factors of saffron reduced by 20 and 14% on the average for samples stored from 2016 in comparison with amples obtained from 2017, respectively. According to results of principal component analysis, change in crocin, picrocrocin, and main volatile compounds of saffron including safranal, acetic acid, 2(5H)-furanone, isobutanal, and isophorone could be considered as an indicator for distinguishing the current year’s harvested samples from the samples stored since previous years.
Agriculture
Jalal Ghanbari; Gholamreza Khajoei-Nejad
Abstract
Emergence of saffron buds is sensitive to soil compaction and structure. Soil bulk density is introduced as the most important index of soil physical quality. Accordingly, this study was done to evaluate the effect of compost and compost-biochar in planting bed on the emergence and early seedling growth ...
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Emergence of saffron buds is sensitive to soil compaction and structure. Soil bulk density is introduced as the most important index of soil physical quality. Accordingly, this study was done to evaluate the effect of compost and compost-biochar in planting bed on the emergence and early seedling growth of saffron ecotypes and its relationship to soil bulk density. Experimental treatments consisted of planting beds (without any organic amendment (control), incorporation of 20 t.ha-1 compost and 10 t.ha-1 compost+ 8 t.ha-1 biochar (cellulosic material of hardwood)) and different ecotypes of saffron (Bajestan, Estahban, Ferdows, Gonabad, Natanz, Qaen, Sarayan, Torbate-Heydarieh and Zarand). Data obtained from experiment were subjected to combined analysis of variance among planting beds based on randomized complete block design. The results showed that application of compost and compost+biochar, improved emergence of the main and lateral buds as well as leaf growth parameters compared to the control. Zarand, Torbate-Heydarieh and Estahban ecotypes responded differently to the planting bed types in terms of emergence percent and rate of main bud compared to other ecotypes. Considerable variation was observed among the ecotypes in terms of all studied parameters, which indicated the adaptability of ecotypes to climatic conditions of corm provenance. Generally, the Bajestan, Ferdows and Qaen ecotypes showed superiority in terms of leaf area and dry weight. Compost and compost-biochar significantly (12%) reduced the soil bulk density compared to the control. Linear regression analysis indicated that there was a negative relationship between soil bulk density and the studied parameters, and significant decrease in all parameters was observed with increasing of soil bulk density.
