• Journal of Pharmacopuncture
• /
• v.22 no.1
• /
• pp.16-27
• /
• 2019

Generative and vegetative parts of the cactuses have had a long-lasting position in folk medicine and their effects could partly be confirmed in scientific experiments. Nowadays, the cactus, fruits, and cladodes are the focus of many studies because of their desirable properties. Therefore, the summarized reports of valuable properties of medicinal plants may be a good way to familiarize researches with a new source of drugs with lower side effects and higher efficacy. Opuntia dillenii, a well-known member of the Cactaceae family, is used as a medicinal plant in various countries and grows in the desert, semi-desert, tropical and sub-tropical areas. It shows diverse pharmacological activities such as: antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anti-tumor, neuroprotective, hepatoprotective, hypotensive etc. OD fruit also possesses valuable constitutes for instance: betalains, ascorbic acid, total phenol, protein as well as essential elements which suggest the significant potential of this plant as a complementary therapy against several pathological conditions. This review describes experimental evidence about pharmacological and therapeutic potential of OD in order to give the basis of its application in the prevention and treatment of some chronic diseases. More studies on OD can help better understanding of its pharmacological mechanism of action to explain its traditional uses and to identify its potential new therapeutic applications.

• The Plant Pathology Journal
• /
• v.37 no.6
• /
• pp.607-618
• /
• 2021

The pepper anthracnose fungus, Colletotrichum scovillei, causes severe losses of pepper fruit production in the tropical and temperate zones. RAC1 is a highly conserved small GTP-binding protein in the Rho GT-Pase family. This protein has been demonstrated to play a role in fungal development, and pathogenicity in several plant pathogenic fungi. However, the functional roles of RAC1 are not characterized in C. scovillei causing anthracnose on pepper fruits. Here, we generated a deletion mutant (𝜟Csrac1) via homologous recombination to investigate the functional roles of CsRAC1. The 𝜟Csrac1 showed pleiotropic defects in fungal growth and developments, including vegetative growth, conidiogenesis, conidial germination and appressorium formation, compared to wild-type. Although 𝜟Csrac1 was able to develop appressoria, it failed to differentiate appressorium pegs. However, 𝜟Csrac1 still caused anthracnose disease with significantly reduced rate on wounded pepper fruits. Further analyses revealed that 𝜟Csrac1 was defective in tolerance to oxidative stress and suppression of host-defense genes. Taken together, our results suggest that CsRAC1 plays essential roles in fungal development and pathogenicity in C. scovilleipepper fruit pathosystem.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Culture
• /
• v.21 no.2
• /
• pp.142-153
• /
• 2006

This study was planned to investigate the current using status of agricultural products in school food service both produced in Korea and imported from other countries and the dieticians' perception on using those. A total of 723 dieticians of 442 elementary schools and 381 middle high schools were surveyed in July, 2003 to perform the purposes of the study. A high using rate (93.4%) for Korean agricultural products was investigated. As for meat such as pork and chicken except beef and eggs, the using rate of Korean agricultural products was high. Almost 100% of vegetables and fruits, except tropical fruits such as banana, kiwi, orange and pineapple supplied for school food service were also Korean products. As for nuts and edible oil, the rate of using for Korean agricultural products was comparatively lower than those of other food items due to the price gap. Most dieticians rated the quality of the products produced in Korea higher than that of the imported products in the aspects of their freshness, taste, and safety. But they found no difference in the package condition of the products produced in Korea and of those imported from other countries. This result suggests that the package system should be improved for the agricultural products produced in Korea.

• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
• /
• v.37 no.6
• /
• pp.418-428
• /
• 2022

The purpose of this study was to obtain the codex classification information on the primary food commodity (fresh state) of processed foods of plant origin that are included in the Codex Classification of Foods and Animal Feeds. Furthermore, whether or not the primary food commodity is included in the primary food classification from the Food Code of Korea was investigated. The results are summarized as follows: First, the Codex Classification information (number of classification codes/number of the primary food commodity group that fresh commodities of processed foods are classified/number of primary food commodity that is not included in the Codex Classification) by a processed food group appeared to be 46/8/0 for dried fruits, 76/11/1 for dried vegetables, 54/4/12 for dried herbs, 36/1/0 for cereal grain milling fractions, 17/4/3 for oils and fats (crude), 34/8/9 for oils and fats (refined), 20/8/0 for fruit juices, 3/2/0 for vegetable juices, and 19 codes for teas (in the Codex Classification, the primary food commodity group for tea does not exist). Second, the number of the primary food commodities not included in the Food Code of Korea was 9 for dried fruits, 14 for dried vegetables, 35 for dried herbs, 0 for cereal grain milling fractions, 6 for teas, 3 for oils and fats (crude), 9 for oils and fats (refined), 2 for fruit juices, and 0 for vegetable juices. Third, it was demonstrated that caution should be exercised when using Codex Classification due to differences in food classification between Codex and Korea, such as coconut (Codex, as tree nut as well as assorted tropical and sub-tropical fruit) and olive (Codex, as assorted tropical and sub-tropical fruit as well as olives for oil production), as well as special cases in the Codex Classification, such as dried chili pepper (Codex, as spice), tomato juice (Codex, as vegetable for primary food commodity and as fruit juice for juice) and ginger (Codex, as spice for rhizome and not including as primary commodity for leaves).

• Korean journal of applied entomology
• /
• v.52 no.1
• /
• pp.45-51
• /
• 2013

Tropical plants of mango(Mangefera indica), dragon fruit(Hylocereus undatus), and atemoya(Annona cherimola ${\times}$ A. squamosa) are cultivated in Jeju, Korea. A pest survey on those tropical fruits was conducted from 2008 to 2011. Major pests of Mango were thrips, aphid, mealybug, and lepidoptera species. Thrips palmi and Scirtothrips dorsalis were the most important pests in mango fields. T. palmi mainly injured the leaf but S. dorsalis injured the leaf and fruit. Lepidoptera mango pests injured leaves but some larva of Adoxophyes honmai injured fruit surface around the stem. Aphid pests, Aphis gossypii and Myzus persicae, injured the shoots and Pseudococcus kraunhiae occurred on the stem and fruit. Ant species, A. gossypii, and S. litura, were important pests on dragon fruit. Ants and aphid occurred and injured the stem, flower, and fruit. Spodoptera litura larva severely injured the stem. Among the atemoya pests, S. litura and Homona magnanima caused severe damage.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural and Forest Meteorology
• /
• v.23 no.4
• /
• pp.349-355
• /
• 2021

The effect of night temperature was investigated on mango (Mangifera indica cv. Irwin) for setting appropriate night temperature and managing mango cultivation in a greenhouse. Different night temperatures (10, 15, and 20℃) were treated from budding to fruit development in mango trees. As night temperature increased, the initiation of flowering, full blooming, fruiting, and fruit development tended to be accelerated. There were no significant differences in the growth of shoots flushed after the fruit harvest among trees treated with different night temperatures. The lengths of the flower stalk were the shortest at 10℃ of night temperature; however, there were no significant differences between 15℃ and 20℃ of the night temperature. The length, diameter, and weight of mango fruits were higher at 15℃ and 20℃ than 10℃. Soluble solid contents and acidities showed no difference; the firmness and skin color were better as the night temperature increased. Accordingly, setting the minimum night temperatures to 15℃ or 20℃ can increase the number of fruits and produce high-quality fruits when cultivating mango in the greenhouse. Even the minimum night temperature to 15℃ can reduce heating costs in the greenhouse.

• Korean Journal of Pharmacognosy
• /
• v.32 no.4 s.127
• /
• pp.330-337
• /
• 2001

Prickly pear(Opuntia ficus-indica var. saboten Makino, Cactaceae) is a tropical or subtropical plant, which is widely used as folk medicine for burned wound, edema and indigestion. Screening on the biological properties of the fruits(OFS-Fr) and stems(OFS-St) of the plant was carried out to prove the pharmacological significance. By hot plate and acetic acid-inducing writhing methods, significant analgesic effects of OFS-Fr and OFS-St were found in mice and anti-edemic effect was observed in carrageenin-induced inflammatory rats. However, the extracts showed no significant actions on central and autonomic nervous system and blood circulatory system, which imply no toxic effects to animal.

• Preventive Nutrition and Food Science
• /
• v.5 no.1
• /
• pp.58-64
• /
• 2000

Obesity is a global pandemic that is increasing throughout most of the world. Increases in obesity are not restricted to highly industrialized countries, but have been observed in newly developed and developing countries as well. Obesity is associated with increased risk for non-insulin dependent diabetes mellitus, coronary artery disease, and some types of cancer. Tragically, eliminating food shortages in developing countries may result in substituting heart disease, diabetes, and cancer for malnutrition. There are many approaches to reducing obesity, including dietary modification, surgical interventions, and drug therapies. However, only dietary modification has the potential to be effective on a global scale. Public health measures in the United States have sought to reduce obesity by reducing the intake of dietary fat. While these efforts have succeeded in reducing dietary fat, obesity has continued to increase, suggesting that moderate fat reduction may not be effective. Other proposed diets include low-carbohydrate diets, low glycemic index diets, and very low fat diets. While all of these diets may be effective for some people, they are not satisfactory for public health policy. In fact, the ratio of fat to carbohydrate may not be as important as previously believed. Humans may be well suited to adapt to diets as varied as a high carbohydrate tropical diet consisting mostly of fruits to the high fat Eskimo diet consisting largely of animal foods. Either extreme may be healthful if providing adequate, but not excessive, energy and adequate amounts of micronutrients. Public health measures may need to focuss on reducing the overconsumption of inexpensive and convenient foods.

• Food Science and Biotechnology
• /
• v.16 no.1
• /
• pp.37-42
• /
• 2007

The biotransformation of monoterpenic agro-industrial wastes (turpentine oil and essential orange oil) was studied. More than 40 fungal strains were isolated from Brazilian tropical fruits and eucalyptus trees and screened for biotransformation of the waste substrates. Solid phase microextraction was used to monitor the presence of volatile compounds in the headspaces of sporulated surface cultures. The selected strains were submitted to submerged liquid culture. The biotransformation of R-(+)-limonene and ${\alpha},\;{\beta}-$ pinenes from the oils resulted in ${\alpha}-terpineol$ and perillyl alcohol, and verbenol and verbenone, respectively, as the main products. The selected strains were also placed in contact with ${\alpha}-$ and ${\beta}-$ pinenes standards. It was confirmed that verbenol, verbenone, and ${\alpha}-terpineol$ were biotransformation products from the terpenes. A concentration of 90 mg/L of verbenone was achieved by Penicillium sp. 2360 after 3 days of biotransformation.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Culture
• /
• v.5 no.3
• /
• pp.301-311
• /
• 1990

The agriculture of Korea was begun in the neolithic era partly and generalized around 4,000 B.C. Discovery of acorn and stoneworks used in agriculture in neolithic era in 8,000 B.C to 6,000 B.C suggests that prehistoric ancestors of Korean night use acorn, hazel-nuts, and haws, etc. as foods. Cultivation of chestnuts, peaches, plums, pears, and japanese apricots was found in Mahan, the tribal states, and in the period of three kingdoms and Balhae dynasty too. In the period of Koryo, pears, plums, japanese apricots, pine nuts, apricots, grapes, jujubes, gingko nuts, oranges, and citrons were cultivated and used in diet. Sejongsilrokjiriji(1454), a geography of the early chosun, and Sinjungtonggukyojisungnam(1492) show that they cultivated almost all fruits we are now cultivating such as hazel-nuts, haws, nutmeg nut, and so on. Loquats seem to be brought in the early chosun era and figs around 16th century. Pecans, sweet cherries were brought around 1,900 and recently tropical fruits like kiwis were brought in and used in a large scale. In addition, Some fruits were used in medical treatments. Fruits increase the pleasure of the diet and sometimes they are used as a measure of a standard of living. Fruits have been improved and used for a long time, their status in our diet will be maintained resolutly.