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Drought is an important abiotic stress limiting plant performance. Generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) is enhanced under stresses. Two greenhouse experiments were conducted to evaluate the effect of phytohormones on the changes of antioxidant enzymes and carotenoids in petals of pot marigold (Calendula officinalis L.) under drought stress. Results showed that the activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD, EC 1.15.1.1) and catalase (CAT, EC 1.11.1.6) increased 47 and 73%, respectively, in petals under water deficit conditions compared with the control plants. Spraying with gibberellic acid (GA3) and benzyl amino purine (BAP) alleviated drought effects, but application of abscisic acid (ABA), jasmonic acid (JA), salicylic acid (SA) and brassinolid (BR) induced the activity of these enzymes. In the case of peroxidase (POD, EC 1.11.1.7), GA3 enhanced the enzyme activity unlike the other enzymes and the rest of the phytohormones had no significant effect on POD activity under either stressed or non-stressed condition. Concentration of carotenoids was affected by drought and hormone treatments. Concentration of carotenoids increased under water deficit but, GA3, BAP and JA had inhibitory effects on lycopene and carotene synthesis, while the rest of the hormones increased them. Spraying with GA3 increased luteoxanthin concentration in petals by 35 and 20% in comparison with the non-stressed and stressed environments, respectively. The decrease in POD activity under stress suggests that other mechanisms might be involved for ROS scavenging in petals of pot marigold.

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Superhydrophobic surfaces received many applications in various industries such as desalinization, heat exchanger, anti-fog and self-cleaning surface production. In this study a wet etching process were used to produce superhydrophobic copper surfaces. The specimens were etched by multiple ferric chloride and deionized water solutions to create micro-nano structures on their surfaces. The electronic scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images of the resulted surfaces show a formation of micro-nano structures with specific templates. Contact and sliding angle measurement of surfaces after etching process show that contact angles of specimens improve to nearly 140o while sliding angle of all samples were 180o , which is the same as a rose petal property. In the next step, to promote hydrophobicity of surfaces, increase contact angle and decrease sliding angle, specimens were immersed in an ethanol and stearic acid solution with a specific concentration. As well as, effects of etching time and etchant concentration on the sliding and contact angles with/without stearic acid modification were investigated. Results show that contact angles increased and sliding angles decreased remarkably so that it reduced to lower than 10o in some cases and lotus effect were achieved.

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 The aim of this study was to evaluate thirteen cultivars of roses for nutritional composition, bioactive compounds and total antioxidant activity. Attaché cultivar had the highest amounts of proteins and total fiber. Regarding color,Avalanchepresented values for internal cromacity around 7 fold higher than Attaché cultivar. The results showed that the evaluated roses presented means of bioactive compounds as ascorbic acid (70.47 mg 100 g^-1), yellow flavonoids (35.25 mg 100 g^-1) and total anthocyanins (150.40 mg 100 g^-1).  The evaluated roses presented relatively low content of total carotenoids (1.25 mg 100 g^-1), and high content of total polyphenols (1565 mg 100 g^-1) and antioxidant capacity (260 µM trolox g^-1). Avalanche, Prima Donna, Dolce Vita, Salmone, and Elisa cultivar presented the minor Euclidean distance. The petals of the evaluated roses are excellent sources of nutritional compounds and antioxidants.

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One of the most important challenge about using anthocyanin, is its low stability, especially against light and heat condition. Therefore, the main goal of this research was to increase the stability of the anthocyanin extract of the saffron petal in thermal and light condition. To reach this goal, encapsulation is the common method. Optimization of the anthocyanin encapsulation by Arabic gum, Persian gum, whey protein and maltodextrin was conducted to investigate the thermal stability in the model drink. Anthocyanin half- life during heat treatment (at 90 °C) was 100.8 min, which became the base of the heat treatment for the model drinks. Among the different wall material used in encapsulating of the anthocyanin extract, the highest total anthocyanin content was related to the maltodextrin microcapsule (191.7 mg cyaniding 3- glycoside/ 100g saffron petal powder). After that, there were the samples with two-part wall that one was maltodextrin. The lowest total anthocyanin was related to the microcapsules containing gum Arabic. After applying the microcapsule to the model drink, the highest anthocyanin retained (63.55درصد) was related to the microcapsule containing the combined maltodextrin and whey protein concentrate (at ratio of 1:1). Therefore the protein wall had the more positive effect on the retention of the anthocyanin in the model drink during thermal treatments.

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The use of controlled fermented legumes along with the aqueous extract of aromatic plants is important in terms of improving the quality characteristics of wheat bread. In the present study, after spontaneous fermentation of mung bean sourdough containing saffron petal extract, the predominant lactic acid bacteria (LAB) isolate was used as a starter culture in controlled fermented sourdough, and then the characteristics of the produced wheat breads in terms of texture, surface expansion of fungi and overall acceptability were investigated. Sequencing results of PCR products led to the identification of Levilactobacillus brevis as the predominant LAB isolated from sourdough. Processing of wheat bread with mung bean sourdough containing mentioned bacteria and saffron petal extract not only improved the textural features and overall acceptability of the produced bread, but also increased their resistance towards the surface expansion of Aspergillus niger. Based on the results, wheat bread containing fermented mung bean and saffron petal extract showed the best textural features compared to other samples with crumb hardness of 10.21 N and porosity of 16.16%. Furthermore, the mentioned sample with 44.33% inhibition had the highest ability to inhibit the growth of the indicator fungus compared to other samples. Although the use of mung bean and saffron petal extract alone in the formulation of wheat bread did not show a great effect on reducing the surface expansion of fungi, but their combined application was significantly (P<0.05) effective in reducing the surface growth of fungus. Due to the appropriate techno-functional capabilities of controlled fermented mung bean sourdough containing saffron petal extract, it can be used as a natural improver in the bakery industries.