Pistachio and Health Journal
Volume:3 Issue: 2, Spring 2020

Pistachio nuts are considered a functional foodstuff containing various antioxidants consumed mostly in a roasted form. Mild to severe roasting conditions can cause oil oxidation. Therefore, different methods, such as coating, are used to increase the shelf life of nuts.

Tragacanth-based edible coatings were prepared using propylene glycol as a plasticizer both individually and in combination with free α tocopherol (FT), or its Nanocapsules (NC) and Nanoesphers (NS). Chemical and sensory properties of coated pistachio nuts were measured during 6-month storage at 40, 50, and 60ᵒC.

At storage temperatures of 40, 50, and 60°C, PV and Pa.V were evaluated 3.92, 3.85, 7.1 and 6.89, 13.3, 21.1 meq/kg, respectively. Unlike acidic value, coating with tragacanth caused a significant reduction in PV and Pa.V indices as they did not exceed 4 and 6, respectively. Sensory evaluation showed the overall acceptance of uncoated roasted pistachios to be lower than average after 120 and 60 days of storage at 50 and 60°C, respectively. Thus, the anisidine value was measured in the range of 2.9-5.6. No significant difference was observed in oxidation indices and sensory properties of coated samples with different forms of α-tocopherol.

Using nanoparticle forms of α-tocopherol in coating reduced the oxidation rate and improved overall acceptance during storage. There was a correlation between the chemical markers of oxidation and sensory properties of roasted pistachio nuts, and p-anisidine value was appropriate to monitor pistachio nuts' oxidative during shelf-life.

The use of plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) is a promising method in sustainable agriculture and can be an efficient alternative to chemical pesticides.

In this study, antagonistic features of four bacterial strains, including Pseudomonas fluorescens VUPF5, P. fluorescens T-17, Bacillus subtilis V1, and B. subtilis B96 were investigated. In addition, their effects on crown and root rot of pistachios (gummosis), caused by Phytophthora parsiana, were assessed. Besides, different populations (104, 106, 108 CFU/ml) of bacterial strains on the fresh and dry shoot and root weight of pistachios in the Sarakhs cultivar were evaluated.

The results showed that all bacterial strains had remarkable antagonistic effects and were capable of controlling pistachio gummosis under greenhouse conditions. P. fluorescens VUPF5 had the strongest effect among the selected strains under laboratory and greenhouse conditions, with a 70% reduction in the mortality rate. Upon a reduction in the initial inoculated population of the bacteria, their growth-promoting effects on growth factors in pistachio seedlings decreased.

Research should be carried out on the efficiency of the selected rhizobacteria strains by utilizing them under field conditions to evaluate their effectiveness in interaction with other microorganisms.

Since some of the pistachio wastes are left in the environment, their collection and use in producing byproducts, in addition to creating added-value, reduces environmental contamination.

In this article, 38 references extracted from Scopus, Web of Science, and final reports of the Pistachio Research Center were reviewed.

The waste to dry pistachio crop ratio is within 1.25 to 2 ranges. The waste components are 64.5% of hulls, 25% of clusters, 10% of leaves, and 0.5% of kernels and shells. The hull extract considered as antioxidant and antimicrobial is applied in processing industries (e.g., jam and marmalade), dyeing, animal feed, edible mushroom culture media, as well as producing lactic acid, furfural, and tannin. The shell has the potential of generating activated carbon, tar, and cellulose nanocrystals. The small nuts are used in producing pistachio milk and oil.

Producing jam, pickle, and milk from peels and kernels, extracting oil from kernels, as well as processing its waste as the edible mushroom production culture substrate and animal feed are some solutions for converting the pistachio waste to value-added materials.

Pistachio is one of the major horticultural products of the country, which do not have high storability. Under current conditions, fresh pistachios in Iran are offered in bulk for a limited duration without suitable packaging. The gap between the harvest time and consumption of pistachios significantly decreases their nutritional and economic values under unfavourable conditions. Thus, providing optimal conditions for proper packaging or applying coatings could be one of the appropriate solutions for maintaining the desired quality and increasing the marketability of this economic product of the country.

In this study, the effect of various coatings on the quality and storage features of pistachio fresh fruit were examined. This research was carried out as factorial in a completely randomized design with three replications. The experiment was performed on three commercial pistachio cultivars (Akbari, Kaleh-Ghoochi, and Ahmad-Aghaei) under the effects of temperature (cold storage at 4 °C and normal room temperature at 24 °C) and different coatings. Coating conditions included wax B131, wax PCFC9265, wax B131+ wax PCFC9265, transparent plastic, the newspaper, the cotton bag, inside the newspaper and then inside a plastic material, inside newspaper and then inside a cotton bag, inside a cotton bag and then inside newspaper, as well as the control. The studied factors consisted of fruit weight loss, shrinkage percentage, and moldiness percentage.

The results showed a significant difference among the commercial cultivars in the quality features (P< 1%). In this study, the highest percentage of moldiness and fruit weight loss under cold storage conditions was related to the Akbari cultivar during the storage duration. Besides, the highest rate of shrinkage was related to the Kaleh-Ghoochi cultivar. According to the results, the best treatments in the storage duration were treatments 4 and 7. Results of the Kaleh-Ghoochi cultivar showed that the percentage of fruit weight loss and the shrinkage percentage were less in treatment 7 than in treatment 4. In the Akbari cultivar, the moldiness percentage in treatment 7 was reduced by half; in addition, the weight loss percentage was 2% higher than in treatment 4. Results from the Ahmad-Aghaei cultivar showed that the weight loss percentage was very low in treatment 7.

In general, the use of treatments 4 and 7 for 39 days under cold storage conditions helped maintain the appearance features of fresh pistachios.

Common pistachio psylla (Agonoscena pistaciae) is the key pest of pistachio orchards in Iran. To control this pest, the Iranian gardeners are thus forced to use large amounts of chemical pesticides; this results in environmental pollution, the destruction of natural enemies of the pests, and the outbreak of pistachio pests. Given the low risk of mineral insecticides for both humans and the environment as well as the superiority of mineral substances to chemical compounds in terms of the pest’s resistance to insecticides, the present study has investigated the insecticide effects of some mineral compounds including lime sulfur (4000 ppm), boric acid (1000 ppm), kaolin + nonionic surfactant (NIS) (10000 ppm+ 1000 ppm) and potassium silicate+ nonionic surfactant (3000 ppm+ 1000ppm) on pistachio psylla nymphs. This study was conducted in a completely randomized block design in orchard conditions. Based on the results of the present study, in comparison to the other treatments, the compound of potassium silicate+ non-ionic surfactant reduced the population of nymphs in 5, 10, and 25 days for 854.14± 78.32, 804.23± 70.05, and 554.23± 57.75 percent respectively; it had the greatest effect on the controlling the population of pistachio psylla nymphs. Thus, these mineral compounds can be used to control pistachio psylla in pistachio orchards.

Pistachio trees belong to the family Anacarthias. This species grows in almost tropical climates. It is worth noting that pistachio trees were planted many years ago. Destructive effects of pesticides on other creatures, poisonings caused by the usage of pesticides among people, and costs of producing chemical pesticides should be investigated thoughtfully. This paper aims to investigate thyme extract effects on controlling pests and reducing the application of chemical pesticides.

In this research, a factorial test was done with a random block design with 4 treatments in four repeats. According to the results obtained, use of water, non-use of water, and thyme had the most significant effects. Sampling was done in 4 stages after 3, 7, 14, and 21 days from scattering the solution. To prepare the extract, different analyses were made based on pesticide effects.

The results showed that the response of nymphs and the egg number in pistachio trees to the application of the thyme extract and different doses of it was significant. The lowest number of nymphs and eggs was observed at dose 2.5, yet the highest number of nymphs was observed at dose 0, or when distilled water was used. Besides, the lowest number of eggs was observed at dose 2.5 with the mean being 39.87; in contrast, the highest number of eggs was observed at dose 0 when distilled water was used with 63.2 eggs.

The research results showed that the effects of the extract type on the number of insect nymphs and eggs were significant at the probability of 1%. Besides, the thyme extract reduced the number of nymphs and eggs compared to the control and water treatment.