Eight major chemicals are identified after analyzing the essential oil of the seeds of three medicinal plants Punica granatum, Vitis vinifera and Cucurbita maxima, using Gas Chromatography/Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS). Only three of the identified chemicals (Farnesene, Docosane and Tetracosane) were found in all three samples, but in varying proportions. Trans-Squalene was found in Cucurbita maxim...

Application of most antibiotic growth promoters as feed additives has been banned in a lot of countries due to cross-resistance against pathogens and residues in tissues. Therefore, scientists are searching for alternatives to antibiotics nowadays. Medicinal plant extracts are one of the alternatives that have anti-microbial and growth promoting effect on poultry. In this paper, the benefits of...

As the ancestor of cultivated grape, Vitis vinifera subsp. sylvestris represents a unique, invaluable genetic resource for the improvement of cultivated grapevines. Recently, five populations of wild grapevines were identified in Portugal. Sixty vines were characterized with 11 nuclear SSR markers and further compared with 70 genotypes of Portuguese Vitis vinifera subsp. sativa. The obtained da...

RNA-guided genome editing using the CRISPR/Cas9 CRISPR (clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats)/Cas9 (CRISPR-associated protein 9) system has been applied successfully in several plant species. However, to date, there are few reports on the use of any of the current genome editing approaches in grape-an important fruit crop with a large market not only for table grapes but al...