The present study demonstrates the effect of direct solar drying (DSD) and hot air drying (HAD) on the quality attributes of Fuji apple slices. DSD samples took a longer time (150–180 min) to dry and simultaneously reached higher equilibrium moisture content at the end of rehydration than HAD samples. DSD samples have higher rehydration ability, dry matter holding capacity, and water absorption capacity than HAD samples. Among several empirical models, the Weibull model is the best fit with higher R² (0.9977), lower root mean square (0.0029), and chi-square error (0.0031) for describing the rehydration kinetics. Rehydrated HAD samples showed better color characteristics than DSD in terms of overall color change, chroma, and hue angle values. Whereas the hardness and chewiness of rehydrated DSD samples were better than HAD samples because of higher dry matter holding capacity in DSD. Apart from color retention, the DSD samples showed better rehydration capacity and a good texture upon rehydration than HAD slices.

Cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.) is a tropical vegetable and a source of vitamins such as K, C, and B. It is commonly grown and sold for daily consumption, but picking the right fruit size is more profitable. Therefore, a method for estimating the fruit weight is highly recommended. This paper aimed to determine the dimensions of cucumber fruit based on its usual harvesting size and to establish a model to show the relationship between fruit weight, fruit length, and fruit diameter. Cucumber was planted in the experimental field belonging to the Faculty of Agricultural Biosystems Engineering, Royal University of Agriculture, Phnom Penh, Cambodia, from January to June 2022. In the study, 48 market-size fruits were randomly selected from the plots to measure their weight, length, and diameter. The result shows that fruit length and fruit diameter had a positive relationship (P < 0.001; R = 0.70). Fruit weight was 3.38 fruit length × fruit diameter (P <0.001; R = 0.95). Nevertheless, L/D ratio negatively affected fruit weight, when it exceeded 3:1. Fruit weight was greater than 100 g when fruit diameter was over 4 cm and fruit length was over 10 cm. Therefore, when picking cucumber fruits, one must consider fruit length and diameter to be profitable. Further studies will focus on measuring cucumber fruit already available on the market to understand more about actual consumer preferences.

Plum (Prunus domestica) is a seasonal nutraceutical fruit rich in many functional food nutrients such as vitamin C, antioxidants, total phenolic content, and minerals. Recently, researchers have focused on improvised technologies for the retention of bioactive compounds during the processing of perishable fruits; plum is one of these fruits. This study looked at how the percentage of moisture content and percentage of acidity were affected by conventional drying and osmotic dehydration. Total phenolic content (mg GA/100 g of plum), total anthocyanin content (mg/100 g), and vitamin C (mg/100 g) Conventional drying of fruit was carried out at 80.0 ℃ for 5 h. At various temperatures (45.0 ℃, 50.0 ℃, and 55.0 ℃) and hypertonic solution concentrations (65.0 B, 70.0 B, and 75.0 B), the whole fruit was osmotically dehydrated. It was observed that the osmotically treated fruit retains more nutrients than conventionally dried fruit. The total phenolic content of fruit significantly increased with the increase in process temperature. However, vitamin C and total anthocyanin content of the fruit decreased significantly with process temperature, and hypertonic solution concentration was observed. Hence, it was concluded that osmodehydration could be employed for nutrient retention in plum fruit over conventional drying. This process needs to be further refined, improvised, and optimised for plum processing.

By carrying out a laboratory experiment, the influence of priming methods, including ZnSO4, BSN, and hydropriming was evaluated on the seed germination of hybrid AS71 corn. Then, the main and interaction effects of the priming methods, planting dates, and weed interference levels were surveyed on the vegetative growth traits, yield, and yield components of corn in a field experiment. Based on the lab experiment, although the maximum germination percentage (100%) was observed in the treated plots by hydropriming 22 h after treatment (HAT), the greatest seedling vigor index (122.99) was recorded with treated seeds by ZnSO4 (0.03 mg L–1) at 8 HAT. The greatest emergence index was observed in the treated plots by hydropriming on both planting dates of June 1 and 11. The interaction of planting dates and weed interference levels revealed that the highest emergence index (14%–17%) occurred in the weed-free plots on both planting dates. BSN recorded the greatest corn 1000-grain weight that was significantly higher than the control plots by 28%. Furthermore, BSN enhanced the corn grain yield compared with the control plots by 63% and 24.9% on the planting dates of June 1 and 11, respectively. BSN, as a nutri-priming approach, by displaying the highest positive effects in boosting the corn grain yield in both weedy and weed-free plots as well as both planting dates, could be a recommendable option for growers to improve the crop yield production.

The most crucial factor in producing papaya seedlings successfully is seed germination. The purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of seed priming with growing media on seed germination and seedling growth of papaya from October to December 2022. The experimental treatments included three seed priming treatments: T₀ = control (no seed priming treatments), T₁ = GA₃ (100 ppm), and T₂ = KNO₃ (1%), and four growing media, viz., M₁ = soil + vermicompost (1:1), M₂ = soil + cowdung (1:1), M₃ = soil + cocopeat + vermicompost (1:1:1), and M₄ = soil + cocopeat + cowdung (1:1:1). The treatments showed a significant effect on different parameters such as germination percentage, days to germination, survival percentage, chlorophyll content, seed vigor index, shoot, and root length. GA₃ treated seedlings performed better than non-GA₃-treated seedlings. Among the growing media, M₃ showed the best for seed germination and other growth attributes compared to other growing media. In terms of interaction effects, T₁M₃ showed the highest performance for germination percentage (84.33%), survival percentage (91.0%), and chlorophyll content (44.26%). T₁M₃ also showed the highest seed vigor index, shoot and root growth, and plant biomass. As a result, the combination of GA₃ and growing media containing soil + cocopeat + vermicompost was shown to be the most favorable for papaya seed germination and seedling growth.

The H3N2 influenza virus is spiking dramatically, which is a major concern worldwide and in India. The multifunctional hetero-trimer influenza virus RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRP) is involved in the generation of viral mRNA and is crucial for viral infectivity, which is directly related to the virus’s ability to survive. The goal of the current work was to use molecular docking to determine how the RdRP protein might be affected by powerful bioactive chemicals found in Calotropis gigantia latex. By applying CB-dock 2 analysis and 2D interactions, an in-silico docking study was conducted using a GC-FID (gas chromatography with flame-ionization detection) based composition profile. Tocospiro A (15%), Amyrin (7%), and Gombasterol A were found by GC-FID to be the main phytocompounds in the latex of Calotropis gigantia. The docking result showed that ligands were effectively bound to RdRP. According to interaction studies, RdRP/ligand complexes create hydrogen bonds, van der Waals forces, pi-alkyl bonds, alkyl bonds, and pi-Sigma bonds. Therefore, it was suggested that Calotropis gigantia latex may represent a possible herbal remedy to attenuate H3N2 infections based on the above findings of the fragrance profile and docking.