Cultivation Ag

12/05/2025

Garlic has been a beloved ingredient in kitchens and traditional medicine for thousands of years. Its sharp aroma and bold flavor make it a culinary staple, while its potential health benefits—ranging from boosting immunity to fighting infections—have earned it a place in natural remedies.

Modern science continues to uncover how garlic’s preparation and storage impact its nutritional value, and a groundbreaking 2025 study published in Applied Food Research offers clear answers. By analyzing how slicing, crushing, and drying affect garlic’s key compounds, this research provides practical insights for everyday cooking.

Why Garlic Preparation Impacts Nutritional Benefits
Garlic’s health benefits stem from sulfur-containing compounds like allicin, which forms when garlic is chopped, crushed, or sliced. Allicin is a volatile organosulfur compound celebrated for its antimicrobial, antioxidant, and anti-inflammatory properties. However, it is highly unstable and breaks down quickly when exposed to heat, air, or time.

Alongside allicin, garlic contains pyruvic acid, a byproduct of enzymatic reactions that contributes to its pungent flavor, and phenolic compounds, a class of antioxidants that protect cells from oxidative damage. These compounds degrade under certain conditions, making preparation and storage critical for preserving garlic’s nutritional value. The study by Rababah et al. compared three forms of garlic:

fresh sliced,
fresh crushed
dried slices.

Each form was stored at two temperatures—4°C (refrigeration) and 20°C (room temperature)—for periods ranging from 10 minutes to 2 days. Using advanced laboratory techniques, the researchers measured changes in allicin, pyruvic acid, phenolic compounds, and antioxidant activity.

Additionally, sensory tests with 40 participants revealed how these changes translate to flavor and aroma in dishes like hummus. Together, these findings offer a roadmap for using garlic in ways that balance health benefits and taste.

Read More: https://cultivationag.com/bioactive-and-antioxidant-differences-in-sliced-and-crushed-garlic/

Garlic has been a beloved ingredient in kitchens and traditional medicine for thousands of years. Its sharp aroma and bold flavor make it a culinary staple,

25/04/2025

🌱 Crop Rotation: A Key Practice for Healthy and Productive Soil 🌱
Crop rotation is an agricultural technique that involves alternating different types of plants on the same soil over various growing cycles. 👩🌾👨🌾
🔄 How does it work?
We divide crops into several categories, as in the following example:
1️⃣ Fruits: Plants that produce fruits, like tomatoes or peppers.
2️⃣ Leaves: Crops such as lettuce, beets, or spinach.
3️⃣ Roots: Carrots, radishes, beets, etc.
4️⃣ Legumes: Beans, peas, and other legumes that enrich the soil with nitrogen.
💡 Why is this important?
Each type of plant has specific nutritional needs and provides different benefits to the soil. The benefits include:
• ✅ Prevention of nutrient depletion.
• ✅ Helps control pests and diseases that often target specific plants.
• ✅ Improvement of soil structure and its ability to retain water.
• ✅ Legumes, for example, fix nitrogen in the soil, which benefits subsequent crops.
📆 Example of a Rotation Cycle:
• Year 1: We grow vegetables to enrich the soil with nitrogen.
• Year 2: Leaves grow, utilizing that nitrogen.
• Year 3: We plant fruits, which require more nutrients.
• Year 4: We grow roots, which help aerate the soil.
⚠️ Key Tip: Avoid planting the same type of plant in the same spot for consecutive years. This reduces the risk of nutrient depletion and limits pest spread. 🌾

25/04/2025

In today’s world, where sustainability and health are at the forefront of global discussions, the way we grow, process, and preserve food is more important than ever.

A recent study by researchers Nitin Sharma and Namrata Sengar from the University of Kota, India, published in the journal Solar Compass (2024), offers a groundbreaking solution to one of agriculture’s oldest challenges: producing raisins quickly and safely without relying on harmful chemicals.

By combining a simple pre-treatment method called blanching with an efficient solar dryer, their research demonstrates how grapes can be turned into raisins in just three days—twice as fast as traditional methods—while preserving nutritional quality and eliminating toxic residues.

Raisins are a popular snack and cooking ingredient, but their production has long been plagued by inefficiencies and risks. Traditionally, grapes are dried under the open sun, a process that can take anywhere from five days to several weeks, depending on weather conditions.

Open sun drying refers to the age-old practice of laying food products directly under sunlight to remove moisture. While low-cost, this method leaves the fruit exposed to dust, insects, birds, and unpredictable rain, which can spoil entire batches.

To speed up drying, many producers use chemical treatments like potassium carbonate or ethyl oleate. These chemicals break down the grape’s natural waxy coating, allowing moisture to escape faster. However, they leave behind residues that can harm human health and contaminate soil and water sources.

Experiments were conducted on the rooftop of the University of Kota, located in Rajasthan, India—a region known for its hot, sunny climate. The dryer maintained temperatures between 45°C and 69°C, ideal for drying grapes without cooking them.

Humidity control played a critical role: levels inside the chamber dropped from 21–24% in the morning to 10% by evening, creating perfect conditions for moisture removal. Even after sunset, residual heat continued to dry the grapes overnight, further speeding up the process.

https://cultivationag.com/solar-based-drying-of-blanched-grapes-for-efficient-raisin-production/

24/04/2025

Tomatoes. Juicy, delicious, and grown all over the world. But did you know that the soil and water they grow in could make or break their quality? Today, we’re diving deep into how calcium helps keep tomato plants strong—and what happens when salt gets in the way.

How Calcium Keeps Tomatoes Firm

Calcium might sound like something just for bones, but it’s absolutely essential for tomato plants. Inside the plant, calcium acts like glue, holding cells together by binding to a gel-like substance called pectin.

These calcium-pectin links form strong structures—kind of like egg cartons—that keep tomato cells connected and fruits firm. But here's the catch: once calcium enters the plant through the roots, it can’t move freely inside. It travels through the xylem, which moves water upward.

Since fruits lose less water than leaves, they often get shortchanged on calcium. This is especially problematic during stress—like salty soil or irrigation water.

What Salt Does to Tomato Plants

By 2050, nearly 40% of the world’s irrigated farmland could be salt-affected. Salt stress harms plants in two main ways. First, it creates osmotic stress by pulling water away from the roots. Second, sodium ions compete with calcium, pushing it out of the cell walls.

That second part is crucial. Without calcium in place, tomato cells weaken. The fruit becomes soft and vulnerable to a disorder called blossom-end rot, where the bottom of the tomato turns black and leathery.

Growing tomatoes isn’t just about sunshine and water—it’s about chemistry. With the right balance of calcium and smart management of salt, farmers can grow firmer, healthier fruits even in tough conditions.

29/03/2025

Peas (Pisum sativum L.) are not just a common vegetable but a nutritional powerhouse driving the global shift toward plant-based proteins. With rising concerns about environmental sustainability, food allergies, and the demand for affordable protein, scientists are unlocking peas’ full potential.

A groundbreaking 2025 study by Sonia Kumar and Marianne Su-Ling Brooks at Dalhousie University, published in Separation and Purification Technology, introduces two-stage foam fractionation, a method that efficiently recovers and purifies pea proteins while boosting their functional properties.

The global demand for plant-based proteins is surging due to their lower environmental impact compared to animal-derived proteins. Peas, in particular, are gaining attention for being low-allergenic, water-efficient, and rich in essential nutrients like lysine.

Read More: https://cultivationag.com/foam-fractionation-improves-pea-pisum-sativum-l-protein-recovery-and-enhances-functionality/

18/02/2025

Studies Reveal That Rising Ground Level Ozone Can Reduce Wheat Yield By 18.19%.

Read More: https://cultivationag.com/modern-wheat-cultivars-showed-ozone-resistance-losing-quality/

18/02/2025

Researchers are replacing cement with agri-food waste to create “green concrete.”

Read More: https://cultivationag.com/untapped-potential-of-agri-food-waste-as-eco-friendly-construction-materials/

15/02/2025

42,000-Year-Old Tree Just Revealed When Earth’s Next Magnetic Flip Will Happen

Read More: https://cultivationag.com/42000-year-old-tree-just-revealed-when-earths-next-magnetic-flip-will-happen/

15/02/2025

Scientists Discover Superpower in Plants That Could Clean Air Faster And Store More Carbon

Read More: https://cultivationag.com/scientists-discover-superpower-in-plants-that-could-clean-air-faster-and-store-more-carbon/

15/02/2025

Green Pakistan Initiative Launched in Cholistan to Revolutionize Agriculture

Read More: https://cultivationag.com/green-pakistan-initiative-launched-in-cholistan-to-revolutionize-agriculture/

13/02/2025

Read More: https://cultivationag.com/government-plans-commercial-olive-farming-in-chagai/