Abdel Rahman Al-Tawaha

Seasonal variation in essential oil yield and composition from Thymus vulgaris L. during different growth stages in the south of Jordan

The effect of plant space and time of harvesting on yield and quality of Thymus vulgaris was evaluated in Jordan. Thyme was cultivated in rows of 50 cm apart with inter-row spacing of 15, 30 or 45 cm and was grown at various development stages. Plants were harvested during different growth stages including vegetation, beginning of blooming, full blooming and fruit maturation. Results indicated that oil yields of thyme were affected by growth stage and inter-row spacing. The maximum oil yields was obtained by harvesting at the early growth stage, which was found superior to oil yield corresponding to the later stages of collection. With 45 cm inter-row spacing, the maximum oil yield was recorded when the samples were collected at growth stage. Indicated results showed that the chemical composition during various growth stages was characterised by high percentage of carvacrol and its corresponding monoterpenic hydrocarbon precursors ρ-cymene and γ-terpinene, and ether 1,4-cineol.

An Absorption Capacity Investigation of New Absorbent Based On Polyurethane Foams and Rice Straw for Oil Spill Cleanup

ABSTRACT Spilled oil has been considering as extremely serious disaster in the maritime field and oil exploration, and its effects lasted for decades, even hundreds of years. Oil spill treatment and recovery were the difficult and complicated issues due to the conditions of nature environment. In this work, rice straw- agricultural residue in Vietnam – with 205 k g/m3 of low density was filled in porous polyurethan matrix in fabrication process of absorbent. The experimental results about oil absorption capacity for this new absorbent material showed that, the absorbed oil mass in case of filling 25% of rice straw mass with 0.5 mm of size was highest, equal to 12.012 g oil/ g absorbent material after 120 minutes of treatment. The result of oil absorption capacity was around 3–4 times higher than that of material fabricated by pristine polyurethan or xenlulozo/lignocellulosic. Besides, fabrication process and SEM analysis were also experimentally carried out in this work.

Fermented Food-Derived Bioactive Compounds with Anticarcinogenic Properties: Fermented Royal Jelly As a Novel Source for Compounds with Health Benefits

Fermented foods and their components have received extensive attention for their potential health benefits. Phenolics and other food related bioactive phytochemical and zoochemical compounds generated by fermentation have attracted particular attention for their putative roles in reducing the risk of chronic diseases including cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, and certain types of cancer. In this regard, the royal jelly produced by honey bees is a rich source of nutrients and bioactives for the development of functional foods because of its established pharmaceutical and nutraceutical properties. Royal jelly contains several essential nutrients and a number of bioactive compounds including peptides, flavonoid phenolics, and fatty acids such as 10-hydroxy-2-decenoic acid. The natural variation in bioactive peptides and phenolics in royal jelly depends on the floral sources and biodiversity of the wild plant species present in various environments. Royal jelly proteins and protein hydrolysates possess anticarcinogenic, antidiabetic, and antihypertensive properties. The present chapter comprehensively covers the potential anticarcinogenic benefits of fermented foods, including the possible anticancer properties of fermented royal jelly and its constituents.

Effects of soil type and rainwater harvesting treatments in the growth, productivity and morphological trains of barley plants cultivated in semi-arid environment

Field experiments were conducted in the years 2013/2014 with two soil types from northern part of Jordan. The soil types that were chosen for the study were yellow Mediterranean sandy loam soil (site A) and red Mediterranean silt loam soil (site B). At both sites, a control (untreated soil) and experimental soil (hoops method of rainwater harvesting) was used. Our results indicated that barley plants which were grown in red Mediterranean silt loam soil had higher grain yield, increased number of spikes per plant, high amount of grains per spike, 1000-grain weight, increased plant height and higher spike length than those plants grown at yellow Mediterranean sandy loam soil. On the other hand, barley plants which were grown under water harvesting treatment gave the best results compared to those plants which were grown without water harvesting treatment.