BACKGROUND The gorgeous frescoes organized by the master Renaissance painter Raphael Sanzio (1483-1520) and illustrating the heavenly adventures of Cupid and Psyche were painted between 1515 and 1518 to decorate the Roman villa (now known as the Villa Farnesina) of the wealthy Sienese banker Agostino Chigi (1466-1520). Surrounding these paintings are festoons of fruits, vegetables and flowers p...

Although geneticists and archaeologists continue to make progress world-wide in documenting the time and place of the initial domestication of a growing number of plants and animals, far less is known regarding the critically important context of coalescence of various species into distinctive sets or complexes of domesticates in each of the world's 10 or more independent centers of agricultura...

Grafting is a widely used technique in watermelon (Citrullus lanatus) production. However, cost of grafted seedlings generally high as result intensive labor inputs for propagation using traditional grafting methods such the manual removal rootstock regrowth. This study developed new tool to physically remove epidermis pumpkin (C. maxima × C. moschata) and bottle gourd (Lagenaria siceraria) cot...

Abstract Olfaction and chemical ecology in phytophagous ladybird beetles have been largely ignored so far. The present paper describes for the first time basiconic, grooved, trichoid porous olfactory sensilla on antennae of Chnootriba elaterii (Epilacnini) demonstrates sensitivity to Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) from host plants, belonging common less Cucurbitaceae crops wild species ( Cit...

Abstract Lagenaria siceraria (bottle gourd) fruit is highly celebrated for its nutritional as well therapeutic properties. The present study was undertaken with the aim of exploring an efficient green solvent-free microwave-assisted extraction method bioactives from this fruit. Optimization done according to response surface methodology (RSM), where microwave power (W) and time (s) were indepen...