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The seeds of ten pomegranate (punica granatum L.) cultivars were analyzed for their physicochemical and oil properties. Also mineral elements such as Zn, Cu, Fe, Mn, Mg, Na and K were determined by ICP atomic emmision spectroscopy. The highest quantities of mineral belonged to Mg, K and Na. Also, the quantities of ash and protein in pomegranate seeds were 1.81-2.35 % and 6.63- 12.95 %, respectively. The average contents of refractometer, unsaponifiable, saponification, iodine, peroxide, acidity, moisture and volatile matter were the ranges 1.50-1.51, 1.16-1.63, 181.3-187.9 mgKOH/g, 165-179.4, 0.3-0.7 meqO2/kg oil, 0.25-0.4 % and 0.10-0.19 %, respectively.

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In this research stabilization and clarification of pomegranate juice were studied. This juice was analyzed and its effective constitutes in this process were determined and important factors in after haze production were evaluated. Pectinas enzyme was used for pectin elimination and optimized consumption amount, temperature and time were obtained as 110PPM, 50C, 60min. respectively. Clarifying materials such as Gelatin (70 g/ton), Kieselsol 15 % (250ml/ton) and Bentonite (250g/ton) were used and in each case optimum condition and their advantages have studied. Our work has shown that carbon active is not acceptable for pomegranate juice clarification. The process has the best result in low temperature (20C). Also, for the first time PVPP (polyvinylpolypyrrolidone) was applied to solve secondary hazes problems and to produce stable clarified juice whose satisfying results have reported. Its consumption amount was determined as 80 g/100 lit. .

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“The girl of Narenj and toranj” is one of the most famous Persian tales about which there are many different narratives. It has been registered by universal code no. 408. It includes some mythical motifs. The motif of the girl’s death and her revival who lives inside fruits, is reminiscent of Plant God. The role of horse, girl’s long hair and her relationship with water, are some other evidences which prove this association. On the other hand, the prevalence of narratives in which the girl comes out of sour orange, citron and pomegranate shows that these fruits were related to myths and they had a kind of importance or special place for the public in the past. In fact, they were used as symbols in some customs like proposal and marriage ceremonies. Sour orange and citron were the symbols of happiness and fertility. Also, pomegranate was the symbol of fertility and blessing. Moreover, it was associated with love and its myths

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  In this experiment the effects of preharvest calcium chloride and postharvest hot water treatment as well as the use of polyethylene bags for packaging on the quality improvement of pomegranate fruit during cold storage were studied. For this purpose Calcium chloride was sprayed at two levels on August 2004 (1% and 2%). Pomegranate fruits of Malas - Torsh cv. was harvested at fully ripen stage and treated with hot water (45, 50 and 55C for 20 minutes, 1 minute and 30 second espectively). Thereafter each fruit was warped up in a polyethylene bag and stored in cool store room with 1C and relative humidity of 85% for 3 months. The experiments were conducted using a completely randomized design of three replicates. The results indicated that fruits wrapped with polyethylene had a significant effect on preventing weight loss, improving the appearance as well as marketability of fruits during storage, while showing no effect on pH, TSS and fruit dry matter. Also it was observed that fruits treated in 50'C hot water showed significant improvement of quality while treatment with 45C hot water failed to show such effects. In total, a combination of Calcium chloride and polyethylene bag packaging along with 50C hot water treatment caused improvement in the general quality of stored fruit and decreased fungi infection and chilling index.

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Pomegranate fruit moth (PFM), Apomyelois ceratoniae Zeller is a major pest of pomegranate in Iran. In this study, the effect of four diets including pistachio, pomegranate, semi-artificial and artificial diets were studied on biological parameters of PFM in a growth chamber under controlled conditions at 30 ± 2 °C, 65 ± 5% RH and 16:8 (L: D) h. The results demonstrated that the longest incubation period, larval developmental time and preimaginal development time was observed on artificial diet and the shortest was on the pomegranate. The highest and lowest body length of fifth instar larvae were observed on pistachio and artificial diet, respectively. The heaviest weight of third day pupae was recorded for the larvae that were reared on pistachio (0.0275 ± 0.0004 g) while the lightest was on artificial diet (0.0216 ± 0.0004 g). In the next experiment, the effect of four diets was considered to assess the efficiency of pheromone traps in a twenty year old pomegranate orchard cultivated with Malasse Yazdi cultivars. The effect of food on catch of traps showed a significant difference. The virgin PFM that were fed with pomegranate attracted more males. Also the traps caught the males mostly from 11:00 pm until 4:00 am, with the peak time between 23:00 and midnight. No significant difference was seen between diet and time of catch, indicating that starting or ending time and the maximum time of catch was not affected by the diets.  

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The effects of alcoholic extract from pomegranate (Punica granatum) peel on some hematological and biochemical parameters, including RBC, Hb, Hct, MCV, MCH, MCHC, WBC, TP, CHO, GLU, LDL, HDL, Glb, TG, GOT, GPT, Alb, ALK, LDH, and lysozyme activity of common carp )Cyprinus carpio( fingerlings (11.73 ± 1.81g) were studied for a period of 75 days. Treatments included different concentrations of ethanol extract of pomegranate peel (Zero: control, 50, 150, 300 and 600 mg/kg of diet). At the end of experiment, all fish were sedated for morphometric measurement and blood sampling. Significant increases in Hb, Hct and RBC in groups 300 and 600 mg/kg of diet were observed (P<0.05). Total protein in groups 150, 300 and 600 mg/kg of diet showed a significant difference with other groups (P<0.05). Lysozyme activity was significantly enhanced in all diet containing pomegranate peel extract compared to the control group (P<0.05). In brief, the present study revealed an overall improvement in hematological parameters and lysozyme activities and total protein when 300 mg pomegranate peel extract was used in the diet.

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Proconura persica Delvare, 2011 (Hymenoptera: Chalcididae) was originally described from Iran. Type materials of this species were include just female specimens. Recently we collected a population of this species from Shiraz in the south of Iran comprising males and females. The previously unknown male of P. persica is described for the first time and diagnostic characters are illustrated to differentiate this species from related species of the genus.

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To investigate the effect of different fertilizers on yield and health related traits of pomegranate fruit, a field experiment was carried out during 2014 and 2015 seasons on six years old pomegranate trees cv. ‘Bajestani’ growing in sandy loam soil under drip irrigation system in Khalilabad city, Khorasan, Iran. Organic fertilizers including: cow manure (25 kg/tree), vermicompost (5 kg/tree), and granulate humic (2 kg/tree) were applied without or with biofertilizers (azetobarvar, phosphobarvar and potabarvar at 1 liter/tree) by placement method. Results showed that plants treated with combination of organic and biofertilizers had higher yield and lower fruit drop than plants treated with organic fertilizers individually. The lowest fruit cracking (7.5%, 2.25%) as well as fruit infestation with Ectomyelois ceratoniae (Zeller) (27.5%, 25.34%) were observed in the plants treated with both biofertilizers and humic in 2014 and 2015, respectively. The most infestation to E. ceratoniae was observed in control treatment (38.07%, 31.44%) in both years, respectively. Fruit sunburn was not affected by nutrition of any type in both years. Results of leaf analysis revealed that plants treated by a combination of biofertilizer and humic had higher levels of macro and micronutrients compared with untreated plants. Altogether, our results suggest that biofertilizer in combination with organic fertilizers, especially granular humic, could be used in pomegranate orchards management to improve pomegranate yield, as well as to prevent crop losses resulting from cracking, nutrient deficiency and E. ceratoniae infestation.

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In this study, the drying behavior and the effects of different drying conditions on the trend of moisture loss and effective diffusion coefficient in sweet and sour pomegranate were determined. The best drying model, energy consumption and activation energy values were also determined for the two varieties using microwave drying. Results of regression analysis of mathematical models points to the page model as the one best described the data. Effective diffusion coefficient of pomegranate arils was found to be 3.43´10-10 to 32.05´10-10 m2/s. Activation energy was determined to be 17.22 and 23.83 kJ for sweet and sour pomegranates respectively. In addition, consumed energy consumption drying of for sweet and sour pomegranate arils was 0.167 to 0.383 kW/kg respectively.

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The red color of pomegranate juice is primarily associated with anthocyanin pigment. Studies showed that anthocyanin has low stability during processing and storage time and color of pomegranate juice decreased significantly over time. Copigmentation between Anthocyanins and copigments such as phenolic acids and flavonoids, is the main color stabilizing mechanism and is regarded today as one of the significant factors of structure stabilization, colorant of Anthocyanin under in vivo conditions. Anthocyanin copigmentation gives brighter, stronger and more stable colors than those expressed by anthocyanin alone. The objective of this study was to compare the effects of Ferulic acid and Tannic acid in concentrations of 230, 460, and 920 mg/lit on the color stability and sensory acceptance of pomegranate juice kept in 5°C during 60 days of storage. In order to investigate the color stability, change in absorption maximum wavelength (Δλmax) and change in maximum absorbance (ΔAmax), Total color difference (ΔE), and total anthocyanin content, all treatments and control were evaluated by spectrophotometer, hunterlab colorimeter, and HPLC respectively in day 1,10,20,30, and 60 in 5°C. Furthermore, the sensory acceptance level of samples was evaluated by trained panelists in first and 60th day in 5°C. The results showed that Total anthocyanin content, Redness (a*), maximum absorbance (Amax), and absorption maximum wavelength (λmax) in treated samples with 230, 460, and 920 mg/lit of Ferulic acid and in treatment with 920 mg/lit Tannic acid increased significantly (P<0.05) during storage period of 60 days compare with the control. Increase in Ferulic acid and Tannic acid concentration decreased the sensory acceptance significantly (P<0.01), Also in treatments with 230, 460, 920 mg/lit of Ferulic acid, the sensory acceptance was higher compared to similar concentrations.

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A detail study of the tales can provide a rich understanding of beliefs, thoughts, way of living, totems, myths, and the old patterns of a nation. A good example of such tales which has never been recorded in any written source is the tale Tree of Life common in Kohmare Sorkhi area of Fars province in Iran. This tale is, somehow, intermingled with mythical motifs; therefore, it is difficult to determine the accurate boundary between tale and myth. The aim of the study, however, is to investigate these motifs in this tale. To accomplish this, this tale was registered and recorded out of different narrators borrowing a field method study as the research method; secondly, the mythical motifs were addressed with an analytical-descriptive method. The findings of the study showed that several main motifs formed the fundamental pivots of the tale: 1) the hero of the tale saves the sources of birth- cow, girl, and rain-producing clouds- from the evil forces, and restores happiness and safety, 2) the hero and his companions overcome the six adventures to return home, 3) the hero of the tale moves towards the tree of life- pomegranate tree- which is at the center of the world and plucks the fruit after imprisoning the guard of the tree, 4) the pomegranate and fig trees are posed as fertility symbols in the tale. The myth of fertility and the attempt of the hero to reach the fertility fruits is one of the main pivots of the story, and 5) the oracle appears in the role of the guide and leader of the hero.
 
 

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  Pomegranate seed oil is rich in functionally and nutritionally important compounds and hence has a wide application in food, pharmaceutical and cosmetic industries. In this study the effect of high power ultrasonic waves and pretreatment method on the extraction efficiency of oil from pomegranate seeds was investigated at a frequency of 20 kHz. Variables in question were extraction procedure at 2 levels (solvent extraction with and without ultrasound), extraction time at 3 levels (30, 45 and 60 minutes) and pretreatment of seeds and sample preparation at 6 levels (grinding, soaking and grinding, sonication and grinding, soaking, sonication and grinding, grinding, sonication and dehydration, and soaking, grinding, sonication and dehydration). The results showed that ultrasound significantly increased the extraction efficiency with no effect on the composition of fatty acids and their quantitative values. It was also found that pretreatment of whole seeds by sonicating them in hot water led to highest extraction efficiency. Moreover, the extraction time decreased to 30 min in the presence of ultrasound waves.

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Alicyclobacillus acidoterrestris has recently obtained great attention in fruit juice industry due to its high resistance to juice pasteurization. Several methods for inhibition of this bacterium have been proposed. Pomegranate peel, as a byproduct of fruit juice factories, has antibacterial and functional properties. Pomegranate peel extracts containing effective compounds were extracted by methanol (MeOH), ethanol (EtOH) and acetone. In comparison within different extracts, pomegranate peel extracted by acetone (PPEA) had the highest content of phenolic, flavonoid and flavonol contents, (i.e. 226, 70 and 61 mg/g, respectively). Furthermore, 250μg/ml PPEA showed strong anti-Alicyclobacillus acidoterrestris property on orange serum agar and apple juice without any side effects on apple juice turbidity. The extracts obtained by EtOH and acetone during 24 days showed side effects on apple juice turbidity in 1000 μg/ml but the extracts obtained by MeOH did not affect apple juice turbidity at the same time.

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The phenolic compounds of pomegranate (Punica granatum L.) peel extracted by two methods (solvent and ultrasound-assisted) with five solvents (acetone, methanol, ethanol, water and ethyl acetate) were compared with supercritical fluid extraction (SFE). The total phenolic compounds were determined according to the Folin-Ciocalteu reagent using tannic acid as standard. The overall results showed that acetone with sonication produced the maximum amount of phenolic compounds from pomegranate peel extracts (PPE). Furthermore, the effect of the acetone extract of pomegranate peel (0.010-0.050 %) on the stability of soybean oil during heating at 60oC (oven test method) was determined by measuring peroxide and thiobarbitoric acid values. At a 0.050 % level of pomegranate peel extract, its antioxidant activity was greater than 0.02 % of the two synthetic antioxidants butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA) and butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT). The pomegranate peel extract possessed a relatively high antioxidant activity and might be considered as a rich source of natural antioxidant.

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Production of high volume of sludge is an important problem in wastewater treatment plants that necessitates approach of a proper economical and environmental management method. Chemical conditioning is used for increasing sludge dewater-ability and its volume reduction. Researchers have shown that use of natural compounds have environmental superiority over chemical ones. Therefore, in this research the effect of three food wastes including starch, white bean and pomegranate skin extract on the sludge dewatering capability in lab scale batch system was investigated. From the results, pomegranate skin extract in optimum pH of 4 and concentration of 1000 ppm gave the best efficiency. In this case, the amount of TTF, sludge cake humidity, volume of filtered water in 10 second, sludge volume reduction and turbidity were 10 seconds, 88.31 percent, 50 ml, 25.55 percent and 24 FAU, respectively.

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Determination of thermo-physical properties of pomegranate juice is necessary to control processes such as drying and concentration. These properties have been affected by soluble solid content and temperature. Therefore the properties including; density, specific heat and thermal conductivity were determined at three levels of soluble solid content, 12^o, 40^o and 65^o Brix and temperature range from 25 to 70 ^oC. Thermal conductivity by co-axial cylinder apparatus, specific heat by differential scanning calorimeter and density by a volumetric pycnometer were measured. Regression analysis indicated that both soluble solid content and temperature affected on these properties but the soluble solid content has more influence. Increase of soluble solid content from 12 to 65 caused a decrease in thermal conductivity from 0.233 to 0.193 W/m.^oC, specific heat from 5.19 to 3.34 kJ/kg.^oC and an increase in density from 1027 to 1323 kg/m³ respectively. With increase in temperature from 30 to 70 ^oC, density decrease from 1173 to 1150 kg/m³ but thermal conductivity increase from 0.188 to 0.229 W/m.^oC during temperature increasing from 28 to 42 ^oC and specific heat increase from 3.9 to 4.4 kJ/kg during temperature increasing from 40 to 60 ^oC. With regression analysis, the suitable empirical models of thermophysical properties of pomegranate juice with operating variables were obtained.

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The carob moth, Ectomyelois ceratoniae (Zeller, 1839), is the most critical pest of pomegranate in Iran. The sex pheromone components emitted by the virgin females were characterized by headspace solid-phase microextraction (HS-SPME) and subsequently analyzed by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC-MS). In this research, the level of individual variation in the female sex pheromone composition of the pest was studied. By extracting pheromone glands of females from different locations, the primary component, (Z, E)-9, 11, 13-tetradecatrienal, and minor components, (Z, E)-9, 11-tetradecadienal and (Z)-9-tetradecenal, were identified. The following ratios were 10: 2.5: 2.1 (trienal: dienal: monoenal) in Kuhdasht, 10: 1.3: 0.7 in Tarom, 10: 1.3: 0.5 in Bajestan, 10: 1.2: 1 in Sorkheh, 10: 1.1: 0.9 in Ferdows, 10: 0.9: 1 in Neyriz, 10: 0.9: 0.9 in Khash and Meybod, 10: 0.9: 1.4 in Saveh, 10: 0.5: 1 in Behshahr, and 10: 0.45: 0.43 in Shahrreza. There was also a significant variation among the populations in response to wind tunnels and field tests. The discrepancies in these ratios show a possibility of a conspecific relationship among carob moth species in Iran. Findings led to a conclusion of the monomorphic variation in sexual communication of the species.
 

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Experimental work was undertaken to obtain the adsorption isotherms of freeze-dried pomegranate seed powder. Moisture equilibrium data of pomegranate seed were determined using the static gravimetric method. Adsorption Isotherms were determined at 25, 40 and 60°C over a water activity range of 0.11 to 0.94. Six isotherm equations including GAB, BET, Iglesias and Chirife, Henderson, Smith, and Oswin were applied for analyzing the experimental data. The constants in the mentioned models were determined and correlated with temperature. The criteria used to evaluate the goodness of fit of each model were Correlation coefficient (R²), Chi-square (χ²), mean relative percentage deviation modulus (P) and root mean square error (RMSE). The results showed that the GAB equation gave the best fit to the experimental data. The net isosteric heat of sorption was determined using the Clausius-Clapeyron equation. The heat of sorption values of pomegranate seed powder were found to be large at low moisture content and decreased with an increase in moisture content.  

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Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. albedinis (Foa) is a cosmopolitan soil-borne fungus responsible for the most destructive disease of the date palm tree Phoenix dactylifera L. in Morocco. In the present study, we used aqueous and methanolic root extracts from Punica granatum to evaluate their ability to induce date palm defense against Foa and their antifungal activity. The in vitro treatment of Foa by these extracts showed different inhibitory effects depending on the nature of the extract. The methanolic extract showed significant inhibition of both mycelial growth (51%) and biomass production (86.3%), while the aqueous extract inhibited the sporulation (99.3%) and the spore germination (75.9%) of the pathogen. Moreover, treatment of date palms with methanolic extract has shown a significant increase in phenolic content and peroxidase activity known to be involved in date palm defense against Foa. These preliminary results open a promising field to control date palm Fusarium wilt.