Manzanillo’ olive (Olea europaea L.) cultivar suffers from pollination deficits that make it difficult for growers to achieve high productivity. This variety has been designated as completely self-incompatible by some authors, while others label it as partially self-incompatible. The aim of this study was to determine the degree of self-incompatibility and identify obstacles to self-fertilization in ‘Manzanillo’. For this, in a multivarietal orchard in El Ejido-Almería, Spain (36° 50’ NL, 2° 24’‘ WL), a completely randomized experiment was established with four pollination treatments (self-pollination, free-pollination, and cross-pollination with pollen from ‘Picual’ and ‘Sevillano’). Pollen adhesion and germination, pollen tube growth and fertilization every three days after pollination were evaluated. Analyses showed no differences among treatments in pollen adhesion. The effect of pollination on pollen germination was erratic, because although free-pollination showed more germination than self-pollination at the beginning, the differences disappeared at nine days after anthesis. The clearest self-incompatibility reaction was detected in the growth of the pollen tube, with little and late growth of the pollen tube under self-pollination. The lowest fertilization rate was observed with self-pollination, and the highest with free-pollination

Mutagenesis is an important tool in the generation of ornamental plant varieties. By 2017, more than 700 varieties had been registered in the mutant variety database jointly administered by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and the International Atomic Energy Agency. Among the main genera reported are Chrysanthemum, Rosa, Dahlia and Alstroemeria, with 283, 67, 35 and 35 registered varieties, respectively. Germplasm native to Mexico has been used to generate several varieties of mutant plants abroad. From Dahlia, 18 varieties have been registered and a large number of mutant forms have been generated in Asia and Europe, while from Polianthes mutant forms have been developed in Iran and India, and from Helianthus 569 mutant forms have been developed in Bulgaria. Although mutation induction has proven to be an efficient method for generating ornamental plant varieties, Mexico has failed to register ornamental varieties, and there are few reported studies, among which are reports of mutation induction in species such as Tigridia pavonia, P. tuberosa, Euphorbia pulcherrima, Dendranthema grandiflora, H. annuus and Laelia autumnalis. These works have established the foundations for implementing genetic improvement programs by mutation induction and developing varieties adapted to the different conditions of the country, which also have ornamental attributes that meet the quality standards demanded by the international market.

In Mexico, in addition to the wine produced from the Vitis vinifera grape, alcoholic beverages are produced from Vitis tiliifolia; however, its production and physical-chemical characteristics have been little studied. Therefore, the objectives of this work were to define some socioeconomic aspects of the producers of these alcoholic beverages and to characterize the physical and chemical properties of such beverages. Producers of artisanal alcoholic beverages made with V. tiliifolia in Naolinco, Veracruz, Mexico, were interviewed about the social and economic aspects related to their production. PH, acidity, total soluble solids, total sugars and alcohol percentage in 39 different alcoholic beverages were determined, and five other drinks were compared with the semi-sweet Italian wine known as Lambrusco in terms of phenol, flavonoid, anthocyanin, and tannin contents, as well as antioxidant capacity. According to the survey, all the grapes used in making the beverages were harvested from wild plants with variable fruit quality. The waste generated by V. tiliifolia beverage production is not regulated by the government and its environmental impact is unknown. Women who make alcoholic beverages prefer to buy the grapes, while men generally harvest the fruit themselves. In the V. tiliifolia beverages, total reducing sugars and total soluble solids were widely variable, indicating that some fruits were not mature at harvest. The total acidity of the V. tiliifolia beverages was low with respect to that reported in V. vinifera wines. The flavonoid concentration in one V. tiliifolia beverage was higher than in the Lambrusco wine.

In the Comarca Lagunera, the melon is considered the most important vegetable crop, so there is interest in venturing into new export markets for which various ways of preserving the fruit have been investigated. The new Harper-type melon hybrids have higher fruit quality, longer post-harvest life and higher yields than commercial ones. The objective of this work was to identify new Harper-type melon hybrids with longer post-harvest life to reach distant markets. Three Harper-type melon hybrids (King RZ, Queen RZ, Alaniz Gold) were evaluated against a control of the region (Cruiser F1). The experiment was carried out in Matamoros, Coahuila, Mexico, under a randomized block design. The post-harvest life of the fruits stored at 18 °C was evaluated at 10, 20 and 30 days, from the weight loss percentage and the speed factor thereof. There was no significant difference in fruit weight and yield. Queen RZ and King RZ hybrids had the highest total soluble solids values at the time of harvest (13.62 and 13.42 °Brix, respectively) and 30 days post-harvest (10.25 and 10.44 °Brix, respectively) (P ≤ 0.05). Both were marketable after 30 days of storage, sufficient to reach distant markets.

The study of foods with antioxidant properties has increased considerably in recent years due to the interest in nutraceutical compounds and their contributions to health. However, there are some seeds with antioxidant components that remain underutilized or unused, such as the Maya nut, the seed of Brosimum alicastrum Swartz (family Moraceae), which was consumed by the ancient Maya and other Mesoamerican peoples. The Maya nut is known in the region today as capomo, nuez de maya, mojo or ramón. The objective of this research was to evaluate the contents of minerals, nutritional compounds and antioxidants in fresh Maya nuts and with two roasting treatments (medium and high roasting at 90 °C for 20 and 35 min, respectively). In general, roasting did not affect the nutritional quality of the seeds, although the concentration of lipids and flavonoids decreased significantly (P ≤ 0.05). Roasting significantly increased (P ≤ 0.05) the content of condensed tannins (365.09 and 1,874.79 mg catechin equivalent∙100 g^-1 of fresh and highly-roasted seeds, respectively) and soluble phenolic compounds (271.58 and 1,337.19 mg gallic acid equivalent∙100 g^-1 of fresh and highly-roasted seeds, respectively). Also, metabolites significantly correlated with the observed antioxidant activity (Pearson’s correlation). Maya nuts could be considered a functional food due to their nutritional quality and high content of antioxidant components.