Brosimum alicastrum

Excessive consumption of fat and carbohydrates, together with a decrease in traditional food intake, has been related to obesity and the development of metabolic alterations. Ramon seed is a traditional Mayan food used to obtain Ramon flour (RF) with high biological value in terms of protein, fiber, micronutrients, and bioactive compounds such as polyphenols. However, few studies have evaluated the beneficial effects of RF. Thus, we aimed to determine the metabolic effects of RF consumption on a high-fat-diet-induced obesity mouse model...

Seeds represent a potential source of starch, containing at least 60-70% of total starch, however many of them are treated as waste and are usually discarded. The review aim was to analyze the characteristics, functional properties, and potential applications of native and modified starches from underutilized seeds such as Sorghum bicolor L. Moench (WSS), Chenopodium quinoa, Wild. (QSS), Mangifera indica L. (MSS), Persea americana Mill. (ASS), Pouteria campechiana (Kunth) Baehni (PCSS), and Brosimum alicastrum Sw...

Maya nut ( Brosimum alicastrum ) is a novel food with high nutritional value. This research aimed to evaluate the nutritional and antioxidant properties of Maya nut flour (MNF) made from seeds dried by different methods (sun-dried and using hot air at 45 °C and 60 °C) to explore its incorporation into cookies and evaluate its nutritional and functional properties. The naturally sun-dried flour (NF) had the highest content of ash (3.64 ± 0.11 g/100 g), protein (6.35 ± 0.44 g/100 g), crude fiber (6...

PREMISE OF THE STUDY: Habitat fragmentation negatively affects population size and mating patterns that directly impact progeny fitness and genetic diversity; however, little is known about the effects of habitat fragmentation on dioecious, wind pollinated trees. We assessed the effects of habitat fragmentation on population sex ratios, genetic diversity, gene flow, mating patterns and early progeny vigor in the tropical dioecious tree, Brosimum alicastrum. METHODS: We conducted our study in three continuous and three fragmented forest sites in a Mexican tropical dry forest...

Ruminants, mainly cattle, contribute to greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions as methane (CH4 ) is produced by ruminal fermentation. Hence, various anti-methanogenic feed strategies have been studied, including the use of plants with secondary metabolites. This study evaluated in vitro ruminal fermentation metrics, microbial composition by digital droplet PCR (ddPCR) and the CH4 production of the foliage of several tropical trees and shrubs: Leucaena leucocephala , Moringa oleifera , Albizia lebbeck , Enterolobium cyclocarpum , Piscidia piscipula , Brosimum alicastrum , Lysiloma latisiliquum , Guazuma ulmifolia , Cnidoscolus aconitifolius , Gliricidia sepium and Bursera simaruba , using Cynodon plectostachyus grass as control...

The properties of biological-chemical chitosan (BCh) films from marine-industrial waste and a non-conventional Ramon starch (RS) ( Brosimum alicastrum ) were investigated. Blended films of BCh/RS were prepared to a volume ratio of 4:1 and 1:4, named (BChRS-80+q, biological-chemical chitosan 80% v / v and Ramon starch, BChRS-20+q, biological-chemical chitosan 20% v / v and Ramon starch, both with quercetin), Films from commercial chitosan (CCh) and corn starch (CS), alone or blended (CChCS-80+q, commercial chitosan 80% v / v and corn starch, CChCS-20+q commercial chitosan 20% v / v and corn starch, both with quercetin) were also prepared for comparison purposes...

PREMISE: The mechanisms generating the geographical distributions of genetic diversity are a central theme in evolutionary biology. The amount of genetic diversity and its distribution are controlled by several factors, including dispersal abilities, physical barriers, and environmental and climatic changes. We investigated the patterns of genetic diversity and differentiation among populations of the widespread species Brosimum alicastrum in Mexico. METHODS: Using nuclear DNA microsatellite data, we tested whether the genetic structure of B...

Physiological changes in elderly individuals (EI) can contribute to nutritional deterioration and comorbidities that reduce their quality of life. Factors such as diet can modulate some of these effects. The aim was to evaluate the functionality of foods added with Brosimum alicastrum Sw. seed flour in EI. EI ( n = 23) living in nursing home conditions agreed to participate. A control stage was carried out (30 days) and subsequently, an intervention stage (30 days) was realized in which a muffin and a beverage, designed for EI, were added to the participants' their usual diet...

The wheat flour tortilla (WFT) is a Mexican food product widely consumed in the world, despite lacking fiber and micronutrients. Ramón seed flour (RSF) is an underutilized natural resource rich in fiber, minerals and bioactive compounds that can be used to improve properties of starchy foods, such as WFT. The study evaluated the impact of partial replacement of wheat flour with RSF on the physicochemical, sensory, rheological and nutritional properties and antioxidant capacity (AC) of RSF-containing flour tortilla (RFT)...

Consolidated bioprocessing (CBP), which integrates biological pretreatment, enzyme production, saccharification, and fermentation, is a promising operational strategy for cost-effective ethanol production from biomass. In this study, the use of a native strain of Trametes hirsuta (Bm-2) was evaluated for bioethanol production from Brosimum alicastrum in a CBP. The raw seed flour obtained from the ramon tree contained 61% of starch, indicating its potential as a raw material for bioethanol production. Quantitative assays revealed that the Bm-2 strain produced the amylase enzyme with activity of 193...

Previous cafeteria studies suggested that a moderate natural gastrointestinal nematode (GIN) infection did not modify the resource selection of adult Criollo goats towards tannin-rich plants compared with worm-free goats. A higher infection with Haemonchus contortus could trigger a change in the resource selection behaviour towards tannin-rich foliage. Alternatively, goats might select plant species solely to meet their nutritional requirements. A cafeteria study investigated the effect of a high artificial infection with H...

In order to maximize the yield of the total phenolic content (TPC) and total monomeric anthocyanin (TMA) from Brosimum alicastrum leaf and to study the radical-scavenging activity, a three-level three-factor Box-Behnken design (BBD) was used to determine the optimal points for ultrasound-assisted extraction (UAE). In this study, we analyzed the extraction time (10, 20, and 30 min), temperature (28, 30, and 32 °C), and probe sonication power (40%, 28 W/cm²; 60%, 51 W/cm²; and 80%, 74 W/cm²). Analysis of variance (ANOVA) indicated that the sonication power plays a significant role in the extraction of phenolic compounds...

BACKGROUND: Formation and accumulation of advanced glycation end-products (AGE) is recognized as a major pathogenic process in diabetic complications, atherosclerosis and cardiovascular diseases. In addition, reactive oxygen species and free radicals have also been reported to participate in AGE formation and in cell damage. Natural products with antioxidant and antiAGE activity have great therapeutic potential in the treatment of diabetes, hypertension and related complications. Objective: to test ethanolic extracts and aqueous-traditional preparations of plants used to treat diabetes, hypertension and obesity in Yucatecan traditional medicine for their anti-AGE and free radical scavenging activities...

Sheep have been suggested to use their senses to perceive plant properties and associate their intake with consequences after ingestion. However, sheep with browsing experience do not seem to select against tannin-rich browsing materials in cafeteria trials. Thus, the objective of the present study was to evaluate the relationship between the chemical composition, selectivity index (SI), preference and intake rate (IR) of tannin-containing forage trees offered to sheep in cafeteria experiments. Four trees were selected for their condensed tannin content and their varying biological activities...

It has been suggested that tropical defaunation may unleash community-wide cascading effects, leading to reductions in plant diversity. However, experimental evidence establishing cause-effect relationships thereof is poor. Through a 5 year exclosure experiment, we tested the hypothesis that mammalian defaunation affects tree seedling/sapling community dynamics leading to reductions in understorey plant diversity. We established plot triplets (n = 25) representing three defaunation contexts: terrestrial-mammal exclosure (TE), medium/large mammal exclosure (PE) and open access controls (C)...

Two methods of feed preference trials were compared to evaluate the acceptability of 5 fresh foliages: Leucaena leucocephala, Moringa oleifera, Portulaca oleracea, Guazuma ulmifolia, and Brosimum alicastrum that was included as control. The evaluation included chemical analyses and forage intake by rabbits. The first method was a cafeteria trial; 12 California growing rabbits aged 8 wk, allocated in individual cages, were offered the five forage plants at the same time inside the cage, while in the second trial 60 California growing rabbits aged 8 wk, allocated individually, were randomly distributed into 5 experimental groups (n = 12/group); for each group just one forage species was offered at a time...

In this paper, the Ramon starch was isolated and its chemical composition and physical and microscopic characteristics were determined. Corn starch was used as reference. In general, the proximal composition was similar between starches studied. Ramon starch granules were oval-spherical and rounded with sizes between 6.5 and 15 μm. Starch purity was high (92.57%) with amylose content of 25.36%. The gelatinization temperature was 83.05°C and transition enthalpy was 21.423 J/g. At 90°C, solubility was 20.42%, swelling power 17...

Landscape genetic studies use spatially explicit population genetic information to determine the physical and environmental causes of population genetic structure on regional scales. Comparative studies that identify common barriers to gene flow across multiple species within a community are important to both understand the evolutionary trajectories of populations and prioritize habitat conservation. Here, we use a comparative landscape genetic approach to ask whether gradients in temperature or precipitation seasonality structure genetic variation across three codistributed tree species in Central America, or whether a simpler (geographic distance) or more complex, species-specific environmental niche model is necessary to individually explain population genetic structure...

The present trial aimed at comparing the sensitivity of two in vitro methods, i.e. the larval migration inhibition assay (LMIA) and the larval exsheathment inhibition assay (LEIA), to evaluate the anthelmintic (AH) properties of tannin-rich plant extracts against Haemonchus contortus infective larvae. The two assays were applied on the same batch of H. contortus infective larvae exposed to water/acetonic extracts obtained from four tropical plants with different tannin contents: Acacia gaumeri, Brosimum alicastrum, Havardia albicans and Leucaena leucocephala...

Genetic differences among tree species, their hybrids and within tree species are known to influence associated ecological communities and ecosystem processes in areas of limited species diversity. The extent to which this same phenomenon occurs based on genetic variation within a single tree species, in a diverse complex ecosystem such as a tropical forest, is unknown. The level of biodiversity and complexity of the ecosystem may reduce the impact of a single tree species on associated communities. We assessed the influence of within-species genetic variation in the tree Brosimum alicastrum (Moraceae) on associated epiphytic and invertebrate communities in a neotropical rainforest...