United States of America, As Represented by the Secretary of Agriculture

Washington State University

Pace International, LLC

Jan Narciso

Robert Scott Fassel

John A Manthey

Lawrence E Schrader

Kyung Myung

Disease, sunburn and insect damage to fruit and vegetable crops is significantly reduced by treatment of both fruit and foliage with a preventative amount of a protective agent (such as copper sulfate or hydroxide) and an optional amount of thixotropic smectic clay material, chemically altered to render its surface lipophilic, which are combined with a wax emulsion comprising a matrix of complex hydrocarbons, an emulsifying agent and water. In the practice of this disclosure the disease, sunburn, and insect protective composition is further diluted in an aqueous solution that is sprayable by commercial applicators.

Use of coated protective agent to protect horticultural crops from disease

A method for removing furanocoumarins from a liquid includes the steps of incubating the liquid with fungal hyphae for at least about two hours and removing the hyphae from the liquid by a filtration step. The furanocoumarins can be recovered from the hyphae using methods within the ordinary skill in the art. The method is useful for the removal of furanocoumarins from furanocoumarin-containing citrus juice so that the juice can be safely consumed by humans taking drugs that are metabolized by P450 CYP3A, which is the enzyme responsible for the metabolism of many widely-prescribed medications.

Furanocoumarin removal from grapefruit juice by edible fungal hyphae

Growing community of inventors

Winter Haven, FL, United States of America

Jan Narciso