Many edible wild plants have been consumed as food. It has been reported that these plants have antioxidants, antitumor and antibacterial activities. First, we examined the DPPH radical scavenging activity and total polyphenol contents in 14 species of edible wild plants, which were collected from the Yamanashi prefecture. A significant correlation between antioxidant activity and polyphenol content was observed. Moreover, Akebia quinata, Pteridium aquilinum, Adenophora triphylla, Cacalia delphiniifolia, Allium victorialis, Hosta sieboldiana, Vinca minor and Acer maximowiczianum were found to have significant antitumor effects against C6 glioma cells. The decrease of cell viability raises two possibilities-induction of cell death or growth retardation. We then subjected the extracts to propidium iodide (PI) and calcein-AM staining to distinguish between dead and live cells, respectively. The extracts from A. maximowiczianuminduced an increase in the number of PI-positive cells. Moreover, activation of caspase 3 and translocation of phosphatidylserine were observed in the extract-treated cells suggesting that apoptosis might be the reason for decreased cell viability. On the other hand, extracts of A. victorialis, H. sieboldiana, and V. minor induced abnormalities in the cell cycle in the G₂/M phase of cell cycle. Our data suggest that the antitumor effect of the edible wild plants might be through the induction of apoptosis and cell cycle abnormalities.

　カンキツ果実の細胞間隙体積（V_in）を測定し，これを簡便に推定する方法を確立することを目的に，8品種のサイズの異なるカンキツを対象にした質量（m），縦および横径（vd, hd），体積（V_t），真密度（P_t）の測定を行った。間隙体積は品種毎の値を示したが，一つの品種においては果実のサイズに依存した。すなわち，サイズが大きい果実ほど間隙体積は大きかった。しかしながら，間隙率（Ø）ではその傾向が顕著ではなかった。間隙体積を簡便に推定する方法として得られた V_in=Vt－m/1.0647の推定モデルは，実測値との間にそれぞれ高い決定係数（0.999），EF値（0.999），IA値（0.999），t検定値（0.365）を示した。これより，得られた推定モデルは，カンキツ果実の間隙体積を推定するために適用できるものと考えた。

　Milk gels were prepared by incubating a mixture of milk and ginger juice at different temperatures and incubation times. This was done to determine the effects of variation in temperature and incubation time on the hardness, adhesiveness, and cohesiveness of milk gels. Our results demonstrated that it was favorable to incubate the mixture for 30 minutes at 60-70℃, after mixing the milk and ginger juice by stirring. The hardness increased with additional heating to 80℃ after gel formation using ginger protease. Our findings suggest that it is possible to adjust the hardness of the gels by combining the enzyme reaction with heating. The hardness of the gel could be adjusted by addition of 1.5～2.0w/w% gelatin, therefore, gels prepared by a mixing milk and ginger juice have promising applications as food sources for elderly people or as foods for swallowing training.

　白色反射シートのカーテン方式でのワイン用ブドウ‘カベルネ・ソービニヨン’の着色促進効果を検討した。ベレーゾン期に白色反射シートカーテンを一文字整枝の両側にカーテン状に設置したところ，果皮の着色とアントシアニン含量がマルチ区および無処理区より優れたが，果汁中の資化性アミノ酸含量は有意に低くなった。

　以上のことから，反射シートの両側カーテン処理は，赤ワイン原料用ブドウとして有用な濃い色調が得られる傾向が認められた。