Project description:Cocoa (Theobroma cacao L.) is the basic raw material to produce chocolate and other derivatives such as cocoa butter, cocoa powder and cocoa liquor (cocoa paste), which requires a fermentation process that affects its chemical composition and sensory profile. The objective of this study was to monitor the biochemical, physical and sensory changes during fermentation of cocoa beans in cocoa bean processing plants in the department of Caquetá, Colombia. During fermentation, the temperature of the mass and the pH of the pulp and beans were monitored at the different cocoa bean processing plants (Sites ASOACASAN ASA, COMICACAO CMI, COMCAP COC). Also, at two points during fermentation (days 4 and 7), physical properties of the bean were determined, such as variables related to bromatological composition, polyphenolic compounds and antioxidant activity as sensory attributes at the different sites. An increase in dough temperature was found, however the pH of the cotyledon decreased during the fermentation process and the fat and moisture content varied with fermentation time. At the site level, total polyphenol content (TPC), total flavonoids (TF), 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazil (DPPH) and ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) contents were statistically different, with COC being different from the other sites. The TPC was higher at the COC site (507 mg gallic acid equivalent GAE/g Cocoa) with respect to the other sites (< 360 mg GAE/g Cocoa). The TF content followed a similar behavior to TPC, with significant differences between sites and differences between fermentation times for ASA. The TF was higher in COC (309.1 mg catechin/g cocoa) with respect to CMI (215.6 mg catechin/g cocoa) and ASA (185.7 mg catechin/g cocoa). Values in DPPH ranged from 5869.3 to 7781.8 μmol Trolox/g cocoa and for the FRAP assay ranged from 369.8 to 606.7 mg ascorbic acid AA/g cocoa among the sites. It was found that the time and management of the fermentation process has a significant impact on the parameters (biochemical, physical and sensory) of cocoa beans. Therefore, it is necessary to standardize the fermentation process to achieve a quality product that meets the needs of the market.
Project description:Frugivore-mediated seed dispersal drives ecological functioning across tropical forests. The biological mechanisms affecting seed dispersal outcomes, as well as the role of specific functional traits in plants and their dispersers, is still not well understood. To address this gap, we conducted germination experiments in eight species of captive and two species of wild lemurs, which disperse different plant species. We (1) quantified the effects of pulp removal, seed priming, and feces effects (nutrient/microbial fertilization) through gut passage as mechanisms, (2) determined the effect of frugivore species on germination, and (3) assessed how individual plant and animal traits affected two seed germination outcomes: success rates and time-to-germination. Accounting for phylogenetic non-independence of plants and estimating phylogenetic signal, we evaluated the effects of lemur gut passage and functional traits in a Bayesian framework. Seed priming during gut passage was the primary mechanism through which lemurs improved germination rates and decreased time-to-germination. Gut passage influenced the effect of seed length on germination probability but not time-to germination. Germination outcomes varied by disperser species and seed size. Furthermore, seeds passed by male lemurs were 40% more likely to germinate than those passed by female lemurs. Germination probability was more similar for closely related plant species compared to those that were more distantly related, while the plant phylogenetic effects on time-to-germination were weaker. Moreover, germination depended on experimental setting; for example, lemur gut passage decreased time-to-germination in captive, but not wild settings. Our results highlight the complexity of biological mechanisms determining seed dispersal outcomes; ecological and evolutionary factors were important drivers of germination. Considering a diversity of potential effects is critical for advancing a mechanistic understanding of species interactions and their outcomes.
Project description:The cereal grains such as wheat, barley, sorghum, millets were evaluated before and after germination (24 h, 48 h and 72 h) and compared for their proximate composition, antioxidant activity, total phenolic content, total flavonoid content, pasting properties, in vitro starch digestibility and FTIR spectroscopy. Germination inversely affected the protein, fat, and ash content of different cereal grains. The germinated flours have less water content and higher oil absorption capacities along with reduced starch content. The contents of rapidly digestible starch (RDS), slowly digestible starch (SDS) and resistant starch (RS) in the ungerminated cereal flours ranged from 20.7 to 32.1%, 26.9 to 38.0% and 6.2 to 17.6% respectively but after germination of 72 h, the RDS content increased from 26.5 to 36.2% while SDS and RS content decreased from 26.1% (sorghum) to 16% (barley) and 14.7% (barley) to 4.6% (wheat) respectively. The drought-tolerant crops (sorghum, millets and barley) are potential sources of antioxidants and phenolic content and yielded lower hydrolysis index and estimated glycaemic index upon germination. The highest section of antiparallal β-sheet, α-helix and β-turns were found in wheat flour followed by sorghum flour and their proportion decreased with continuous germination. The continuous reduction of viscosity was evaluated with the progress in germination. Overall, germination is a way to get health-promoting compounds from less utilizing cereal such as millets, sorghum and barley and enhance their uses to nourish the huge population with the aim to fulfill their nutritional requirements.
Project description:The present study was aimed to investigate the nutritive profiles, microbial counts and fermentation metabolites in rye, Italian rye-grass (IRG) and barley supplemented with Lactobacillus plantarum under the field condition, and its probiotic properties. After preparation of silage, the content of crude protein (CP), crude ash, acid detergent fiber (ADF), and neutral detergent fiber (NDF), microbes such as lactic acid bacteria (LAB), yeast and fungi counts, and fermentation metabolites lactic acid, acetic acid and butyric acid was assessed. Results indicated that the content of ADF and NDF were significantly varied between rye, IRG and barley mediated silages. The content of CP was increased in L. plantarum supplemented with IRG, but slightly decreased in rye and barley mediated silages. The maximum LAB count was recorded at 53.10 × 10(7) cfu/g in rye, 16.18 × 10(7) cfu/g in IRG and 2.63 × 10(7) cfu/g in barley silages respectively. A considerable number of the yeasts were observed in the IRG silages than the rye silages (P < 0.05). The amount of lactic acid production is higher in L. plantarum supplemented silages as compared with control samples (P < 0.05). It was confirmed that higher amount of lactic acid produced only due to more number of LAB found in the silages. L. plantarum was able to survive at low pH and bile salt and the duodenum passage with the highest percentage of hydrophobicity. Furthermore, the strain was sensitive towards the antibiotics commonly used to maintain the microbes in food industrial setups. In conclusion, supplementation of L. plantarum is most beneficial in rye, IRG and barley silage preparations and probiotic characteristics of L. plantarum was an intrinsic feature for the application in the preparation of animal feeds and functional foods.
Project description:Exploiting the relationship between the nutritional properties of seeds and the genetic background constitutes an essential analysis, which contributes to broadening our knowledge regarding the control of the nutritional quality of seeds or any other edible plant structure. This is an important aspect when aiming at improving the nutritional characteristics of crops, including those of Chenopodium quinoa Willd. (quinoa), which has the potential to contribute to food security worldwide. Previous works have already described changes in the nutritional properties of quinoa seeds due to the influence of the environment, the genotype, or their interaction. However, there is an important limitation in the analyses carried out, including the outcomes that can be translated into agronomical practices and their effect on seed quality. In the present study, several seed nutritional-related parameters were analyzed in 15 quinoa cultivars grown in a particular environmental context. Important agronomical and nutritional differences were found among cultivars, such as variations in mineral or protein contents and seed viability. More importantly, our analyses revealed key correlations between seed quality-related traits in some cultivars, including those that relate yield and antioxidants or yield and the germination rate. These results highlight the importance of considering the genotypic variation in quinoa when selecting improved quinoa varieties with the best nutritional characteristics for new cultivation environments.
Project description:A deep and detailed understanding of drug-dendrimer conjugates key properties is needed to define the critical quality attributes that affect drug product performance. The characterization must be executed both in the formulation media and in biological matrices. This, nevertheless, is challenging on account of a very limited number of suitable, established methods for characterizing the physicochemical properties, stability, and interaction with biological environment of complex drug-dendrimer conjugates. In order to fully characterize AZD0466, a drug-dendrimer conjugate currently under clinical development by AstraZeneca, a collaboration was initiated with the European Nanomedicine Characterisation Laboratory to deploy a state-of-the-art multi-step approach to measure physicochemical properties. An incremental complexity characterization approach was applied to two batches of AZD0466 and the corresponding dendrimer not carrying any drug, SPL-8984. Thus, the aim of this work is to guide in depth characterization efforts in the analysis of drug-dendrimer conjugates. Additionally, it serves to highlight the importance of using the adequate complementary techniques to measure physical and chemical stability in both simple and biological media, to drive a complex drug-dendrimer conjugate product from discovery to clinical development.
Project description:au14-10_wd40 - effet of light on translatome of arabidopsis seeds during germination - Does light regulates germination via polysome association ? - At harvest seeds are dormant.They stay dormant if stored at -20°C.A.Th dormant seeds dont germinate at 25°C in darkness.Total RNA and polysomal RNA (polysomal fractions purified on sucrose gradients)were extracted from imbibed seeds for 20h at 22°C in darkness and light(3 biological replicates). Transcriptome and translatome are compared for light vs dark for 20h of imbibition. In silico comparison will allow to compare transcriptome and translatome for each type of sample.
Project description:The effects of frying process on the nutritional property, physicochemical quality, and in vitro digestibility of instant noodle products are investigated in this study. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) and Fourier transform infrared spectrometer (FT-IR) were also used to explore the changes in the microstructure and protein transformation. Noodles, after the frying process, showed a lower proportion of carbohydrate, protein, fiber, and also total starch and digestible starch, but higher content of fat and resistant starch in the proximate analysis. The frying process was also considered to improve the texture, surface color, and sensory properties of instant noodle products, accompanied by better cooking quality, including shorter cooking time and lower cooking loss during the rehydration. The honeycomb-like, porous, and less uniformed structure, and also the higher levels of β-sheets and β-turns, and the lower proportion of α-helixes of protein structure from fried instant noodle was also observed. The in vitro digestibility of starch and protein were downregulated in the fried group (81.96% and 81.31, respectively, on average) compared with the non-fried group (97.58% and 88.78, respectively, on average). Thus, the frying process lowered the glycemic index and regulated protein secondary structure by inhibiting continuous digesting enzyme activity, generating starch-lipid complexes, and changing the levels of protein transformation. In conclusion, our findings will provide an innovative evaluation of the frying process on instant noodles and even other various starch-based prepared food products.
Project description:The objective of this study was to investigate the nutritional quality of bovine colostrum and whey mixtures. Five whey with bovine colostrum formulations were prepared (90:10; 80:20; 70:30; 60:40 and 50:50 whey:colostrum v:v) to be subjected to low-temperature pasteurization (63°C to 65°C for 30 minutes) and freeze-drying. The samples underwent chemical composition characterization, fatty acid profile analysis, determination of contamination by Enterobacteriaceae, pH, and Dornic acidity measurements before and after vat pasteurization. The amount of protein, fat, total solids, defatted dry extract, Brix and density increased as the bovine colostrum concentration increased. The level of saturated fatty acids and the thrombogenicity and atherogenicity indices reduced, while unsaturated fatty acids increased as the level of added bovine colostrum increased. The low-temperature pasteurization of the formulations was possible and effective, eliminating contamination by Enterobacteriaceae in the samples. Mixing bovine colostrum and whey reduced the colostrum viscosity, allowing a successful pasteurization procedure. Due to colostrum composition, the formulations yielded a higher nutritional value when compared to whey alone. The parameters applied in the formulation of mixtures of bovine colostrum and whey resulted in valuable ingredients for preparing novel dairy products.