Suchergebnisse

Aiming to add knowledge to the search for new possibilities of alternative biomass to the biomasses that are already adopted by the sugar-energy industries, this work sought to analyze the possibility of using cassava husks that are residues from the production of starch to obtain fuel ethanol. Treatments to optimize the acid hydrolysis process were carried out, having as variants the concentration of sulfuric acid with 1%, 3% and 5% (m/v), the sieve granulometry varying in 16, 24 and 32 mesh, also having different autoclaving times varying from 10, 35 and 60 minutes with cassava husks (Manihot esculenta Crantz), in order to obtain a broth with a high content of fermentable sugars. Therefore, it was possible to verify that the use of cassava husks (cassava plant residues) as sources for obtaining ethanol have promising properties using a concentration of 5% sulfuric acid, a 32 mesh sieve and autoclaving the samples for a period of 22.5 minutes.

Due to intensive agriculture honeybees are threatened by various pesticides. The use of one group of them, the neonicotinoids, was recently restricted by the European Union. These chemicals bind to the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (nAchR) in the honeybee brain. Recently, Bayer AG released a new pesticide by the name of "Sivanto" against sucking insects. It is assumed to be harmless for honeybees, although its active ingredient, flupyradifurone, binds nAchR similar to the neonicotinoids. We investigated if this pesticide affects the taste for sugar and cognitive performance in honeybee foragers. These bees are directly exposed to the pesticide while foraging for pollen or nectar. Our results demonstrate that flupyradifurone can reduce taste and appetitive learning performance in honeybees foraging for pollen and nectar, although only the highest concentration had significant effects. Most likely, honeybee foragers will not be exposed to these high concentrations. Therefore, the appropriate use of this pesticide is considered safe for honeybees, at least with respect to the behaviors studied here.

Due to intensive agriculture honeybees are threatened by various pesticides. The use of one group of them, the neonicotinoids, was recently restricted by the European Union. These chemicals bind to the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (nAchR) in the honeybee brain. Recently, Bayer AG released a new pesticide by the name of "Sivanto" against sucking insects. It is assumed to be harmless for honeybees, although its active ingredient, flupyradifurone, binds nAchR similar to the neonicotinoids. We investigated if this pesticide affects the taste for sugar and cognitive performance in honeybee foragers. These bees are directly exposed to the pesticide while foraging for pollen or nectar. Our results demonstrate that flupyradifurone can reduce taste and appetitive learning performance in honeybees foraging for pollen and nectar, although only the highest concentration had significant effects. Most likely, honeybee foragers will not be exposed to these high concentrations. Therefore, the appropriate use of this pesticide is considered safe for honeybees, at least with respect to the behaviors studied here.

The relaxation dynamic of ribose and deoxyribose water solutions at different concentrations has been studied by broadband dielectric spectroscopy and differential scanning calorimetry in the temperature range of 150–250 K. Two relaxation processes are observed for all the hydration levels; the slower (process I) is related to the relaxation of the whole solution whereas the faster one (process II) is associated with the reorientation of water molecules in the mixture. As for other polymeric water solutions, dielectric data for process II indicate the existence of a critical water concentration above which water mobility is less restricted. According to these results, attenuated total reflectance Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy measurements of the same sugar solutions showed an increment in the intensity of the OH stretching sub-band close to 3200 cm−1 as water content increases. ; The authors gratefully acknowledge the support of the Spanish Ministry of Education, project CSD2006–00053, the European Union, project 502235–2 and SOFTCOMP program and the Basque Government, project IT-436–07. ; Peer reviewed

AbstractThe wastewater from baker's yeast production contains above‐average concentrations of organic pollutants (25 000 mg/L total chemical oxygen demand, TCOD), nutrients (1500 mg/L Ntot, 100 mg/L Ptot) and sulphate (2900 mg/L SO42−). Baker's yeast wastewater with a flow rate of 190 m3/day was treated in a mesophilic anaerobic/anoxic continuous stirred tank reactor (CSTR) system. At the expense of the reduction of trimethylglycine (or betaine‐component of sugar‐beet molasses) to other nitrogen‐containing compounds, it was possible to re‐oxidize the sulphides to elemental sulphur, remove them from the wastewater and increase biogas production. Therefore, the average removal efficiency in the anaerobic/anoxic system was 79% by TCOD, 100% by SO42− in which the concentration of sulphides in the effluent did not exceed 50 mg/L. The application of this combined anaerobic/anoxic system to a full‐scale treatment plant supported biogas production up to 1300 m3/day, and the purification of wastewater was feasible without the use of granular sludge.

6 páginas, 4 figuras ; The production of prebiotic oligosaccharides during germination of rice has been investigated. Germination of waxy (RD6) and non-waxy (RD17) rice was compared by evaluating the total reducing sugars, free amino nitrogen, pH and enzyme activities over a 7-day period. An increment of amylolytic enzymes and chemical changes were observed in both varieties. RD6 showed higher levels of total reducing sugars and also higher amylolytic activities including α-amylase and α-glucosidase, which reached maximum values at the third day of germination. However, the amount of free amino nitrogen in RD6 was lower than in RD17. Sugar analysis indicates that RD6 produces higher concentration of sugars and oligosaccharides during germination. Based on these results, germinated RD6 at different times was used to produce malted rice syrup through mashing. After saccharification, the malted rice syrup contained different concentrations of sugars and oligosaccharides, particularly isomaltose, panose and isomaltotriose, which have been reported to have prebiotic properties ; This research was carried out with the financial support of The Royal Thai Government Scholarship ; Peer reviewed

12 Pags., 1 Tabl., 8 Figs. ; A dual-stable isotope tracer experiment was carried out with Fe-deficient sugar beet plants grown hydroponically and resupplied with differentially Fe labeled racemic and meso Fe(III)-chelates of the ethylendiamine di(o-hydroxyphenylacetic) acid (o,oEDDHA). No short-term Fe isotope exchange reactions occurred in the nutrient solution and plants did not discriminate between 54Fe and 57Fe. After 3–6 h, stable Fe isotopes, chelating agents and chelates were analyzed in roots, xylem sap and leaves by ICP-MS and HPLC-ESI/TOFMS. Ferric chelate reductase rates, xylem transport and total uptake were 2-fold higher with the meso isomer than with the racemic one. Both chelating agent isomers were incorporated and distributed by plants at similar rates, in amounts one order of magnitude lower than those of Fe. After 6 h of Fe resupply, most of the Fe acquired was localized in roots, whereas most of the chelating agent was in leaves. In a separate experiment, Fe-deficient sugar beet and tomato plants were treated with different concentrations of Fe(III)-o,oEDDHA (with a meso/racemic ratio of 1). The xylem sap Fe concentration at 24 h was unaffected by the chelate concentration, with xylem Fe(III)-o,oEDDHA accounting for 1–18% of total Fe and xylem meso/racemic ratio close to 1. Although most of the Fe coming from Fe(III)-o,oEDDHA was taken up through a reductive dissociative mechanism, a small part of the Fe may be taken up via non-dissociative mechanisms. ; This work was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (MICINN) (projects AGL2007-61948 and AGL2009-09018, co-financed with FEDER), the Commission of European Communities (ISAFRUIT Project, Thematic Priority 5-Food Quality and Safety, of the 6th Framework Programme of RTD; Contract No. FP6-FOOD-CT-2006- 016279), the trilateral Project Hot Iron (ERA-NET Plant Genome Research KKBE; MICINN EUI2008-03618) and the Arago´ n Government (Group A03). IO was supported by a CONAID-DGA predoctoral fellowship and a CAI-Europa grant. ; Peer reviewed

THIS PAPER ESTIMATES THE POTENTIAL SOCIAL COST OF TRADE BARRIERS USING THE HARBERGER AND THE TULLOCK/POSNER APPROACHES FOR A SAMPLE OF U.S. FOOD AND TOBACCO MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES. IN ADDITION, IT TESTS THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE COMPUTED WELFARE LOSSES AND SPECIAL-INTEREST POLITICAL ACTIVITY (PAC CONTRIBUTIONS). IF ALL RENTS WERE DISSIPATED THROUGH RENT SEEKING, THE SOCIAL COST OF TRADE BARRIERS WOULD BE ABOUT 12.5 PERCENT OF DOMESTIC CONSUMPTION AND WOULD BE PARTICULARLY LARGE FOR SUGAR AND MILK PRODUCTS WHERE QUOTAS ARE THE MAIN INSTRUMENT OF PROTECTION. FURTHERMORE, THE RESULTS INDICATE THAT WELFARE LOSSES ARE POSITIVELY ASSOCIATED WITH INDUSTRY LOBBYING BUT THE STRENGTH OF SUCH ASSOCIATION IS STRONGLY DEPENDENT ON INDUSTRY CONCENTRATION.

[EN] The study of the diversity within and between major Solanaceae crops (pepper, tomato, eggplant) is of interest for the selection and development of balanced diets. We have measured thirty-six major fruit composition traits, encompassing sugars, organic acids, antioxidants and minerals, in a set of 10 accessions per crop for pepper, tomato and eggplant, grown under the same cultivation conditions. The aim was to evaluate the diversity within species and to provide an accurate comparison of fruit composition among species by reducing to a minimum the environmental effect. Pepper, tomato and eggplant had a clearly distinct composition profile. Pepper showed the highest average content in total sugars and organic acids. Fructose and glucose were the major sugar compounds in the three species, although in pepper and tomato sucrose was present only in trace amounts. Citric acid was the major organic acid in pepper and tomato, while in eggplant it was malic acid. Pepper and eggplant had the highest total antioxidant activity. Vitamin C content was much higher in pepper than in tomato and eggplant, while eggplant accumulated high concentrations of chlorogenic acid. Furthermore, eggplant was the species with higher content in most minerals, particularly for K, Mg and Cu, while pepper was the richest in Fe. Due to their complementary nutritional profiles, a combined regular consumption of the three vegetables would supply more than 20% of the Dietary Reference Intake of several of the analysed phytochemicals. The large diversity within each species is of interest for selecting varieties with better nutritional and organoleptic profiles, as well as for breeding new cultivars. ; This work has been funded by the European Union's Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme under grant agreement No. 677379 (Linking genetic resources, genomes and phenotypes of Sola-naceous crops; G2PSOL) . Elena RosaMartinez is grateful to the Spanish Ministerio de Economia, Industria y Competitividad for a pre-doctoral grant ...

Malaria, one of vector borne disease has been still a major Public Health problem in Indonesia. The disease is spread by Anopheles biting, for example Anopheles aconitus. So far, efforts which have been conducted by the government to control the disease is house spraying program with thermal fogging and also Ultra Low Volume (ULV) with Malathione 96 EC. A commercially available insecticide Fendona 30 EC is commonly used equal to Malathione 96 EC in its application. The application of insecticides through "Templek lamp" would be predicted more applicable due to its simple use by the community. The purpose of this study was to learn the efficacy of trial using "Templek lamp" of Malathione 96 EC and Fendona 30 EC to find the Lethal Concentration 90% (LC90), Lethal Time 50% (LT50) and 90% (LT90) of insecticides to Anopheles aconitus mortality. An experimental research with posttest only control group design was used in this study. Female An. aconitus, age 2-5 days were purposely selected. They were fed with 10% sugar and tested by Glass chamber method with double control groups. Groups of 20 An. aconitus each were tested with various concentrations of the insecticides, i.e. 0.1%, 0.5%, 1.0%, 2.5% and 5.0% in triplicate. The result showed that based on probit analysis, Fendona 30 EC LT50s at the aforementioned concentrations were 7.25, 5.81, 3.48, 1.16 and 0.54 hours respectively. On the other hand Malathione 96 EC LT50s at the same concentrations were 8.13, 5.48, 3.96, 2.69 and 0.57 hours. At the same concentrations, Fendona 30 EC LT90s were 61.76, 54.96, 20.56, 5.95 and 1.44 hours respectively, while Malathione 96 EC LT90s were 86.37, 43.62, 26.60, 18.86 and 1.48 hours respectively. It was also observed that LC90 for Fendona 30 EC and Malathione 96 EC was 0.688% and 1.048% respectively. Analysis of variance showed significant difference (p0.05) between concentrations of each insecticides. Further studies are still required to confirm this observation.

Developing confectionery products by reducing sugar and using natural ingredients is an important response to health-conscious consumers. In the present work, we determined how different concentrations of sucralose (SC)—0, 25, 50, 75, and 100%—as a replacement for sucrose while maintaining the same level of sweetness of rose tea gummy jelly (RTGJ) could affect the physical properties, reducing sugar content, total phenolic content (TPC), total flavonoid content (TFC), antioxidant activity by DPPH method, sensory properties, and consumer attitude toward RTGJ. Results showed that the red colour (a* value) of 100% SC was the highest (p < 0.05). The hardness, gumminess, and chewiness values of 50% SC were the highest at a significant level (p < 0.05). The springiness and water activity of all samples were not significantly different (p > 0.05). Total reducing sugar content in the control sample was significantly higher (p < 0.05) than in other samples. The TPC and TFC of RTGJ were not significantly different (p > 0.05) among all samples, while antioxidant activity slightly decreased with increasing amount of SC in RTGJ. Remarkably, sensory analysis revealed no differences between the control sample and 100% SC, which had the highest liking scores in terms of sweetness, sourness, springiness, rose tea flavour, and overall liking. Consumers expressed that RTGJ with 100% SC could help them to relax and decrease tooth decay. The present work introduced a new functional jelly confectionery product using 100% SC and adding rose tea which showed potential for promoting phytochemical properties and enhancing emotional and health advantages.

Global research and industrial development of liquid transportation biofuels are moving at a rapid pace. This is mainly due to the significant roles played by biofuels in decarbonising our future energy needs, since they act to mitigate the deleterious impacts of greenhouse gas emissions to the atmosphere that are contributors of climate change. Governmental obligations and international directives that mandate the blending of biofuels in petrol and diesel are also acting as great stimuli to this expanding industrial sector. Currently, the predominant liquid biofuel is bioethanol (fuel alcohol) and its worldwide production is dominated by maize-based and sugar cane-based processes in North and South America, respectively. In Europe, fuel alcohol production employs primarily wheat and sugar beet. Potable distilled spirit production and fuel alcohol processes share many similarities in terms of starch bioconversion, fermentation, distillation and co-product utilisation, but there are some key differences. For example, in certain bioethanol fermentations, it is now possible to yield consistently high ethanol concentrations of ~20% (v/v). Emerging fuel alcohol processes exploit lignocellulosic feedstocks and scientific and technological constraints involved in depolymerising these materials and efficiently fermenting the hydrolysate sugars are being overcome. These so-called secondgeneration fuel alcohol processes are much more environmentally and ethically acceptable compared with exploitation of starch and sugar resources, especially when considering utilisation of residual agricultural biomass and biowastes. This review covers both first and second-generation bioethanol processes with a focus on current challenges and future opportunities of lignocellulose-to-ethanol as this technology moves from demonstration pilot-plants to full-scale industrial facilities.

© 2015 CSIC. The selective hydrolysis of hemicellulose from olive stones was attempted in order to achieve a maximum D-xylose yield. For this aim, batch hydrolysis was conducted under different operating conditions of temperature, acid concentration and solid loading. Firstly, distilled water, sulphuric acid and nitric acid were assessed as hydrolytic agents at different temperatures (200, 205, 210 and 220 °C) and at a fixed acid concentration (0.025 M). Sulphuric acid and 200 °C were selected for the subsequent dilute acid hydrolysis optimization based on the obtained D-xylose yields. The combined influence of solid loading (from 29.3 to 170.7 g olive stones into 300 mL acid solution) and sulphuric acid concentration (0.006-0.034 M) on the release of D-xylose was then estimated by response surface methodology. According to a statistical analysis, both parameters had significant interaction effects on D-xylose production. The results illustrated that the higher the solid loading, the higher the required acid concentration. The decrease in the solid/liquid ratio in the reactor had a positive effect on D-xylose extraction and on the amount of acid used. The optimum solid loading and sulphuric acid concentration were determined to be 50 g (solid/liquid ratio 1/6) and 0.016 M, respectively. Under these conditions, the predicted D-xylose yield (expressed as g of sugar per 100 g of dry matter fed) was 20.4 (87.2% of maximum attainable). ; This work was funded by the Projects 01272/2005 and AGR/6509 (Andalusia Regional Government, Spain). The authors would like to acknowledge 'S.C.A. San Juan' (Jaén, Spain) for the supply of olive stones. Marwa Saleh also acknowledges a grant from the AECI (Spain) ; Peer Reviewed

The final products formed from the various systems of the Maillard reactions possess different functional properties such as browning intensity, antioxidant activity, and emulsion stability. To study these properties and activities, different systems of whey proteins reaction with glucose and fructose at different concentrations to form a new model system of Maillard reaction products (MRPs) was observed. Results showed that high optical densities (peaks) at 280 and 420 nm indicated the formation of the intermediate stages of MRPs and the formation of advanced MRPs, respectively. Additionally, results showed that these Maillard reaction model systems possessed different antioxidant activities as demonstrated by DPPH and reducing power assays (20 - 93.2% and 40 - 90%, respectively) depending on the type and concentration of sugar, and the incubation time. The whey protein-fructose model system possessed high antioxidant activity (93.2%), and had the highest percentage on the emulsion stability index (75.4%). The whey protein-fructose model systems comprised the highest number of the studied model systems to form MRPs, and had highly powerful antioxidant activity and emulsifying index.

Neonicotinoids are one of the major stresses contributing to the decline in the population of honeybees. Worker bees are prone to various stress factors during foraging and are susceptible to Imidacloprid due to the reduction in the number of genes encoding for the major enzyme families responsible for the detoxification of toxins. The present study worked on the hypothesis that the dietary supplementation of Ascorbic acid (VIT C) could reduce the peroxidative damage in the worker bees of Apis cerana indica exposed to sub-lethal concentration of imidacloprid (IMD). Furthermore, we also evaluated the role and efficacy of VIT C supplementation on the cytoarchitecture of midgut tissues on exposure to IMD. Colonies of honeybees were maintained by providing sugar syrup to the control group and sugar syrup supplemented with 0.2% VIT C for the experimental group for six months. Worker bees from both groups were randomly collected and exposed to 0.001 mg/mL IMD. To study the peroxidative damage, the activities of various enzymes were analyzed. The activities of antioxidant enzymes including Catalase, Superoxide Dismutase, Glutathione S Transferase, and Glutathione Peroxidase in the hemolymph and midgut tissues of worker bees were significantly decreased due to exposure to IMD as a single agent. However, their activities showed a significant elevation under diet supplementation with VIT C. Histological examination revealed midgut tissue damage and the rupture of peritrophic membrane among the workers exposed to IMD as compared with the control group. The damage to the midgut was alleviated and the peritrophic membrane was found to be intact in the worker bees supplemented with VIT C. Our results indicated that the dietary supplementation of VIT C has the potential to maintain the redox status and thereby can offer protective potential against the peroxidative damages induced by the sub-lethal concentration of IMD.