Frontiers of Agriculture and Food Technology

Frontiers of Agriculture and Food Technology ISSN 7295-2849 Vol. 9 (12), pp. 001-005, December, 2019. © International Scholars Journals

Full Length Research Paper

Non-destructive detection of Sudan dye duck eggs based on computer vision and fuzzy cluster analysis

Tao Zhu and Qiaohua Wang*

College of Engineering, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan, 430070, P.R. China.

Accepted 04 October, 2019

Abstract

A method of non-destructive detection of Sudan dye duck eggs was developed using image processing and fuzzy cluster analysis. Duck egg color images were obtained by using a computer vision device. Through the component analysis of RGB image, it was found that the yolk region could be viewed distinctly in the gray scale image of B-component, and this characteristic was used to separate the yolk region from the white region. By extracting and comparing the color parameters, the R-component values of the yolk region showed obvious differences for Sudan dye and natural red-yolk duck eggs. A fuzzy discriminant model for the detection of Sudan dye duck eggs was established using the yolk’s color parameters. The experimental results indicated that this model had good capability of identification for Sudan dye eggs.

Key words: Duck egg, Sudan dye, computer vision, fuzzy cluster analysis, non-destructive detection.

Frontiers of Agriculture and Food Technology ISSN 7295-2849 Vol. 9 (12), pp. 001-009, December, 2019. © International Scholars Journals

Review

Profiling of carbohydrate polymers in biotechnology using microdialysis sampling, high performance anion exchange chromatography with integrated pulsed electrochemical detection/mass spectrometry

Harriet Okatch* and Nelson Torto

Chemistry Department, University of Botswana, Private Bag UB 00704, Gaborone, Botswana.

Accepted 26 May, 2019

Abstract

The analysis of carbohydrate polymers is very demanding and challenging because of the similar physical and chemical properties they possess. Enzymatic hydrolysis is employed to cleave the polymers. The use of enzymes in analytical chemistry requires an analytical system that has on-line capability, is fast, reproducible, robust, and offers sensitive detection. More importantly the system employed should offer in-situ sampling and sample clean-up so as to reduce the sample handling steps and the analysis time. One such system consists of microdialysis sampling, high performance anion exchange chromatography with integrated pulsed electrochemical detection/mass spectrometry. The on-line system offers sampling, sample clean-up, separation and detection of saccharides as a way of profiling carbohydrate polymers. The wealth of information attained include carbohydrate polymer sequencing, glycosidic linkages, anomericity and result in the unequivocal characterisation of the polymers. This review focuses on the applications of a total on-line system for the profiling of carbohydrate hydrolysates. The above-mentioned analytical system has been employed to carbohydrate polymers and hydrolysates from starch, lignocellulosic material and legumes.

Key words: Profiling, carbohydrates, sampling, separation, detection, microdialysis, enzymes.

Frontiers of Agriculture and Food Technology ISSN 7295-2849 Vol. 9 (11), pp. 001-003, November, 2019. © International Scholars Journals

Short Communication

Studies on the antimicrobial effects of garlic (Allium sativum Linn), ginger (Zingiber officinale Roscoe) and lime (Citrus aurantifolia Linn)

Onyeagba R.A.¹*, Ugbogu O.C. ², Okeke C.U. and Iroakasi .O.¹

¹Department of Microbiology, Abia State University, PMB 2000 Uturu, Nigeria

²Department of Botany, Abia state University,PMB 2000 Uturu, Nigeria.

Accepted 15 August, 2019

Abstract

The antimicrobial effect in vitro of aqueous and ethanolic extracts of garlic (Allium sativum Linn.), ginger (Zingiber officinale Roscoe) and lime (Citrus aurantifolia Linn.) juice were assayed against Staphylococcus aureus; Bacillus spp., Escherichia coli and Salmonella spp. All the test organisms were susceptible to undiluted lime-juice. The aqueous and ethanolic extracts of garlic and ginger singly did not inhibit any of the test organisms. The highest inhibition zone of 19 mm was observed with a combination of extracts on Staphylococcus aureus. Salmonella spp were resistant to almost all the extracts except lime.

Key words: Antimicrobial, ginger, garlic, lime, concoctions.

Frontiers of Agriculture and Food Technology ISSN 7295-2849 Vol. 9 (11), pp. 001-007, November, 2019. © International Scholars Journals

Full Length Research Paper

Phytotoxic effects of Stellera chamaejasme L. root extract

Lin Ma, Hongli Wu, Ru Bai, Li Zhou, Xiaohong Yuan and Dabin Hou*

School of Life Science and Engineering, Southwest University of Science and Technology, Mianyang 621010, PR China.

Accepted 12 July, 2019

Abstract

Stellera chamaejasme is a traditional Chinese medicinal plant with a wide range of medicinal properties and biological activity. In order to evaluate the phytotoxity of S. chamaejasme, the effects of aqueous extracts (6.25, 12.5, 25, 50 and 100 g/L) prepared from roots was studied on the seed germination and seedling growth of rapeseed (Brassica napus), sesame (Sesamum indicum), wheat (Triticum aestivum) and maize (Zea mays). The treatments with high concentration extract (50 and 100 g/L) significantly reduced the germination rate of four crops compared with the control but the treatments with low concentration extract (from 6.25 to 25 g/L) had no obvious inhibitory effect. The mean germination time (MGT) of rapeseed and sesame increased with increasing extract concentration generally. The MGT of wheat and maize extended only at above 50 g/L concentration and at 100 g/L concentration respectively, whereas the treatments at 6.25, 25 and 50 g/L had a decreased effect on MGT of maize. The concentration-dependent effects were also found on shoot length, root length, number of lateral roots and dry weight of rapeseed, wheat and sesame seedling. Lower concentration extract treatments (6.25, 12.5 and 25 g/L) significantly promoted the seedling growth of maize, whereas the higher concentrations extracts had inhibitory effect. The results demonstrated that the high concentration aqueous extracts from S. chamaejasme had strong phytotoxity on seedlings growth of tested species. Dicotyledonous plants (rapeseed and sesame) were more sensitive to S. chamaejasme extract than monocotyledonous plants (wheat and maize). This result might be an important reference for further investigating the phytotoxic effect of S. chamaejasme for weed control.

Key words: Stellera chamaejasme, phytotoxity, allelopathy, germination, seedling growth.

Frontiers of Agriculture and Food Technology ISSN 7295-2849 Vol. 9 (11), pp. 001-005, November, 2019. © International Scholars Journals

Review

The relevance of biotechnology in the development of functional foods for improved nutritional and health quality in developing countries

Lorraine L. Niba

Department of Human Nutrition, Foods and Exercise, 319 Wallace Hall, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, VA 24061-0430, USA. Phone: 1-(540) 231-8763. E-mail: [email protected].

Accepted 21 May,  2019

Abstract

The quality of food and food plants can be modified and optimized to meet the nutritional and health needs of at-risk and compromised populations prevalent in most of the developing countries. High rates of malnutrition, infectious disease as well as diet-related diseases such as diabetes and hypertension are prevalent in many developing countries. These are as a result of compromised immune function, inadequate sources of nutritious and quality foods and limited access to healthy and suitable foods. Biotechnology and genetic modification techniques have been proposed and applied for the improvement of the quality of various food crops. These have typically been geared towards increasing yields and pest resistance of cash crops. There is considerably less emphasis however, toward improving quality with regard to fortification or functionality of foods and food plants. Functional foods have nutritional and physiological benefits and are applicable in disease prevention and management. The application of biotechnology techniques for the development of functional food plants with higher levels of bioactive components or increased availability of nutrients would greatly benefit most populations in developing countries and improve the health and nutritional status overall.

Key words: Biotechnology, functional foods, food quality, health, developing countries.

Frontiers of Agriculture and Food Technology ISSN 7295-2849 Vol. 9 (11), pp. 001-007, November, 2019. © International Scholars Journals

Review

Functional genomics in forage and turf - present status and future prospects

Yan Zhang and M.A. Rouf Mian*

The Samuel Roberts Noble Foundation, 2510 Sam Noble Parkway, Ardmore, Oklahoma, 73401, USA

Accepted 25 February, 2019

Abstract

The recent advances in plant genomics have greatly influenced basic research in many agriculturally important crops. Along with the availability of complete genome information from the model grass species rice and the model legume species M. trucncatula, the functional genomics activities in other crop species will accelerate the genomics studies of forage and turf. Brachypodium distachyon was recently proposed as a new model plant for forage and turf grass genomics studies. The combination of bioinformatics and genomics will enhance our understanding of the molecular functions of forage and turf species. This review focuses on recent advances and applications of functional genomics for large-scale EST projects, global gene expression analyses, proteomics, and metabolic profiling, as well as the impact of functional genomics on improvement of forage and turf crops.

Key words: Functional genomics, forage and turf grasses, ESTs, microarray, proteomics, metabolomics, Medicago truncatula, legume.