Influence of Added Starch on Mixing of Dough Made with Three Wheat Flours Differing in High Molecular Weight Subunit Composition: Rheological Behavior

The effect of mixing time (6 and 20 min) and starch content were studied on doughs prepared with three wheat flours differing in high molecular weight subunit composition. Rheological measurements were performed in dynamic oscillation: frequency and strain sweeps, stress relaxation, and in large deformation viscosity measurements. The flours were diluted with starch to cover flour protein contents of 10–15%. Water was added to keep the starch‐water ratio constant when doughs were prepared with different protein contents. By increasing the starch content of the doughs, the rheological properties approached those of a starch‐water mixture prepared with the same starch‐water ratio as in the dough. The effect of the starch granules was reinforced by prolonged mixing. This may explain the higher values of the storage modulus and relaxation times observed after 20 min of mixing. Qualities related to gluten properties, appeared more clearly in large deformation viscosity measurements.     

Effect of starvation on the survival,injury, and weight of adult snow crab,Chionoecetes opilio

In this study, the effects of feeding (F) and starvation (S) on survival, injury, and weight of captive male snow crab were examined. The experiment was carried out with three replicates of each treatment. Each replicate had 11 individually tagged crabs (average weight of 650 g ± 37 SE) per tank (replicate) in a total of six circular tanks (500 L), with stocking densities of 14 kg/m. The experiment ran for 100 days and the animals were exposed to ambient seawater temperatures ranging from 4.4ºC to 5.4ºC during the trial period. There were no significant differences in wet weight between the groups at the start or at the end of the experiment. However, the hepatopancreas index (HI) significantly decreased in both groups from 6.1% at the start to, respectively, 4.6% (F) and 3.2% (S) at day 100. The S group had a significantly lower HI than the F group. Only one animal died during the experiment (day 100, F). The frequencies of injuries were similar in all groups. The results show that adult male snow crab can be stored for minimum 100 days (with or without feeding) with relatively low risk of physical injury, or mortality due to social interactions.     

Inbreeding and inbreeding depression on reproduction and production traits of White Leghorn lines selected for egg production traits.

1. The rate of inbreeding and its effect on reproduction and egg production traits were studied in White Leghorn lines selected for egg production traits. The experiment was carried out for 10 generations in a control line (C) and in lines selected for increased egg number (EN), egg weight (EW) and egg mass (EM). 2. Data were available on reproduction traits, such as percent fertile eggs (PF), percent hatched of fertile eggs (PHF) and percent hatched of total eggs set (PHT), and on egg production traits such as age at 1st egg (AFE), egg number and egg weight. 3. The rate of increase in average inbreeding per generation was 1.50, 1.24, 1.14 and 0.18% for the line EN, EW, EM and C, respectively. The effect of inbreeding on reproduction and production traits was estimated by including the inbreeding coefficient of the hen (Fh), embryo (Fe) and mate (Fs) as a partial linear regression in the model. 4. There was a significant effect of inbreeding on reproduction traits in line EW attributable to the inbreeding of the hen, embryo and mate. No such effect was observed in the other lines. 5. In all lines inbreeding tended to reduce egg number and delay sexual maturity. In general, all lines reacted differently to inbreeding.     

Large-scale production of wheat and triticale double haploids through the use of a single-anther culture method

A total of 257 parental wheat and 38 triticale lines were used for anther culture. On average, 2.1 green wheat haploids were obtained per spike. This response occurred irrespective of the origin of the material (Germany, France, Sweden or UK) and 5 years of testing. Triticale responded with 5.3 green haploids per spike. Using the criterion that one parental line should give at least one green haploid per spike in the screening experiment, green haploids were produced from 88 out of 91 F₁ wheat breeding combinations and from each of 21 F₁ and F₂ triticale breeding combinations. An average of 4.7 green plants were obtained per spike from the wheat production programme, while the triticale programme gave an average of 6.2 green plants per spike. A single medium supplemented with different hormones for anthers and embryos was used for culture of both crops.     

Bayesian analysis of birth weight and litter size in Baluchi sheep using Gibbs sampling

Variance and covariance components for birth weight (BWT), as a lamb trait, and litter size measured on ewes in the first, second, and third parities (LS1 through LS3) were estimated using a Bayesian application of the Gibbs sampler. Data came from Baluchi sheep born between 1966 and 1989 at the Abbasabad sheep breeding station, located northeast of Mashhad, Iran. There were 10,406 records of BWT recorded for all ewe lambs and for ram lambs that later became sires or maternal grandsires. All lambs that later became dams had records of LS1 through LS3. Separate bivariate analyses were done for each combination of BWT and one of the three variables LS1 through LS3. The Gibbs sampler with data augmentation was used to draw samples from the marginal posterior distribution for sire, maternal grandsire, and residual variances and the covariance between the sire and maternal grandsire for BWT, variances for the sire and residual variances for the litter size traits, and the covariances between sire effects for different trait combinations, sire and maternal grandsire effects for different combinations of BWT and LS1 through LS3, and the residual covariations between traits. Although most of the densities of estimates were slightly skewed, they seemed to fit the normal distribution well, because the mean, mode, and median were similar. Direct and maternal heritabilities for BWT were relatively high with marginal posterior modes of .14 and .13, respectively. The average of the three direct-maternal genetic correlation estimates for BWT was low, .10, but had a high standard deviation. Heritability increased from LS1 to LS3 and was relatively high, .29 to .37. Direct genetic correlations between BWT and LS1 and between BWT and LS3 were negative, -.32 and -.43, respectively. Otherwise, the same correlation between BWT and LS2 was positive and low, .06. Genetic correlations between maternal effects for BWT and direct effects for LS1 through LS3 were all highly negative and consistent for all parities, circa -.75. Environmental correlations between BWT and LS1 through LS3 were relatively low and ranged from .18 to .29 and had high standard errors.     

Thromboelastographic evaluation of hemostatic function in dogs with disseminated intravascular coagulation

BACKGROUND: There is considerable variation in the coagulation profile of dogs with disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC), making it difficult to assess overall hemostatic function. OBJECTIVES: To characterize the overall hemostatic state in dogs with DIC, by use of tissue factor-activated thromboelastography (TF-TEG), and to determine whether there is an association between hemostasis and outcome. ANIMALS: 50 dogs with DIC. METHODS: Dogs admitted to the intensive care units, with an underlying disease known to predispose to DIC, were prospectively assessed with TF-TEG. Citrated blood samples were collected daily during hospitalization and an extended coagulation panel and TF-TEG were performed. Diagnosis of DIC was based on expert opinion. RESULTS: Hemostatic dysfunction was observed on the TF-TEG profile in 33/50 of the dogs, of which 22/50 were hypercoagulable and 11/50 were hypocoagulable based on the TF-TEG G value alone. There were significant differences in k, alpha, and MA values (P < .0001) among hypo-, normo-, and hypercoagulable dogs. There was a significant difference in case fatality rate between hypo- (64%) and hypercoagulable (32%) dogs (relative risk = 2.38; P= .04). Dogs that died had significantly lower antithrombin activity (P= .03) and higher d-dimer concentration (P= .03) than survivors. CONCLUSIONS: The most common overall hemostatic abnormality in dogs diagnosed with DIC was hypercoagulability, and there was significant difference in survival between hyper- and hypocoagulable dogs. The results suggest TF-TEG is valuable in the assessment of hemostatic function in dogs diagnosed with DIC.     

Comparing predictability of board strength between computed tomography,discrete X-ray,and 3D scanning of Norway spruce logs

Strength graded boards of Norway spruce (Picea abies (L.) Karst.) are important products for many Scandinavian sawmills. If the bending strength of the produced boards can be predicted before sawing the logs, the raw material can be used more efficiently. In previous studies it is shown that the bending strength can be predicted to some extent using discrete X-ray scanning of logs. In this study, we have evaluated if it is possible to predict bending strength of Norway spruce boards with higher accuracy using computed tomography (CT) scanning of logs compared to a combination of discrete X-ray and 3D scanning. The method was to construct multivariate models of bending strength for three different board dimensions. Our results showed that CT scanning of logs produces better models of bending strength compared to a combination of discrete X-ray and 3D scanning. The main reason for this difference was the benefit of knowing the position of where the boards were cut from the logs and therefore detailed knot information could be used in the prediction models. Due to the small number of observations in this study, care should be taken when comparing the resulting prediction models to results from other studies.     

Protein-based adhesives for particleboards—Effect of application process

The main purpose of this study was to investigate wheat gluten (WG) dispersions as adhesives for particleboard. The effect of the dispersion concentration and two application methods were studied. When application method 1 was employed all the dispersion was added to the particles in one step, the particles were dried after the gluing. When using application method 2, the dispersion was added in two steps with drying of the glued chips between the first and the second addition of the dispersion. The amount of dry wheat gluten on dry particles was kept constant for all the experiments as was the pressing conditions. The performance of the wheat gluten dispersions was evaluated based on the following board properties: internal bond (IB), thickness swelling (TS) and water absorption (ABS). It is desirable to have high IB values, however, in the case of the TS and ABS lower values are preferable. The experiments were conducted according to a factorial screening design and SIMCA-P+ was employed as a multivariate analyzing tool. The results reveal that application method 2 seems to be beneficial, with regard to the board properties. Furthermore, it appears as, regarding the IB of the boards, the preferable dispersion concentration depends on the employed application method. When application method 1 is used a higher concentration seems to be better, in contrast for application method 2 a lower concentration of the dispersion may be beneficial. The improved properties obtained using application method 2 is proposed to be due to a more optimal penetration of the dispersion into the wood particles.