Pistachio Production Management in Iran by Rest-breaking Treatment and Comparison of Dynamic vs Chill Hour Model for Chill Accumulation

Shortage of winter chill has reduced pistachio (Pistacia vera L.) fruit yield and quality from 2015 to 2018 in Iran. In this study accumulated chilling was determined by the chill hour (CH) and the dynamic (DM) model in five regions near Shahrebabak County, Kerman Province, Iran, for dormant season 2017–2018. The CH model has been routinely used in Iran for reporting chilling accumulation for pistachios. This study suggested that the DM better differentiated regional chill accumulations, the impact of chilling on phenological indices of growth and production between cultivars ‘Owhadi’ and ‘Akbari’, with and without rest-breaking (RB) treatments of Volk dormant oil. Volk oil treatment significantly improved vegetative and reproductive development, offset lack of chilling effects on pollination and nut filling, and may have advanced budbreak in some instances.

     

Removal of Chromium by Coagulation-Dissolved Air Flotation System Using Ferric Chloride and Poly Aluminum Chloride (PAC) as Coagulants

In this study, dissolved air flotation (DAF) was examined as a possible treatment method for the removal of chromium from aqueous solution and plating wastewater. Two coagulants, ferric chloride and poly aluminum chloride (PAC), were used for pretreatment of wastewater. Maximum removal of chromium was achieved for poly aluminum chloride (98 %). Artificial neural network was used for the prediction of the DAF system. The best neuron used for the prediction of chromium removal percentage of interpolated wastewater was 6 %. The mean score error and the coefficient correlation were 0.0007542 and 0.997, respectively.     

Functional Properties of Rice Bran Protein Isolate at Different pH Levels

The functional properties of proteins from Tarom and Shiroodi cultivars were determined and compared with technological aspects of food and nutraceutical applications. Shiroodi has higher protein content than Tarom, and the yields of protein obtained were 72.88 and 66.36%, respectively. Nitrogen solubilities of rice bran protein of Tarom were more than Shiroodi at all pH levels. In addition, higher solubility was found in acidic or alkaline conditions. Although the rice bran proteins had lower emulsifying properties than bovine serum albumin, they had similar foaming properties in comparison with egg white. Tarom isolates had a significantly higher solubility, emulsifying property, and foaming stability and greater surface properties than Shiroodi isolates. The results showed the surface hydrophobicities of rice bran protein were greater than casein and ovalbumin and lower than other proteins such as bovine serum albumin. Water and oil absorption capacities were 1.03 and 1.66 for Tarom and 87.3 and 75.3 for Shiroodi, respectively. The bulk densities of Tarom and Shiroodi were also 0.55 and 0.53 g/mL, which make them suitable for weaning food and other industrial applications. As a result, these rice bran proteins showed higher hydrophobicity than that of other rice bran protein varieties as well as more functionality. Thus, they have good potential in the food and pharmaceutical industries.