Parental effects on nutritional and antioxidants constituents in seeds of peanut cv. Boreom 1

In spite of the importance of parental inheritance effects, many aspects remain inadequately explained. The objective of this study was to explore parental effects on their progeny by estimating the variability of nutritional content in peanut seeds. The peanut cv. Boreom 1 was derived from Suwon 108 (female) and Milyang 4 (male). Protein and amino acid analyses revealed that male and female parent influences on protein, Asp, Thr, Ser, Glu, Pro, Ala, Cys, Val, Met, Ile, Leu, Tyr, Phe, His, and Arg content in their progeny. The oil and fatty acid composition (C16:0, C18:0, C18:1, C18:2, C20:0, C20:1, and C22:0) of the progeny were controlled by both parental types. The synergistic interaction of female and male parental genes was also shown on sucrose and stachiyose content, while paternal effect was found on raffinose in their progeny. The antioxidant activity, daidzin, glycitin, genistin, mal-glycitin, maldaidzin, mal-genistin, and daidzein content of Boreom 1 were significantly correlated with those secondary metabolites of female parent. Our results documented that both parental genes differentially influenced on nutritional composition of their progeny, Boreom 1. This biochemical evidence of parental effects would be support to identify the suitable cultivars to improve the crop breeding.     

NaCl plus chitosan as a dietary salt to prevent the development of hypertension in spontaneously hypertensive rats

The effect of NaCl plus 3% chitosan on the systolic blood pressure of spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR) were evaluated and compared with NaCl plus KCl (NaCl, 49.36% + KCl 49.36%) and chitosan or NaCl treatment alone. In SHR, administration of NaCl plus chitosan (44 mM Na/day) for two months significantly decreased the systolic blood pressure greater than of NaCl plus KCl and NaCl alone. NaCl plus chitosan resulted, though not statistically significant, in decreased urinary Na⁺ excretion and decreased blood urea nitrogen levels. Urinary creatinine of NaCl plus chitosan was slightly decreased compared to 3 treated groups. Serum electrolytes levels, however, remained unchanged. The combination of NaCl and chitosan may be superior to the conventional use of NaCl plus KCl or NaCl alone in the prevention of hypertension. Even though these supplementary diets have demonstrated potential anti-hypertensive effects in the experimental animal model, further research is needed before any recommendations can be made.     

Efficacy of strain RB51 vaccine in protecting infection and vertical transmission against Brucella abortus in Sprague-Dawley rats

Immunizing animals in the wild against Brucella (B.) abortus is essential to control bovine brucellosis because cattle can get the disease through close contact with infected wildlife. The aim of this experiment was to evaluate the effectiveness of the B. abortus strain RB51 vaccine in protecting infection as well as vertical transmission in Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats against B. abortus biotype 1. Virgin female SD rats (n = 48) two months of age were divided into two groups: one group (n = 24) received RB51 vaccine intraperitoneally with 3 × 10¹⁰ colony forming units (CFU) and the other group (n = 24) was used as non-vaccinated control. Non-vaccinated and RB51-vaccinated rats were challenged with 1.5 × 10⁹ CFU of virulent B. abortus biotype 1 six weeks after vaccination. Three weeks after challenge, all rats were bred. Verification of RB51-vaccine induced protection in SD rats was determined by bacteriological, serological and molecular screening of maternal and fetal tissues at necropsy. The RB51 vaccine elicited 81.25% protection in SD rats against infection with B. abortus biotype 1. Offspring from rats vaccinated with RB51 had a decreased (p < 0.05) prevalence of vertical transmission of B. abortus biotype 1 compared to the offspring from non-vaccinated rats (20.23% and 87.50%, respectively). This is the first report of RB51 vaccination efficacy against the vertical transmission of B. abortus in the SD rat model.     

Fatty acid composition in each structural part of soybean seed and sprout

Fatty acid composition and C_18:2:C_18:3 of soybean seed and sprout is important for soy-industries to manufacture quality products. Six soybean varieties were analyzed by gas chromatography to determine fatty acid composition and linoleic to linolenic acid ratio (C_18:2:C_18:3) in seed, sprout, and their structural parts. In the case of whole seed and its structural parts, significant variation in fatty acid composition and C_18:2:C_18:3 were observed between varieties except palmitic acid (C_16:0), while all the parameters were significantly different for seed parts. Significant interactions of variety with seed parts were observed for oleic acid (C_18:1), C_18:2 and C_18:2:C_18:3. The highest saturated fatty acid, C_18:1 and polyunsaturated fatty acid were recorded in seed coat, cotyledon, and seed axis, respectively. The lowest C_18:2:C_18:3 was found in seed axis. In the case of sprout study, variety had significant effect on all the parameters observed for whole sprout, cotyledon, root, and except C_18:3 for hypocotyl. Culture days had significant effect on C_16:0, C_18:2 and C_18:3 in whole sprouts, while only on C_18:3 and C_18:2:C_18:3 in cotyledon. For hypocotyl, culture days had significant effect on C_18:1, C_18:2 and C_18:2:C_18:3, however, C_16:0, C_18:1, C_18:3, and C_18:2:C_18:3 were significantly different in root. In sprout, days and variety interacted significantly for C_16:0, C_18:3 and C_18:2:C_18:3, and C_18:1, C_18:2, C_18:3, and C_18:2:C_18:3, respectively for whole, cotyledon, and root. The significantly lowest C_18:2:C_18:3 (1.1) was observed in hypocotyl and root of Hwangkeumkong in 5 days. Knowledge of fatty acid composition and C_18:2:C_18:3 of seed, sprout, and their parts could be applicable for oil and other soy-food industries to make quality products.     

Evaluation of Seed Vigor Tests for Predicting Seedling Establishment at Low Temperature in Rice (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Oryza sativa</Emphasis> L.)

This study was carried out to develop an evaluation method to predict rice seedling establishment (SE) under low-temperature conditions. Two Korean-bred japonica cultivars, Shindongjin and Hopum were used in the experiment. Fresh seeds were treated with an accelerated aging (AA) at 40°C and 100% RH for 1-15 days. The SEs of the fresh and AA seeds were evaluated in nursery beds at 17°C, and their correlation coefficients with seed vigor values measured by 9 test methods including standard germination test (SGT), cool germination test (CLT), cold germination test (CDT), seedling growth rate test (SGRT), ascorbate peroxidase (APX), peroxidase (POX), superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), and α ‐amylase (AMY) activities. The percentage of SE decreased slowly from 75 to 0% with an increasing of AA period from 0 to 15 days. The result of nine vigor tests showed different correlations with the SE. SGT, CLT, SGRT, and POX were significantly correlated with the SE. In the correlation analysis with only short-term aging seeds (1-7 days), the SE was very highly correlated with SGT, CLT, CDT, SGRT, POX, and CAT. These results suggest that seed vigor values measured by several methods including SGT and POX could be used as a reference value to secure SE at low temperatures in nursery bed rice seedling culture.     

Effects of silver content and morphology on the catalytic activity of silver-grafted titanium oxide nanostructure

As titanium oxide is a well-known photocatalyst, we investigated the effects of silver content and nanostructural morphology on the photocatalytic degradation of two dyes, methylene blue and rhodamine B. Two nano-formulations were utilized, including nanofibers and nanoparticles. Silver-grafted titanium oxide nanofibers were synthesized using the electrospinning of silver nitrate/titanium isopropoxide/poly(vinyl acetate) sol-gel. The nanoparticulate form was obtained by calcination of a ground powder prepared from the same electrospun sol-gel. The results affirmed the advantage of the silver-grafted titanium oxide nanostructures over the silver-free ones. Increasing the silver content in the nanofibers led to increases in their surface area, which is an important parameter in heterogeneous catalytic chemical reactions. Therefore, the results strongly suggest the use of silver-grafted titanium oxide in a nanofibrous form. These results further support utilizing Agloaded titanium oxide nanofibers as a photocatalyst.     

Effect of different planting times on the quantitative variation of total seed isoflavone content and composition in Korean soybean cultivars (Glycine max (L.) Merr.)

Journal of Crop Science and Biotechnology - There is great interest in the enhancement of isoflavones as one of the functional ingredients in soybean. This study aimed to investigate the effects of...     

Review of rice in Korea: current status,future prospects,and comparisons with rice in other countries

Journal of Crop Science and Biotechnology - Rice has been grown as a staple food in South Korea for several millennia. However, its status has not stayed constant as a result of changes in South...     

Prediction of internal bond strength in a medium density fiberboard process using multivariate statistical methods and variable selection

This paper presents new data mining-based multivariate calibration models for predicting internal bond strength from medium density fiberboard (MDF) process variables. It utilizes genetic algorithms (GA) based variable selection combined with several calibration methods. By adopting a proper variable selection scheme, the prediction performance can be improved because of the exclusion of non-informative variable(s). A case study using real plant data showed that the calibration models based on the process variables selected by GA produced better performance than those without variable selection, with the exception of the radial basis function (RBF) neural networks model. In particular, the calibration model based on supervised probabilistic principal component analysis (SPPCA) yielded better performance (only when using GA) than partial least squares (PLS), orthogonal-PLS (O-PLS), and radial basis function neural networks models. The SPPCA model benefits most from the use of GA-based variable selection in this case study. N. André and H.-W. Cho equally contributed to this work.     

Antihypertensive Effects of IGTGIPGIW Peptide Purified from Hippocampus abdominalis: p-eNOS and p-AKT Stimulation in EA.hy926 Cells and Lowering of Blood Pressure in SHR Model

The aim of this study was to assess the potential hypertensive effects of the IGTGIPGIW peptide purified from Hippocampus abdominalis alcalase hydrolysate (HA) for application in the functional food industry. We investigated the antihypertensive effects of IGTGIPGIW in vitro by assessing nitric oxide production in EA.hy926 endothelial cells, which is a major factor affecting vasorelaxation. The potential vasorelaxation effect was evaluated using 4-amino-5-methylamino-2′,7′-difluorofluorescein diacetate, a fluorescent stain. IGTGIPGIW significantly increased the expression of endothelial-derived relaxing factors, including endothelial nitric oxide synthase and protein kinase B, in EA.hy926 cells. Furthermore, oral administration of IGTGIPGIW significantly lowered the systolic blood pressure (183.60 ± 1.34 mmHg) and rapidly recovered the diastolic blood pressure (143.50 ± 5.55 mmHg) in the spontaneously hypertensive rat model in vivo. Our results demonstrate the antihypertensive activity of the IGTGIPGIW peptide purified from H. abdominalis and indicate its suitability for application in the functional food industry.