Total Phenolics and Antioxidant Activity of Water and Ethanolic Extracts from Distillers Dried Grains with Solubles With or Without Microwave Irradiation

The purpose of this study was to determine the efficacy of extracting phenolic compounds with antioxidant activity from distillers' dried grains with solubles (DDGS) with water, 50% aqueous ethanol, and absolute ethanol, using microwave irradiation or a water bath at various temperatures. DDGS was extracted for 15 min with each solvent while heating at 23, 50, 100, and 150°C by microwave irradiation or in a water bath at 23, 50, and 100°C. Phenolic content of extracts increased with increasing temperature to a maximum of 12.02 mg/g in DDGS extracts that were microwave irradiated in water or with 50% aqueous ethanol at 150°C. Antioxidant activity range was 1.49–6.53 μmol of Trolox equivalents/g of DDGS. Highest antioxidant activities were obtained from 50% aqueous ethanol extracts at all temperatures, and water extracts that were heated at 100 and 150°C. These data indicate that DDGS extracts with high phenolic content and antioxidant activity can be obtained from DDGS, particularly with the use of water or 50% ethanol and high temperature (100 or 150°C). This may be valuable to ethanol manufacturers, livestock producers, and food and nutraceutical companies.     

In planta detection of Macrophomina phaseolina from jute (Corchorus olitorius) by a sodium acetate-based direct PCR method

Macrophomina phaseolina (Tassi) Goid. is the most important pathogen of jute and primarily causes seedling blight, leaf spot and stem rot. The pathogen was detected from field samples by a simple method of direct PCR (dPCR) which obviates the steps of DNA extraction. The leaf bits were treated with a lysis buffer at 65°C for 25 min, whereas the stem pieces were initially incubated at 65°C for 5 min followed by incubation at 60°C for 25 min and the lysate was used as PCR template. Based on the type of tissue, the composition and concentration of lysis buffer systems were optimized. For leaf samples the optimized buffer system composed of 20 mmol l ^-1 tris (hydroxymethyl aminomethane (Tris)-Cl (pH 8.0), 1.5 mmol l ^-1 ethylene diamine tetra acetate (EDTA) (pH 8.0), 1.4 mol l ^-1 sodium acetate and 200 μg/ml proteinase K. Further, 3% PVP (w/v) and β-mercaptoethanol (1% w/v) were added into the buffer. In case of stem samples, PVP was not applied and higher concentrations were used for other components. M. phaseolina could be detected from both leaf and stem samples generating amplicon of 350 bp. This is the first report of detecting M. phaseolina by a direct PCR method without DNA extraction.     

Effect of cytolethal distending toxin of Campylobacter jejuni on adhesion and internalization in cultured cells and in colonization of the chicken gut

Campylobacter jejuni produces cytolethal distending toxin (CDT) that causes host cells to arrest during their cell cycle and that is involved in the pathogenesis of inflammatory diarrhea in humans. To assess the role of CDT in adherence and invasion of different cultured host cells (HeLa and HD-11) and in colonization of the chicken intestine, the genes of C jejuni NCTC11168 encoding the toxin subunits (cdtA, cdtB, and cdtC) were inactivated by insertional mutagenesis. No significant difference was found in adhesion of the wild-type C. jejuni and the isogenic mutants to HeLa and HD-11 cells. All of the mutants exhibited a decrease (>10-fold) in the ability to invade HeLa cells, but no significant difference was noticed for HD-11 cells. The ability of mutants to colonize birds either directly or by horizontal transfer was unchanged. These data indicated that although the production of cytotoxin does not play a role in the adherence to either human or avian cells, it may play a role in the invasion, survival, or both of C. jejuni in human cells, which are more susceptible to C. jejuni internalization. The CDT also does not seem to play a role in the colonization of poultry.     

Azide derivatives of soybean oil and fatty esters

An environmentally friendly water-based pathway to form the azide derivatives of soybean oil and fatty esters is reported. This entails first the formation of epoxides and then the azidization of the epoxides. The azidization reaction is carried out at high yields in water with only a small amount of an ionic liquid as a catalyst. The distribution of azide and alcohol functionalities on the fatty acid moiety is approximately random. This reaction has been applied to methyl oleate, methyl linoleate, soybean oil, and methyl soyate. The resulting structures have been studied by NMR.     

Arsenic-prone rice cultivars: a study in endemic region

Rice is prone to arsenic accumulation compared to other cereals as typically grown up under waterlogged situation favoring arsenic mobility. Arsenic in rice depends on arsenic availability to plants from irrigation water, even differs among cultivars and their plant parts. Present study was concentrated on arsenic accumulation in various plant parts of five common rice cultivars grown using irrigation water from different water sources in various fields in arsenic-endemic region. Additionally, dose response experiment under laboratory net house was conducted on the same cultivars excluding open environmental factors. The common cultivars were categorized according to high to low arsenic accumulator in rice grain, straw and root parts. The cultivar Shatabdi has shown highest arsenic accumulation in rice grain compared to other rice cultivars in fields and when grown at various soil arsenic doses. In field samples, a highest grain arsenic concentration ranged between 0.69 ± 0.04 and 0.78 ± 0.12 mg kg^?1 for Shatabdi, whereas lowest grain arsenic concentration ranged between 0.37 ± 0.07 and 0.41 ± 0.07 mg kg^?1 for the cultivars GB3 and Lalat. Speciation study detected more inorganic arsenic than organoarsenicals with a trend of arsenite > arsenate > DMA > MMA, which would be problem for consumers. The concluding remark is the characterization of common rice cultivars according to arsenic concentration to highlight an important remediation strand by changing to low arsenic cultivar.     

Genetic Variance Estimates in Heterogeneous Potato Populations Propagated from True Potato Seed(TPS)

Twenty nine cross populations developed according to line x tester mating design along with their twelve parents raised from true potato seeds, were used to study variability and correlation for seven characters. The range of variation for all the characters were found to be wide and pronounced which indicated that characters were quantitative in nature and were under polygenic control. For all the characters, greater portion of the total δ^2p was mostly contributed by the δ^2g. Among the seven characters, tuber weight per plant showed the highest δ^2g, PCV, GCV, H2b, GA and expected GA%.On the other hand, dry matter contents (%) showed the lowest H^2b. Phenotypic and genotypic correlation coefficients of plant height with no. of tubers per plant and tuber weight per plant; no. of branches per plant with no. of tubers per plant and tuber weight per plant were found to be significant and positive.     

Selection of Suitable Parents in the Development of Potato Hybrids in Bangladesh

Potatoes(Solanum tuberosum L)are the thirdlargest food crop in Bangladesh following rice andwheat and make a major contribution to the total foodsupply of the country.Although in many westerncountries potato is the number one staple food,it is al-most entirely used as a vegetable in Bangladesh.Thepotato is a short duration crop that produces a largeamount of calories in a short period of time[1].Thepotato produces more protein and calories per unitarea per unit time than any other major food…     

Determinants of adoption behaviour of the fish farmers of Pabda fish culture (Ompok bimaculatus Bloch, 1794) in Tripura,Northeast India

Aquaculture International - Most of the adoption studies in catfish culture were restricted to feeding habits, growth rate and morphological studies, neglecting the social factors and adoption of...     

Relationships among bovine male and female reproductive traits

No significant relationship (p greater than 0.05) was found between age at puberty in heifers and the age and scrotal circumference at puberty in related bulls. There was a significant effect (p less than 0.01) of genotype and sire on age at puberty of heifers and a significant effect (p less than 0.05) of genotype on weight at puberty in heifers. There was a significant effect of genotype on age (p less than 0.01) and weight (p less than 0.05) at puberty of bulls. A significant difference (p less than 0.05) in age at puberty of bulls was found between the 2 methods of assessing puberty. It is possible that the assessment of puberty of heifers at 2-month intervals may not have been precise enough to detect such a relationship and/or that the variation in genotypes and ages in this study were too great to establish such a relationship.     

Follicle and fibre characteristics of Indian pashmina goats

The hair follicle and fibre characteristics of Cheghu and Changthangi pashmina goats are reported. The average numbers of primary follicles mm-2 were 6.80, 5.20, 5.67 and 4.00; secondary follicles 42.40, 27.10, 38.56 and 29.67; secondary to primary follicle ratio 6.46, 5.78, 6.79 and 7.60; total follicle population 49.20, 32.30, 44.22 and 33.67 in Cheghu females, Cheghu males, Changthangi females and Changthangi males, respectively. The breed difference was not significant for any of these traits, but the sex difference was significant for a number of secondary follicles and total density. Study of fleece characteristics of Cheghu goats in a 1 cm2 area of five body regions, namely, neck, shoulder, mid-side, flank and abdomen, showed that females had finer fibres (12.06 to 12.12 micron) than males (13.04 to 13.64 micron) in all regions. The pashmina length, pashmina diameter and fibre thickness ratio were significantly different between sexes and between body regions but hair/pashmina ratio and pashmina yield were significant for sex and body regions, respectively.