Discoveries in Agriculture and Food Sciences

Preparation of An Instant Drink: Extruded Flour of Polished Red Rice (Oryza Sativa L) and Blackberry (Rubus Spp) Retentate By Microfiltration

Arturo Meléndez Arévalo — 2024-11-15

Red rice (Venetian rice or rice-da-terra) was first introduced to Brazil by Portuguese colonizers in the 17th century. Its cultivation is now limited to small areas in the Northeast, particularly in Paraíba, Rio Grande do Norte, and Pernambuco. This study aimed to develop an easy-to-reconstitute beverage using red rice flour, enhanced with a co-product from blackberry juice clarification through membrane microfiltration (blackberry retentate powder). The red rice flour was processed in a Clextral twin-screw extruder under controlled conditions and dried at 60°C to less than 4% moisture. Using the central composite rotational design and response surface methodology, 13 treatments were tested to optimize physicochemical properties like proximate composition, amino acids, minerals, anthocyanins, and expansion indices (REI, VEI, LEI). Water absorption and solubility indices (WSI, WAI) and paste viscosity were also evaluated. Three treatments were selected for producing beverages, which underwent sensory evaluation by trained tasters. Results showed red rice’s superior nutritional value compared to white rice, particularly in amino acid and mineral content. The formulated beverage, containing pre-cooked red rice and blackberry powder as a functional ingredient, was well-received for its ease of reconstitution and sensory qualities.

Endangered Egyptian Vultures Make Record Appearance at Badli Pond of Jodhpur in Rajasthan

Hemsingh Gehlot — 2024-11-16

Rajasthan hosts seven of the nine vulture species found in India, including the endangered Egyptian vulture, which is experiencing a declining population trend. The primary threats contributing to this decline include trichobezoars, predation by feral dogs, exposure to diclofenac, and collisions with high-tension power lines. The Badli Pond, which has recorded an average population of 1575 Egyptian vultures with a maximum count of 1670 ± 30.95 individuals, along with the Keru dumping yard and Arna Jharna, presents an opportunity to be developed into a vulture-safe zone for conservation efforts.

Analysis of Some Plant Extracts‘ Repellency and Land Use Impacts on Termites

Vital Kwizera — 2024-11-23

It is known that insects have lived on Earth since about 500 million years ago. Humans, on the other hand, have started to be harmful to the ecosystem since they started living on earth only 200,000 years ago. The damage caused by humans to the environment is incomparable with the damage caused by other animals. Until the early 1900s, agricultural activities were mostly done organically. Along with the general industrialization, farmers began to industrialize agriculture. The most dangerous advances were in the production of pesticides and mineral fertilizers, because their effects on plant physiology and the biotope were crucial. Insects are among the most affected in the biotope because since the development of pesticides the planet has lost 70% of the world's insect population. Termites have been one of the species most damaged by insecticide applications. Although conventional pesticides fail to control termites, it seems that such pesticides continue to be used all the time. In addition, the side effects of pesticides in the soil are a great ecology harm. In our research, natural plant extracts, one of the environmentally friendly solutions, were used to control (repel) termites. Plant extracts from three plants (Lantana camara, Tephrosia vogelii and Euphorbia tirucalli) were tested as termite repellents. After crushing fresh leaves, they were soaked in water for 24, 48 and 72 hours. Three doses, 1:9, 2:8 and 3:7 (pounded plants: water), of these extracts were applied to the plots around the active termite mounds. The number of days it took for termites to colonize the treated parcels (repellent effect) was evaluated. The results obtained showed that the soaking time of the plant extracts does not make a significant difference. However, doses and plant variety showed significant differences compared to control plots. The highest repellent effect was determined as 31.3(±1) and 31(±1) days at 3:7 doses of E. tirucalli soaked in water for 72 hours and T. vogelii soaked in water for 48 hours, respectively. However, 1:9 dose of E. tirucalli soaked in water for 72 hours has a lower (13(±1) days) repellent effect. Land use analysis, on the other hand, shows that agricultural and residential areas are installed into termite biotopes. Pastures, crop fields and settlements are the main three land uses found in Kinyinya (east of Burundi). Settlements and crop fields are expanding exponiently. Pastures are the last relatively stable termite biotopes and are gradually transformed in settlements or crop fields. However, considering the effects of termites on the soil, they have great potential to be used as a support to farmers in recycling organic matter. For this reason, it turns out that it is important to use environmentally friendly plant extracts for the protection of termites.

Influence of Substrate and Length on the Ability of Root Segments Cuttings of Amblygonocarpus andongensis (Welw. ex Oliv.) Exell & Torre to Regenerate

Wangbitching Jean De Dieu — 2024-11-24

The Guinean Savanah Highlands of Adamawa is replete with multipurpose tree species, among which Ambligonocarpus andongensis is particularly noteworthy. This species is widely known and appreciated by the local population. Despite its importance, it remains in the wild and is subjected to overexploitation. The objective of the present study is to evaluate the effect of substrate and length of cuttings on the budding and rooting capacity of this species.The experimental design was a split-plot with three replications. The main treatment comprised three substrates (sand/sawdust, black soil/sawdust, black soil), while the sub-treatments were represented by three lengths of root segments cuttings (RSC) (10,15,20cm). The experimental unit consisted of 10 cuttings. Following 37 weeks of monitoring, the budding rates demonstrated fluctuations, with the rates of 12.22 ± 10.92% observed in black soil and 32.22 ± 18.55% in sand/sawdust mixture. The analysis of variance indicated a significant difference between the substrate (0,005 < 0.01). For the length of cuttings, the budding rates exhibited significant fluctuations (0.001< 0.01), with the lowest rate observed for cutting of 10 cm (11.11 ± 10.86%), and the highest observed for those of 20 cm (42.22 ± 25.87%). The height of the leafy shoots revealed variations, with a mean value of 3.38 ± 3.09 cm in the black soil and a maximum value of 9.2 ± 7.10 cm in the black soil/sawdust substrate. The analysis of variance indicated a significant difference (0.03 > 0.05). The rooting rate varied significantly from 1.11±0.96% in the black soil to 12.22±12.01% in the sand/sawdust mixture (0.005 < 0.01) and for the length it also significantly fluctuated from 2.22±1.96% for cuttings of 10 cm to 15.55±13.33% for those of 20 cm (0.001 < 0.01). All these informations are important to develop scales and strategies toward the domestication of this species.

Peptide and Oligosaccharide Nutraceutical Feeding in the Upper Rumen Stomach and Lower GI Tract in Livestock: A Commentary

D. A. Flores — 2024-11-24

Nutraceuticals can affect transactions immunologically for health and endocrinologically for production and reproduction, specifically, referring to bioactive peptidomemics and saccharomemics in disease resistance and immunlogical balance. The nutraceuticals: Vit D2/D3, fructans and WSCs, PUFAs, alpha-lactoferrin and polysaccharides can affect SCI and as indicated by blood biomarkers. The functional amino acids (FAAs): histidine (HIS), arginine (ARG), lysine (LYS) and leucine (LEU) can affect lean body mass (LBM) accretion and milk production with bovine growth hormone (bGH)/bovine growth-releasing hormone (bGRH) and prolactin. The two prebiotic nutraceuticals referred to can be applied to “designer” oligomers from enriched seed proteins and polysaccharides to improve feed nutritive value (NV). High non-fibrous carbohydrate (NFC) and water-soluble carbohydrate (WSC) grasses can also provide higher-end energy forages. There are, thus, proteinogenic approaches that can be used for supplemental feeding. It is suggested that lower quality residual feedstocks can be converted to food-feed applications and can involve pretreating of fibrous carbohydrates (FC) and NFC, conversion to natural sugars and sweeteners, and “shuffling” copolymerization. Applications can be made to fishmeal for production and health. Slowed reaction enzymes (SRE) can be used with so-called osmolytic resins to study behaviour of pre-formed amino acids (PFAAs) in the rumen milieu to fit rumen protein solubility with use of inhibitors to both plant and microbial proteases, modulating as a result the MCP and “escape” protein flows to the lower GI tract. Clean tech can produce seed-derived proteins using “bulk” cell culturing (processed and unprocessed) and extracted/enriched yeast culturing. There is a need to verify the prebiotic binding receptors in the small intestines (SI) (e. g. gut-associated lymphoid tissues, GALT, and as speculated the SI’s jejunum).