Use ofLeucaena leucocephala (Lam. de Wit) leaves as a nitrogen source for crop production

Field and pot trials were conducted to determine optimum management practices for usingLeucaena leucocephala (Lam. de Wit) leaves as a N source for crop production. Field trials with maize showed no benefit from split application of leucaena leaves or from application of fresh as opposed to dried material. Field trials also failed to show any difference between incorporation as opposed to surface application of leucaena leaves. This may be attributed to the low nitrogen response observed. Pot trials however, showed that soil incorporation of leucaena leaves was more effective than surface application in increasing plant dry weight.Leucaena leaves were not as effective as inorganic N in increasing maize grain yield (field trials) or dry matter production (pot trial). Unlike inorganic N, leucaena leaves had a significant residual effect on the succeeding maize crop. In decomposition studies, buried leucaena leaves decomposed more quickly than surface-applied leaves, and fresh leaves decomposed more rapidly than dried leaves.     

玉米新鲜度快速检测方法初探

初步建立了两种定性检验玉米新鲜度的方法:愈创木酚法,以溶液开始变色所需时间及加入染色液3 min后溶液颜色的改变程度,作为检测新陈玉米的依据;盐酸对二氨基苯法,以加入染色液5 min后玉米胚部及皮层颜色的改变来推断玉米新陈.     

玉米笋须饮料生产工艺的研究

利用生产清水玉米笋罐头的废品原料——未受粉的玉米笋须，进行玉米笋须饮料的开发研制，探讨了影响生产工艺的因素，制定了可行的生产工艺条件及质量标准。     

玉米淀粉酶法生产高麦芽糖浆研究

首先研究了耐高温α-淀粉酶、真菌α-淀粉酶的部分酶学性质,又以玉米淀粉为原料,用耐高温α-淀粉酶水解至DE值为16.5%,再用真菌α-淀粉酶在最佳条件下作用21 h,可得到含纯麦芽糖0.311 g/mL的产品.该产品葡萄糖含量为0.017 g/mL,糊精含量为2.7%,产品达到优质高麦芽糖浆水平.     

Water‐absorption characteristics of organic–inorganic composite superabsorbent polymers and its effect on summer maize root growth

Adding inorganic materials in SAPs to synthesize organic–inorganic composite superabsorbent polymers (OICSAPs) can effectively improve salt‐tolerance, gel strength, thermal stability, and water retention. However, most researches mainly focus on synthesizing process optimization and new multifunctional products, lacking reports on how ions affected water‐absorption characteristics and mechanism of OICSAPs and its influence on summer maize root growth. On the basis of these, we set up laboratory experiments and field cultivation experiment, using environmental scanning electron microscopy (ESEM) and fractal theory to study the questions above. Results show that OICSAPs have better salt‐tolerance, while cations and concentration affected its water‐absorption characteristics significantly. With higher cation valence, larger ionic radius, and concentration, its water‐absorption rate reduced remarkably as Na⁺ < K⁺ < Mg²⁺ < Ca²⁺ < Fe²⁺ < Fe³⁺ < Al³⁺ < Cu²⁺, while the effects of anions could be neglected. The OICSAPs presented typical honeycomb membrane‐like 3D crosslinked network structure, but Ca²⁺, Mg²⁺, Fe²⁺, Fe³⁺, Al³⁺, and Cu²⁺ would damage the structure (Cu²⁺ with the most significant effect) in local microdomain, and changed the complexity of pores. In the experiment, higher concentration could reduce water‐absorption rate without changing micromorphological characteristics. Applying OICSAPs will reduce total length, surface area, and volume of summer maize root, while promoting absorbing and transmitting ability by larger root diameter and the proportion of root <0.5 cm. All these results will provide a theoretical basis on application, marketing, and product development of OICSAPs. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2012     

Capillary electrophoretic profiling of tryptic digests of water soluble proteins from Bacillus thuringiensis-transgenic and non-transgenic maize species

Capillary zone electrophoresis (CZE) has been applied to separation and characterisation of enzymatic (tryptic) hydrolysates of water-soluble proteins from Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt)-transgenic (Aristis-Bt) and two native non-transgenic (Aristis and Coventry) maize varieties. Water-soluble proteins were extracted from the flour of these maize species and digested by bovine pancreatic trypsin immobilised on agarose gel in 100 mM ammonium hydrocarbonate buffer, pH 7.9. The yielded tryptic digests of proteins were analysed by CZE in four acidic background electrolytes (BGEs) (100 mM H₃PO₄, 50 mM Tris, pH 2.25; 500 mM acetic acid, pH 2.54; 200 mM formic acid, 200 mM acetic acid, pH 2.05; and 200 mM iminodiacetic acid, pH 2.26) using a lab-made CZE apparatus equipped with bare fused silica capillary and UV-absorption detector operating at 206 nm. Among the tested BGEs, the best resolution of the tryptic peptides of extracted proteins of the above three maize species was obtained in isoelectric BGE, 200 mM iminodiacetic acid, pH 2.26. Selected resolved tryptic peptides of proteins were characterised by effective electrophoretic mobilities and corrected (migration times normalised) peak areas. Some significant relative qualitative and quantitative differences in CZE-UV profiling of tryptic protein digests were found, which can be potentially used to differentiate transgenic Aristis Bt and non-transgenic Aristis varieties or two native non-transgenic varieties, Aristis and Coventry.     

Cereal‐based fermented foods in developing countries: ancient foods for modern research

Cereal‐based fermented foods are major contributors to energy intake in developing countries (DC). Their microbiota is dominated by lactic acid bacteria and has been extensively investigated. Diversity studies have been facilitated by molecular methods enabling genotyping of isolates; the rapid development of ‘omics’ approaches should facilitate more comprehensive studies to describe the relation between microbial diversity, cell physiology and product characteristics. Also, the link between the food microbiota and health benefits, in particular in nutrition, should be investigated. There is a need to encourage researches in the field of DC cereal‐based foods in direction of more mechanistic approaches.     

Effect of dry‐heat treatments on the nutritional value of maize germ

Maize germ is a by‐product of the maize milling process that is characterised by a high nutritional value. Currently, heat treatments are employed to prevent full‐fat maize germ from spoilage. The aim of this research was to study the effect of five dry‐heat treatments on the nutritional value of full‐fat maize germ. The results confirmed that after each dry‐heat treatment, the lipase activity decreases but the use of high temperatures could be detrimental for phytosterol and thiamine concentrations. The main negative effects have been observed after treatments at 140 °C for 30 min and 160 °C for 10 min. No significant difference has been observed for protein, ash or fatty acid contents. The treatment at 140 °C for 20 min resulted an optimal combination between temperature and heating time to inactivate lipase without altering deeply the nutritional value and the colour of maize germ.     

The hydrogen flow characteristics of the multistage hydrogen Knudsen compressor based on the thermal transpiration effect

Multistage hydrogen Knudsen compressor based on the thermal transpiration effect has very exciting prospect for the hydrogen transmission in the micro devices. Understanding of the hydrogen flow characteristic is the key issue for the designs and applications of the hydrogen energy systems. Firstly, the numerical models of the multistage hydrogen Knudsen compressor are established. The distributions of the rarefaction, velocity and temperature at different stages of the hydrogen flow are calculated and presented. Moreover, the dimensional pressure increases of the hydrogen gas flow are analyzed, and the flow behaviors in the microchannel and the connection channel are discussed. Secondly, the numerical simulation at different connection channel height is implemented, and the hydrogen gas flow characteristics in the connection are analyzed. Especially, the performances of the pressure drop in the connection channel under different channel heights are studied, and the hydrogen gas compression characteristics of different cases are compared and discussed. Also, the effect of the connection channel height on the hydrogen gas pressure increase in the microchannel is investigated. The studies presented in this paper could be greatly beneficial for the hydrogen detection and transmission.