Developing methodologies employed to trace the geographic origin of seafood as accurate and fast as possible can help to speed-up the delivery of results to legal authorities, reduce associated costs ...and minimize environmental impacts (associated with the residues generated). The present study evaluated if trace element fingerprints (TEF) of a small homogenized subsample of Manila clams (Ruditapes philippinarum) right valve yielded a representative elemental signature of the whole shell. Four elemental ratios (Ba/Ca, Mg/Ca, Mn/Ca and Sr/Ca) commonly employed to trace the geographic origin of bivalves were determined from subsamples of 0.2 and 3 g of the homogenized right valve and the whole left valve (4 g). A Canonical Analysis of Principal Coordinates developed for the subsamples of small portions (0.2 g) of the homogenized right valve revealed an accuracy of 100%, that led to the correct classification of the subsample of 3 g to their respective valve and that of 4 g to its matching shell. Results achieved indicate that TEF of a small homogenized portion of a bivalves valve is representative of the whole shell and can be employed to provide an accurate, fast, reliable and environmentally safer method to trace its geographic origin.
•Trace element fingerprints can be used to trace the geographic origin of bivalves.•A small portion of one valve can be used as a reliable proxy of the whole shell.•This approach makes ICP-MS analysis more environmentally friendly.•This approach is faster and equally reliable for traceability of geographic origin.
Tef (Eragrostis tef (Zucc.) Trotter) is a panicle-bearing cereal crop plant, originating from and grown mainly in Ethiopia. Tef yields highly nutritious gluten-free grain as well as high-quality ...forage, therefore, interest is rising regarding tef cultivation for grain and forage outside Ethiopia. Lodging is a major factor limiting tef quality and yield, with losses estimated at 30%–35% and presumably higher under mechanical harvest. Studies in other cereal crops suggested that lowering plant density would lead to sturdier plants less prone to lodging. In this work, we reported on the effects of sowing rate on lodging, lodging-related traits, and productivity of tef under irrigated conditions. Four tef genotypes were grown under irrigation across two years at three sowing rates: low (3 kg/ha), medium (6 kg/ha), and high (common, 9 kg/ha). Grain yield and biomass did not differ significantly among sowing rates. The visually assessed lodging index (LI) increased as the season progressed, with the lowest values recorded under low sowing density. A significant difference in LI values among the tested genotypes suggested potential for crop improvement. Aerial RGB images of the field taken by an unmanned aerial vehicle twice during the second season produced a high-resolution crop surface model, which was used to assess lodging. Aerial-based LI values were significantly correlated with the ground-based ones and exhibited better capacity to identify minor differences in lodging. Among the morphological traits assessed, crown diameter, crown root number, and crown root diameter were significantly affected by sowing rate and genotype and were correlated with LI values. In summary, this study demonstrated for the first time the feasibility of tef production under irrigated Mediterranean conditions and the potential of a reduced sowing rate as a remedy for lodging.
This study recommends a novel vortex generator (VG) inserted heat exchanger (HX) for internal heat transfer. Vortex generator geometry includes pitch ratio, envelope shape (M-shape), angle of attack, ...and delta wing (triangular form). VGs were placed in several array configurations with three pitch ratios to discover the ideal pitch ratio. Pressure loss, percentage change in Nusselt number, thermal enhancement factor, thermoelectric generator (TEG) power output, and cost-benefit ratio (CBR) were evaluated for HX with VG systems by experimentation and numerical modeling. The vortex generator in the best HX design won.
Delta wing VGs had the highest TEG power and convective heat transfer coefficient. An envelope-shaped HX at 30o and a pitch of 4 reduces pressure loss. Delta form VG's maximum average heat transfer coefficient is 342.41 W/m2K at pitch 2 with a 60° angle of attack. VGs decreasing pressure required more power for the HX. HX installed with delta-shaped VGs reduced pressure the greatest. Pitch ratios 2, 3, and 4 experienced maximum pressure declines of 116.67%, 83.33%, and 73.34%. Delta winglet VGs at 45° showed 7.6%, 6.17%, and 46.16% higher thermal enhancement factor (TEF) than 30°, 60°, and 90o. Delta winglet VGs at 45° showed 7.6%, 6.17%, and 46.16% higher TEF than 30°, 60°, and 90° installed in HX. Numerical analysis showed that delta winglet vortex generators cause a higher reduction in pressure than envelope winglet VGs. Research shows the vortex generator TEG system generates more power than the internally flat HX.
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•Thermal performance of Envelope (M) and Delta (D) VGs with different pitch and angle of attack are compared experimentally.•Delta form VG's maximum average heat transfer coefficient is 342.41 W/m2K at pitch 2 with 60o angle of attack.•Delta winglet VGs at 45° showed 7.6%, 6.17%, and 46.16% higher TEF than 30°, 60°, and 90° installed in HX.•Envelope winglet VG at 30° with a pitch of 3 had the lowest CBR.•Numerical study indicated that delta winglet vortex generators reduce pressure more than envelope VGs.
Injera is an Ethiopian fermented flatbread preferably made from whole grain cereal (tef). Tef it is increasingly used to produce gluten-free pasta and bread, but the folate content of teff and ...products made from it remains unknown. Given that folate deficiencies lead to several health disorders, the aim of this study was to quantify folate in each of the three main steps of traditional processing of tef injera. Total folate contents of tef flour, fermented batter and injera were determined through microbiological assays using Lactobacillus rhamnosus (ATCC 7469). Folate content of tef flour was 8.7 μg/100 g of dry matter content, which is in the same range as the richest cereals like oats. The increase in folate content due to fermentation was highly variable (60–148%). Cooking always led to folate losses, with a maximum of 52.8%. Altogether, injera processing increased folate retention between 38.0 and 121.8%. Folate content of injera was 14.3 μg/100 g on fresh weight-basis. Tef injera can contribute up to 10% of the recommended nutrient intake of folate for children aged 1–3 and women of reproductive age. Although the folate content of teff is already high, future studies should focus on optimizing the folate content of injera.
•Tef flour had an average folate content of 59 μg/100 g of dry matter content.•Fermentation increased batter folate content up to 148% compared with that of flour.•Thermal treatment (baking) always reduced folate content.
Tef: a tiny grain with enormous potential Girija, Aiswarya; Jifar, Habte; Jones, Chris ...
Trends in plant science,
March 2022, 2022-03-00, 20220301, Letnik:
27, Številka:
3
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
Tef is a highly nutritious gluten-free Ethiopian cereal with food-feed potential. However, its productivity is affected by lodging, weed infestation, terminal drought, small seed size, and ...shattering. Following the recent availability of tef genome sequences, we highlight the need to harness the benefits that this underutilised crop offers to improve food security.
This study explores the hydraulic and thermal characteristics of a staggered rectangular baffled channel. The first baffle is inserted in the top channel surface, with subsequent baffles placed on ...the bottom. Numerical simulations were conducted across a Reynolds number range of 5000 to 50,000. In this study three different baffle inclination angles are examined: Case A involves staggered obstacles perpendicular to the channel wall, while Cases B and C feature obstacles inclined at ±10 ° to the channel surface. Three different types of nanoparticles (SiO2, Al2O3, and CuO) are added to the base fluid (pure water) at a volume fraction of 4 % to formulate the nanofluids utilized in this study. Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulations were performed using ANSYS Fluent software, to solve the governing equations. The numerical results were validated against experimental data, demonstrating good agreement. The findings reveal that the maximum thermal enhancement factor is 2 at a Reynolds number of 5000 for Case A. Additionally, the heat transfer coefficient experiences a 10.3 % increase for water-CuO nanofluid compared to pure water in Case A. The highest average Nusselt number is observed with pure water, reaching 812 for Case C at a Reynolds number of 50,000.
Both tef (Eragrostis tef) and quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa) are known in their nutritional quality. While tef is the most common cereal crop in Ethiopia, quinoa is introduced to the country recently ...and its utilization as a food is not known. In this study, quinoa flour was substituted into tef flour at 10% interval to evaluate injera making potential of the two flour blends. Standard methods of analysis were used to analyze proximate composition and essential amino acid contents of the grains and injera made from blended flours. Five point hedonic scale was used to evaluate sensory acceptability of tef-quinoa injera. The overall essential amino acid profile of the tef and quinoa grains, and the injera product can be regarded as well-balanced. With an increase in the quinoa substitution levels from 0 to 40%, protein (10.14–11.66 g/100g), fat (1.78–2.67g/100g), fiber (3.53–4.38 g/100g) and ash (2.60–2.74 g/100g) contents of the injera increased, whereas sensory scores for taste (3.90–3.03), aroma (3.67–3.13), rollability (4.25–3.25), eyes evenness (3.70–2.60), underneath color (4.10–2.45) and overall acceptability (4.10–3.10) had shown decreasing. Therefore, up to 30% quinoa flour could be incorporated into tef flour with improved nutritional quality without adverse effect on sensory acceptability of tef-quinoa injera.
•Injera making potential of quinoa and tef flour blends is evaluated.•Essential amino acid profile of the crop and injera is well-balanced.•Quinoa addition improved proximate composition and reduced sensory scores of injera.•Up to 30% quinoa is recommended to make nutritional and sensory acceptable injera.
Dehydration survival depends on dehydration avoidance and/or tolerance. The responsible factor is often not recognized in tests of dehydration survival. Possible correct methods for assessment of ...dehydration survival are proposed.
Abstract
Dehydration survival under drought stress is defined in this review as the transition from plant activity into a quiescent state of life preservation, which will be terminated by either recovery or death, depending on the stress regime and the plant's resilience. Dehydration survival is a popular phenotype by which functional genomics attempts to test gene function in drought resistance and survival. The available reports on phenotyping and genotyping of dehydration survival in genomic studies indicate that the measurement of this trait is often biased to the extent that misguided interpretations are likely to occur. This review briefly discusses the physiological basis of dehydration survival in resurrection plants and crop plants, and concludes that in phenotyping dehydration survival there is a need to distinguish between dehydration avoidance and dehydration tolerance (also termed desiccation tolerance) in affecting survival and recovery. Without this distinction, functional genomics studies of the trait might be biased. Survival due to dehydration avoidance is expressed by the capacity to maintain a relatively high plant water status as the plant is desiccated. Survival due to dehydration tolerance is expressed by delayed mortality (mortality at a relatively low plant water status) as affected by the resilience of plant metabolism. The common test of dehydration survival, using the relative recovery after a given number of stress days, is therefore insufficient because it is mainly driven by dehydration avoidance and so ignores a possible role for dehydration tolerance. Conceivable methods for more accurate phenotyping of the two components of dehydration survival are proposed and discussed.
Tef
Eragrostis tef
(Zucc.) Trotter is considered a promising cereal accounting for its compliance in the changing climatic conditions and nutritional benefits. Transcription factors constitute ...significant portion of coding genes in plant genome. WRKY represents a large family of transcription factors, which play or coordinate abiotic stress related responses. In our study, we targeted comprehensive study of WRKYs in tef using in silico approach and analyzed motifs, phylogeney,
cis
-elements, gene ontology and association networks. A total of 121
EtWRKY
s were identified and annotated which elucidated formation of three major clusters comprising 68, 45 and 8 members respectively. The commonly predicted
cis-
element were ABRE, CAT-box, CAAT-box, TATA-box TGACG-motif, AS-1 and Unnamed (CGTGG and CTCC) motifs, most of which are known for their response in abiotic stress like drought, heat, cold, salinity, light, and hormone responsive elements. The association network depicted the putative protein–protein interaction of WRKY interologs between
E. tef
and
Arabidopsis thaliana
. GO blast analysis revealed the sequence specific nucleic acid binding and function in a predicted sub-cellular localization. These results provide useful information for elucidation of further exploring the functional and structural working of
EtWRKY
genes in variety of process for tef plant metabolism. The study is likely to bear valuable information which could be utilized for better insight into abiotic stress tolerance mechanism in tef.
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