4629 research outputs found
Sort by
Protein-enriched fruit smoothies with wet Spirulina biomass: high-pressure processing (HPP) and quality stability evaluation
No full textFruit smoothies, popular for their palatability and nutritional value, are an interesting food matrix for developing functional foods. Spirulina, protein-rich microalgae, is a promising ingredient for boosting smoothie nutritional value and meeting the demand for non-animal proteins. However, conventional dried Spirulina, commonly used in food, features challenges such as off-flavors and reduced solubility. To address these drawbacks, the use of wet Spirulina biomass was explored. The study examined a smoothie formulation where wet Spirulina biomass was used (7.5%) alongside chickpea protein concentrate (1.5%). The reformulated smoothies exhibited increased protein content (“high in protein” claim possible under EU legislation) and an improved amino acid profile. HPP at 600 MPa combined with the acid pH of the product was effective in preserving microbial quality during 21 days of storage at 4 °C. Notably, color changes (dark green) and consistency (enhanced by HPP) were observed. Moreover, Spirulina provided a musty flavor and odor that need to be taken into account for the development of commercial products.Open Access funding provided thanks to the CRUE-CSIC agreement with Springer Nature. This work is financed by the European Union’s European Regional Development Fund, within the framework of the Catalonia FEDER Programme 2021–2027 and the STEP initiative.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio
Avançament de resultats de les varietats de blat de moro de cicle llarg per a gra
No full textinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio
BestDate: la herramienta para el correcto marcado de fecha de consumo que ayuda a reducir el desperdicio alimentario
No full textUna correcta indicación de la fecha de consumo preferente o de caducidad y el conocimiento del consumidor sobre las diferencias entre ambos conceptos es clave para disminuir el desecho de alimentos.BestDate: Ayudas a actividades de demostración (convocatoria 2021). Actividad financiada a través de la operación 01.02.01 de Transferencia Tecnológica del Programa de desarrollo rural de Catalunya 2014-2022info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio
Nuevas variedades comerciales de trigo blando de invierno
Get PDFEn este artículo se presentan los resultados de los ensayos de nuevas variedades de trigo blando de invierno realizados en el marco de la red Genvce (Grupo para la Evaluación de Nuevas Variedades de Cultivos Extensivos en España), durante las campañas 2021/22, 2022/23 y 2023/24.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio
Integrative multi-environmental genomic prediction in apple
Get PDFGenomic prediction for multiple environments can aid the selection of genotypes suited to specific soil and climate conditions. Methodological advances allow effective integration of phenotypic, genomic (additive, nonadditive), and large-scale environmental (enviromic) data into multi-environmental genomic prediction models. These models can also account for genotype-by-environment interaction, utilize alternative relationship matrices (kernels), or substitute statistical approaches with deep learning. However, the application of multi-environmental genomic prediction in apple remained limited, likely due to the challenge of building multi-environmental datasets and structurally complex models. Here, we applied efficient statistical and deep learning models for multi-environmental genomic prediction of eleven apple traits with contrasting genetic architectures by integrating genomic- and enviromic-based model components. Incorporating genotype-by-environment interaction effects into statistical models improved predictive ability by up to 0.08 for nine traits compared to the benchmark model. This outcome, based on Gaussian and Deep kernels, shows these alternatives can effectively substitute the standard genomic best linear unbiased predictor (G-BLUP). Including nonadditive and enviromic-based effects resulted in a predictive ability very similar to the benchmark model. The deep learning approach achieved the highest predictive
ability for three traits with oligogenic genetic architectures, outperforming the benchmark by up to 0.10. Our results demonstrate that the tested statistical models capture genotype-by-environment interactions particularly well, and the deep learning models efficiently integrate data from diverse sources. This study will foster the adoption of multi-environmental genomic prediction to select apple cultivars adapted to diverse environmental conditions, providing an opportunity to address climate change impacts.The authors thank the field technicians and staff at INRAe IRHS and Experimental Unit (UE Horti), Angers, France, the Fruit Breeding Group at Agroscope in Waedenswil, Switzerland, and technical staff at all apple REFPOP sites for the maintenance of the orchards and phenotypic data collection. Phenotypic data collection was partially supported by the Horizon 2020 Framework Program of the European Union under grant agreement No 817970 (project INVITE: ‘Innovations in plant variety testing in Europe to foster the introduction of new varieties better adapted to varying biotic and abiotic conditions and to more sustainable crop management practices’). C.Q.-T. was supported by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No 847585 – RESPONSE. This study was partially funded by the FOAG project ‘Apfelzukunft dank Züchtung’ (2020/17/AZZ).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio
El cultivo del nogal frente al incremento de las temperaturas
No full textImpacto del cambio climático en la producción del nogal y recomendaciones para su mitigación. Este artículo presenta los primeros resultados de un proyecto donde se evalúa el crecimiento del fruto hasta la maduración del grano en tres variedades bien diferenciadas fenológicamente: Serr, Chandler y Franquette, sometidas a las altas temperaturas del verano de 2024, y al efecto del uso de protectores solares exógenos.Este trabajo está financiado por un proyecto demostración del plan estratégico de la PAC 2023-2027 otorgado por la Generalitat de Catalunya. A la empresa CBC Iberia (Biogard) que ha aportado el producto para la realización de los distintos tratamientos a base de caolín calcinado 100%. A la red de soporte para la eficiencia del riego y gestión de recursos hídricos, RegAssist, por su esfuerzo en la toma de datos en parámetros fisiológicos. Merecida mención a los estudiantes en prácticas que han realizado sistemáticamente la toma de datos, especialmente a Pau Mundo Querol del Instituto de Horticultura y jardinería de Reusinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio
Long-Term Effects of Early Low-Phosphorous Nutritional Conditioning on Broiler Chicken Performance, Bone Mineralization, and Gut Health Under Adequate or PhosphorousDeficient Diets
Get PDFPhosphorous is essential for many metabolic functions and the
constitution of bones. Poultry have limited ability to use phosphorous from diets,
which is mainly excreted and causes environmental concern. For this reason, diets
are commonly supplemented with inorganic phosphorus and phytases. It has been
suggested that chickens can adapt to an early nutrient restriction by increasing its
efficiency of utilization, an adaptation that has been defined as nutritional
conditioning. The aim of this study was to investigate a strategy of phosphorous
nutritional conditioning by feeding low phosphorous diets during the first week of
life as a strategy to improve the efficiency of phosphorous utilization later in life. To
test this, 600 male broiler chickens were fed either a standard (control group) or a
phosphorous-deficient diet (conditioned group) during the first week of life. Later in
life, the effect of conditioning was tested using standard or P-deficient diets during
the finishing phase (21–43 d). Conditioning did not affect overall performance,
despite finding evidence for reduced relative phosphorous excretion between days
19 to 21, increased duodenal gene expression for the phosphorous transporter
SLC34A2 at day 30 (−6% and +17%, respectively), and tendencies for improved
phosphorous digestibility (+7%) and tibia mineralization (+6%) at the end of the trial.
It is concluded that phosphorous nutritional conditioning early in life can increase
subsequent dietary phosphorous utilization and bone mineralization in poultry,
although it may not be able to counteract severe phosphorous deficiencies. Further
research is required to assess the extent to which phosphorous supplementation in
post-conditioning diets may be reduced with this strategy without compromising
performanceinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio
First insight into temporal variation of digestive enzyme activities in flathead grey mullet (Mugil cephalus) during the ongrowing phase
Get PDFDigestive enzymes break down the complex nutrients of food into easily absorbable molecules. Understanding their temporal variation during food transit through the gastrointestinal tract is crucial for developing effective nutritional strategies. This study provides the first insight on the digestive capacity of captive flathead grey mullet (Mugil cephalus), a promising omnivorous/detritivorous species for the sustainable diversification of aquaculture in EU. Fish (initial weight: 67.90 ± 15.46 g) were reared in captivity and fed a low fish meal-based diet for 113 days. At the end of the trial, the activity of pancreatic and intestinal enzymes were analysed at three different times: 0, 6 and 12 hours post-prandial. Additionally, the gene expression of pept1 was determined in the intestine at all considered times to provide a reference to peptide absorption. Alkaline proteases, trypsin and chymotrypsin showed a significant increase at 6 hours post-prandial, with values markedly lower than those of α-amylase. Bile salt-activated lipase and leucine-alanine aminopeptidase increased at 12 hours post-prandial. In the anterior intestine, aminopeptidase presented higher activity at 6 hours post-prandial while alkaline phosphatase showed no significant differences in both anterior and posterior tracts. Pept1 expression was significantly higher at 12 hours post-prandial in the posterior intestine. This study provides essential insights into the digestive physiology of captive-reared, ongrowing flathead grey mullet (Mugil cephalus), emphasizing the importance of aligning feeding practices with the species’ unique digestive adaptations. These findings establish a foundation for optimizing feeding schedules and diet composition to significantly enhance nutrient absorption and growth efficiency.This research was undertaken as a part of the FEAMP 2014–2020 project, action 3 A. Pilot project for the application of techniques and methods aimed at the enhancement and diversification of fish products from Valliculture financed by Emilia Romagna region. Analyses of digestive enzymes conducted at IRTA were supported by the ACUISOST project funded by the Ministerio de Agricultura, Pesca y Alimentación from the Spanish Government and EU Next Generation funds (PRTR). Part of the research was carried out under the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP), Mission 4 Component 2 Investment 1.4 – Call for tender No. 3138 of 16 December 2021, rectified by Decree n.3175 of 18 December 2021 of Italian Ministry of University and Research funded by the European Union – Next Generation EU. Project code CN_00000033, Concession Decree No. 1034 of 17 June 2022 adopted by the Italian Ministry of University and Research, CUP J33C22001190001 (Department of Veterinary Medical Sciences, Alma Mater Studiorum, University of Bologna).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio
Enhancing the sustainability of rabbit production from the perspective of animal genetics
Get PDFThe concept of sustainability, originating from the late 1980s, emphasises the ability to maintain processes over time without compromising future generations’ needs. It encompasses social, environmental and economic dimensions, although controversies persist regarding the latter’s inclusion. In the case of rabbit production, the economic dimension is paramount to ensure the future sustainability of the sector, given the large number of threats, mainly economic, it is facing. The major challenge when considering social and environmental sustainability plans in breeding programmes is how to properly include these dimensions in the functions defining the relevance of the different traits to be considered during the development of specialised lines. Note however that the key drivers of the current economic sustainability of the sector: prolificacy, feed efficiency and some functional traits such as resilience and survivability, are also the most likely levers of the environmental and social components of sustainability. In this context, the development of specialised lines is the most valuable contribution to sustainability by animal geneticists, the maternal lines specialised in producing large amounts of healthy weaned kits and the terminal sire lines specialised in efficiently transforming feed into meat. Regarding feed efficiency, important milestones have been achieved in recent years, many of them related to the fact that kits are raised in collective cages, and under these rearing conditions, tools have been developed to measure feed intake at the individual level, as well as to explore the role that one individual imposes on their cage-mates. Despite the fact that genomic tools have been developed and used to explore the role of genomic regions of different traits of interest, this information is still far from being used in applied breeding programmes. In the near future, we could predict that breeding programmes for enhanced sustainability will still mainly rely on pedigree records and phenotypic information for prolificacy and feed efficiency; but enriching the list of available phenotypes with additional traits, most likely obtained under automatic recording systems, to explicitly account for the social and environmental sustainability plans. In this framework, omic tools will perform a valuable role for further investigation of the biological basis controlling the major drivers of rabbit production sustainability, and hopefully in the future this information could be directly incorporated into breeding programmes.These research activities were funded by research projects from the Spanish research plan (PID2021- 128173OR-C21, RTI2018-097610-R-I00, RTA2014-00015-C02-00, RTA2011-A0064-00-00) as well as from the H2020 Feeda- Gene programme (grant nº633531)info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio
Welfare of horses during killing for purposes other than slaughter
Get PDFHorses of different ages may have to be killed on-farm for purposes other than slaughter (where slaughter is defined as killing for human consumption) either individually (i.e. on-farm killing of unproductive, injured or terminally ill animals) or on a large-scale (i.e. depopulation for disease control purposes and other situations, such as environmental contamination, disaster management, etc.). The purpose of this opinion is to assess the hazards and welfare consequences associated with the on-farm killing of horses. The killing procedure is divided into Phase 1 (pre-killing), which includes the processes (i) handling and moving the animals to the killing place and (ii) restraint of the animals before application of the killing method; and Phase 2 (stunning and/or killing), which includes stunning and killing of the animals (for methods that require one step for stunning and another for subsequent killing) or killing only (for methods that simultaneously stun and kill the animals). Three stunning and/or killing methods for Phase 2 for horses were identified: (i) penetrative captive bolt followed by killing, (ii) firearms with free projectiles and (iii) lethal injection. Welfare consequences that horses may experience during each process (e.g. handling stress, restriction of movement and injuries during restraint) were identified and potential hazards are listed for all phases, along with preventive and corrective measures. Animal-based measures (ABMs) to assess all identified welfare consequences were proposed. During the application of the stunning and/or killing methods, horses will experience pain and fear if they are ineffectively stunned/killed or if they recover consciousness. A flowchart including ABMs for the assessment of consciousness and death to monitor stunning and killing effectiveness is provided. Additionally, specific practices deemed unacceptable on welfare grounds are listed.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio