Vegetables containing phytochemicals with potential anti-obesity properties: A review

The incidence of obesity is rising worldwide at an alarming rate and is becoming a major public health concern with incalculable social and economic costs. Studies have exposed the relationship between the adiposity, inflammation and the development of other metabolic disorders, so dietary factors that influence some or all of these are of interest. Dietary phytochemicals appear to be able to target different stages of the adipocyte (fat cell) lifecycle. For example, several classes of polyphenols have been implicated in suppressing the growth of adipose tissue through modifying the adipocyte lifecycle. Many dietary phytochemicals also have strong anti-inflammatory activity, but the amount present in plants varies and may be affected by processing. In this review we summarise the likely mechanisms of action of plant phytochemicals. We highlight the major vegetable sources of polyphenols, including those with possible synergistic attributes, discuss the variation in polyphenol levels and their distribution in cultivars and outline the effects of food processing. The identification and characterisation of the anti-obesogenic properties of phytochemicals in vegetables, as well as an appreciation of the effect of cooking on phytochemical content provide significant new information supporting dietary guidelines that encourage vegetable consumption for the prevention and management of lifestyle related disease.

Food-borne pathogens - a key issue for all food animal industries

The modern consumer has an attitude that food safety is non-negotiable issue – the consumer simply demands food to be safe. Yet, at the same time, the modern consumer has an expectation that the food safety is the responsibility of others – the primary producer, the processing company, the supermarket, commercial food handlers and so on. Given this environment, all food animal industries have little choice but to regard food safety as a key issue. As an example, the chicken meat industry, via the two main industry funding bodies – the Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation (Chicken Meat) and the Poultry CRC – has a comprehensive research program that seeks to focus on reducing the risks of food-borne diseases at all points of the food processing chain – from the farm to the processing plant. The scale of the issue for all industries can be illustrated by an analysis of the problem of campylobacterosis – a major food-borne disease. It has been estimated that there are around 230,000 cases of campylobacterosis per year. In 1995, it was estimated that each case of food-borne campylobacterosis in the USA was costing between $(US) 350-580. Hence, a reasonable conservative estimate is that each Australian case in 2010 would result in a cost of around $500 (this includes hospital, medication and lost productivity costs). Hence, this single food-borne agent could be costing Australian society around $115 million annually. In the light of these types of estimated costs for just one food-borne pathogen, it is easy to understand the importance that all food animal industries place on food safety.

Assessment and control of Bacillus cereus emetic toxin in food

Despite of improving levels of hygiene, the incidence of registered food borne disease has been at the same level for many years: there were 40 to 90 epidemics in which 1000-9000 persons contracted food poisoning through food or drinking water in Finland. Until the year 2004 salmonella and campylobacter were the most common bacterial causes of food borne diseases, but in years 2005-2006 Bacillus cereus was the most common. Similar developement has been published i.e. in Germany already in the 1990´s. One reason for this can be Bacillus cereus and its emetic toxin, cereulide. Bacillus cereus is a common environmental bacterium that contaminates raw materials of food. Otherwise than salmonella and campylobacter, Bacillus cereus is a heat resistant bacterium, capable of surviving most cooking procedures due to the production of highly thermo resistant spores. The food involved has usually been heat treated and surviving spores are the source of the food poisoning. The heat treatment induces germination of the spore and the vegetative cells then produce toxins. This doctoral thesis research focuses on developing methods for assessing and eliminating risks to food safety by cereulide producing Bacillus cereus. The biochemistry and physiology of cereulide production was investigated and the results were targeted to offer tools for minimizing toxin risk in food during the production. I developed methods for the extraction and quantitative analysis of cereulide directly from food. A prerequisite for that is knowledge of the chemical and physical properties of the toxin. Because cereulide is practically insoluble in water, I used organic solvents; methanol, ethanol and pentane for the extraction. For extraction of bakery products I used high temperature (100C) and pressure (103.4 bars). Alternaties for effective extraction is to flood the plain food with ethanol, followed by stationary equilibration at room temperature. I used this protocol for extracting cereulide from potato puree and penne. Using this extraction method it is also possible also extract cereulide from liquid food, like milk. These extraction methods are important improvement steps for studying of Bacillus cereus emetic food poisonings. Prior my work, cereulide extraction was done using water. As the result, the yield was poor and variable. To investigate suspected food poisonings, it is important to show actual toxicity of the incriminated food. Many toxins, but not cereulide, inactivate during food processing like heating. The next step is to identify toxin by chemical methods. I developed with my colleague Maria Andesson a rapid assay for the detection of cereulide toxicity, within 5 to 15 minutes. By applying this test it is possible to rapidly detect which food was causing the food poisoning. The chemical identification of cereulide was achieved using mass spectrometry. I used cereulide specific molecular ions, m/z (+/-0.3) 1153.8 (M+H+), 1171.0 (M+NH4+), 1176.0 (M+Na+) and 1191.7 (M+K+) for reliable identification. I investigated foods to find out their amenability to accumulate cereulide. Cereulide was formed high amounts (0.3 to 5.5 microg/g wet wt) when of cereulide producing B. cereus strains were present in beans, rice, rice-pastry and meat-pastry, if stored at non refrigerated temperatures (21-23C). Rice and meat pastries are frequently consumed under conditions where no cooled storage is available e.g. picnics and outdoor events. Bacillus cereus is a ubiquitous spore former and is therefore difficult to eliminate from foods. It is therefore important to know which conditions will affect the formation of cereulide in foods. My research showed that the cereulide content was strongly (10 to 1000 fold differences in toxin content) affected by the growth environment of the bacterium. Storage of foods under nitrogen atmosphere (> 99.5 %) prevented the production of cereulide. But when also carbon dioxide was present, minimizing the oxygen contant (< 1%) did not protect the food from formation of cereulide in preliminary experiments. Also food supplements affected cereulide production at least in the laboratory. Adding free amino acids, leucine and valine, stimulated cereulide production 10 to 20 fold. In peptide bonded form these amino acids are natural constituents in all proteins. Interestingly, adding peptide bonded leucine and valine had no significant effect on cereulide production. Free amino acids leucine and valine are approved food supplements and widely used as flawour modifiers in food technology. My research showed that these food supplements may increase food poisoning risk even though they are not toxic themselves.

Oxidative stability of phytosterols in food models and foods

An important safety aspect to be considered when foods are enriched with phytosterols and phytostanols is the oxidative stability of these lipid compounds, i.e. their resistance to oxidation and thus to the formation of oxidation products. This study concentrated on producing scientific data to support this safety evaluation process. In the absence of an official method for analyzing of phytosterol/stanol oxidation products, we first developed a new gas chromatographic - mass spectrometric (GC-MS) method. We then investigated factors affecting these compounds' oxidative stability in lipid-based food models in order to identify critical conditions under which significant oxidation reactions may occur. Finally, the oxidative stability of phytosterols and stanols in enriched foods during processing and storage was evaluated. Enriched foods covered a range of commercially available phytosterol/stanol ingredients, different heat treatments during food processing, and different multiphase food structures. The GC-MS method was a powerful tool for measuring the oxidative stability. Data obtained in food model studies revealed that the critical factors for the formation and distribution of the main secondary oxidation products were sterol structure, reaction temperature, reaction time, and lipid matrix composition. Under all conditions studied, phytostanols as saturated compounds were more stable than unsaturated phytosterols. In addition, esterification made phytosterols more reactive than free sterols at low temperatures, while at high temperatures the situation was the reverse. Generally, oxidation reactions were more significant at temperatures above 100°C. At lower temperatures, the significance of these reactions increased with increasing reaction time. The effect of lipid matrix composition was dependent on temperature; at temperatures above 140°C, phytosterols were more stable in an unsaturated lipid matrix, whereas below 140°C they were more stable in a saturated lipid matrix. At 140°C, phytosterols oxidized at the same rate in both matrices. Regardless of temperature, phytostanols oxidized more in an unsaturated lipid matrix. Generally, the distribution of oxidation products seemed to be associated with the phase of overall oxidation. 7-ketophytosterols accumulated when oxidation had not yet reached the dynamic state. Once this state was attained, the major products were 5,6-epoxyphytosterols and 7-hydroxyphytosterols. The changes observed in phytostanol oxidation products were not as informative since all stanol oxides quantified represented hydroxyl compounds. The formation of these secondary oxidation products did not account for all of the phytosterol/stanol losses observed during the heating experiments, indicating the presence of dimeric, oligomeric or other oxidation products, especially when free phytosterols and stanols were heated at high temperatures. Commercially available phytosterol/stanol ingredients were stable during such food processes as spray-drying and ultra high temperature (UHT)-type heating and subsequent long-term storage. Pan-frying, however, induced phytosterol oxidation and was classified as a rather deteriorative process. Overall, the findings indicated that although phytosterols and stanols are stable in normal food processing conditions, attention should be paid to their use in frying. Complex interactions between other food constituents also suggested that when new phytosterol-enriched foods are developed their oxidative stability must first be established. The results presented here will assist in choosing safe conditions for phytosterol/stanol enrichment.

Relationships in food chains: an empirical examination of trust, commitment and communication

This report derives from the EU funded research project “Key Factors Influencing Economic Relationships and Communication in European Food Chains” (FOODCOMM). The research consortium consisted of the following organisations: University of Bonn (UNI BONN), Department of Agricultural and Food Marketing Research (overall project co-ordination); Institute of Agricultural Development in Central and Eastern Europe (IAMO), Department for Agricultural Markets, Marketing and World Agricultural Trade, Halle (Saale), Germany; University of Helsinki, Ruralia Institute Seinäjoki Unit, Finland; Scottish Agricultural College (SAC), Food Marketing Research Team - Land Economy Research Group, Edinburgh and Aberdeen; Ashtown Food Research Centre (AFRC), Teagasc, Food Marketing Unit, Dublin; Institute of Agricultural & Food Economics (IAFE), Department of Market Analysis and Food Processing, Warsaw and Government of Aragon, Center for Agro-Food Research and Technology (CITA), Zaragoza, Spain. The aim of the FOODCOMM project was to examine the role (prevalence, necessity and significance) of economic relationships in selected European food chains and to identify the economic, social and cultural factors which influence co-ordination within these chains. The research project considered meat and cereal commodities in six different European countries (Finland, Germany, Ireland, Poland, Spain, UK/Scotland) and was commissioned against a background of changing European food markets. The research project as a whole consisted of seven different work packages. This report presents the results of qualitative research conducted for work package 5 (WP5) in the pig meat and rye bread chains in Finland. Ruralia Institute would like to give special thanks for all the individuals and companies that kindly gave up their time to take part in the study. Their input has been invaluable to the project. The contribution of research assistant Sanna-Helena Rantala was significant in the data gathering. FOODCOMM project was coordinated by the University of Bonn, Department of Agricultural and Food Market Research. Special thanks especially to Professor Monika Hartmann for acting as the project leader of FOODCOMM.

Discovery of oxidative enzymes for food engineering : Tyrosinase and sulfhydryl oxidase

Enzymes offer many advantages in industrial processes, such as high specificity, mild treatment conditions and low energy requirements. Therefore, the industry has exploited them in many sectors including food processing. Enzymes can modify food properties by acting on small molecules or on polymers such as carbohydrates or proteins. Crosslinking enzymes such as tyrosinases and sulfhydryl oxidases catalyse the formation of novel covalent bonds between specific residues in proteins and/or peptides, thus forming or modifying the protein network of food. In this study, novel secreted fungal proteins with sequence features typical of tyrosinases and sulfhydryl oxidases were iden-tified through a genome mining study. Representatives of both of these enzyme families were selected for heterologous produc-tion in the filamentous fungus Trichoderma reesei and biochemical characterisation. Firstly, a novel family of putative tyrosinases carrying a shorter sequence than the previously characterised tyrosinases was discovered. These proteins lacked the whole linker and C-terminal domain that possibly play a role in cofactor incorporation, folding or protein activity. One of these proteins, AoCO4 from Aspergillus oryzae, was produced in T. reesei with a production level of about 1.5 g/l. The enzyme AoCO4 was correctly folded and bound the copper cofactors with a type-3 copper centre. However, the enzyme had only a low level of activity with the phenolic substrates tested. Highest activity was obtained with 4-tert-butylcatechol. Since tyrosine was not a substrate for AoCO4, the enzyme was classified as catechol oxidase. Secondly, the genome analysis for secreted proteins with sequence features typical of flavin-dependent sulfhydryl oxidases pinpointed two previously uncharacterised proteins AoSOX1 and AoSOX2 from A. oryzae. These two novel sulfhydryl oxidases were produced in T. reesei with production levels of 70 and 180 mg/l, respectively, in shake flask cultivations. AoSOX1 and AoSOX2 were FAD-dependent enzymes with a dimeric tertiary structure and they both showed activity on small sulfhydryl compounds such as glutathione and dithiothreitol, and were drastically inhibited by zinc sulphate. AoSOX2 showed good stabil-ity to thermal and chemical denaturation, being superior to AoSOX1 in this respect. Thirdly, the suitability of AoSOX1 as a possible baking improver was elucidated. The effect of AoSOX1, alone and in combi-nation with the widely used improver ascorbic acid was tested on yeasted wheat dough, both fresh and frozen, and on fresh water-flour dough. In all cases, AoSOX1 had no effect on the fermentation properties of fresh yeasted dough. AoSOX1 nega-tively affected the fermentation properties of frozen doughs and accelerated the damaging effects of the frozen storage, i.e. giving a softer dough with poorer gas retention abilities than the control. In combination with ascorbic acid, AoSOX1 gave harder doughs. In accordance, rheological studies in yeast-free dough showed that the presence of only AoSOX1 resulted in weaker and more extensible dough whereas a dough with opposite properties was obtained if ascorbic acid was also used. Doughs containing ascorbic acid and increasing amounts of AoSOX1 were harder in a dose-dependent manner. Sulfhydryl oxidase AoSOX1 had an enhancing effect on the dough hardening mechanism of ascorbic acid. This was ascribed mainly to the produc-tion of hydrogen peroxide in the SOX reaction which is able to convert the ascorbic acid to the actual improver dehydroascorbic acid. In addition, AoSOX1 could possibly oxidise the free glutathione in the dough and thus prevent the loss of dough strength caused by the spontaneous reduction of the disulfide bonds constituting the dough protein network. Sulfhydryl oxidase AoSOX1 is therefore able to enhance the action of ascorbic acid in wheat dough and could potentially be applied in wheat dough baking.

Non-enzymatic Degradation of (1→3)(1→4)-β-D-glucan in Aqueous Processing of Oats

Cereal water-soluble β-glucan [(1→3)(1→4)-β-D-glucan] has well-evidenced health benefits and it contributes to the texture properties of foods. These functions are characteristically dependent on the excellent viscosity forming ability of this cell wall polysaccharide. The viscosity is affected by the molar mass, solubility and conformation of β-glucan molecule, which are further known to be altered during food processing. This study focused on demonstrating the degradation of β-glucan in water solutions following the addition of ascorbic acid, during heat treatments or high pressure homogenisation. Furthermore, the motivation of this study was in the non-enzymatic degradation mechanisms, particularly in oxidative cleavage via hydroxyl radicals. The addition of ascorbic acid at food-related concentrations (2-50 mM), autoclaving (120°C) treatments, and high pressure homogenisation (300-1000 bar) considerably cleaved the β-glucan chains, determined as a steep decrease in the viscosity of β-glucan solutions and decrease in the molar mass of β-glucan. The cleavage was more intense in a solution of native β-glucan with co-extracted compounds than in a solution of highly purified β-glucan. Despite the clear and immediate process-related degradation, β-glucan was less sensitive to these treatments compared to other water-soluble polysaccharides previously reported in the literature. In particular, the highly purified β-glucan was relatively resistant to the autoclaving treatments without the addition of ferrous ions. The formation of highly oxidative free radicals was detected at the elevated temperatures, and the formation was considerably accelerated by added ferrous ions. Also ascorbic acid pronounced the formation of these oxidative radicals, and oxygen was simultaneously consumed by ascorbic acid addition and by heating the β-glucan solutions. These results demonstrated the occurrence of oxidative reactions, most likely the metal catalysed Fenton-like reactions, in the β-glucan solutions during these processes. Furthermore, oxidized functional groups (carbonyls) were formed along the β-glucan chain by the treatments, including high pressure homogenisation, evidencing the oxidation of β-glucan by these treatments. The degradative forces acting on the particles in the high pressure homogenisation are generally considered to be the mechanical shear, but as shown here, carbohydrates are also easily degraded during the process, and oxidation may have a role in the modification of polysaccharides by this technique. In the present study, oat β-glucan was demonstrated to be susceptible to degradation during aqueous processing by non-enzymatic degradation mechanisms. Oxidation was for the first time shown to be a highly relevant degradation mechanism of β-glucan in food processing.

Aktivitäten des nationalen Fischereidatenerhebungsprogramms im Jahr 2004

Based on the EU Regulation 1543/2000 for the improvement of quantity and quality of fishery data the Federal Ministry for Consumer Protection, Food and Agriculture has initiated a national data collection programme, executed by three institutions, Federal Research Centre for Fisheries (BFAFi), Federal Agency for Ariculture and Food and the Federal Research Centre Agriculture, co-ordinated by BFAFi. In 2004 samples have been taken from 943 hauls during 29 commercial fishing trips; 357 000 fish have been measured. From 2002 to 2004 the number of length and weight and measurements, and age determinations could increased by 32, 65 and 156 % resp. Pilot inquiries have been carried out to prepare also the collection of economical date of fishing vessels and of fish processing plants from 2006.

Statistical quality control charts on attributes in fish processing technology

Apart from the use of statistical quality control chart for variables or attributes of food products in a food processing industry, the application of these charts for attributes of fishery products is explained. Statistical quality control chart for fraction defectives is explained by noting defective fish sausages per shift from a sausage industry while control chart for number of defectives is illustrated for number of defective fish cans in each hour of its production of a canning industry. C-chart is another type of control chart which is explained here for number of defects per single fish fillet sampled a1l random for every five minutes in a processing industry. These statistical quality control charts help in the more economic use of resource, time and labour than control charts for variables of products. Also control charts for attributes exhibit the quality history of finished products at different times of production thereby minimizing the risk of consumer rejection.

Raw material supply to shrimp freezing plants: some significant aspects

The shrimp processing plants located at any particular place receive their raw material supplies from local and outside centres. The raw material received, the form in which it was received, the relative contribution by local and outside centres and the seasonal variation in the supplies were studied with respect to the shrimp processing plants located at three places - Cochin, Veraval and Kakinada.

CO2浓度升高对三种树木叶片化学和舞毒蛾幼虫取食及生长的影响

探讨全球气候变化的生物学和生态学效应是当今生态学中的热点，研究大气CO2浓度升高对植物-昆虫相互作用关系的影响具有重要的理论和实践意义。本文使用开顶式气室（Open-top chamber，OTC）在野外条件下研究了CO2浓度升高对三种树木（小青杨、白桦和蒙古栎）叶片化学成分含量的影响，以及树木叶片品质变化对一种广食性森林昆虫（舞毒蛾）幼虫取食、生长发育和取食偏嗜性的影响。得出如下结果：（1）CO2浓度升高对3个受试树种叶片中的营养成分及次生代谢物含量均有显著影响，总体表现为氮含量降低，而碳氮比、非结构性碳水化合物、总酚和缩合丹宁含量增加。叶片中的化学成分含量可随时间发生显著变化，不同树种、甚至同一树种不同冠层高度的叶片对CO2浓度升高的响应强度也是不同的。叶片的干物质含量和比叶重对CO2浓度升高的响应不显著。（2）室内非选择性取食实验、室内选择性取食实验以及上树取食饲养方式下的多龄期取食实验，均发现高浓度CO2处理组内舞毒蛾幼虫的生长发育受到显著抑制。但对四龄舞毒蛾幼虫所进行的短期生物测定并未发现不同CO2浓度处理下幼虫的生长发育速率、对食物的取食率和转化率等昆虫营养指标存在显著差异。（3）叶片品质的降低是导致舞毒蛾幼虫生长发育受抑制的主要原因。但是总体上，CO2浓度升高导致的叶片品质变化并未显著影响幼虫的取食率和取食量。（4）舞毒蛾幼虫对不同叶片种类表现出清晰的取食选择性，这种选择性在其幼龄期就可表现出来。幼虫对小青杨上层叶片有最显著的偏嗜性，对蒙古栎下层叶片有最明显的拒食性。但是CO2浓度升高导致的叶片品质变化对舞毒蛾幼虫的取食选择性和寄主偏嗜行为并未产生显著影响。（5）检测出高浓度CO2处理组内舞毒蛾幼虫虫粪中含有浓度更高的植物次生代谢物质（总酚和缩合单宁），这很可能是昆虫整体生长发育受抑制的重要原因之一。

糯小麦杂交后代的基因型鉴定及Wx基因的效应研究

糯小麦在食品加工业、淀粉加工业及其它工业上有着重要用途，是近年来许多国家小麦研究的重要课题。国外糯小麦选育尚未突破高产与糯性相结合的难点，国内目前还没有培育出高蛋白强筋型的糯小麦品种，这在一定程度上与缺乏合适的育种方法和高效、实用的糯小麦分子标记辅助育种技术有关。国内外对Wx基因效应的研究主要利用缺体－四体系、重组自交系或近等基因系，还未见有利用遗传背景相同的BC5F2代回交改良群体的报道。 糯性位点近等基因系是小麦淀粉品质育种的重要材料，而我国目前还没有一套中国栽培小麦遗传背景的糯性位点近等基因系。为了选育部分糯小麦、全糯小麦和中国栽培小麦遗传背景的糯性位点近等基因系，我们利用Wx蛋白电泳和高效实用的分子标记技术体系来鉴定糯小麦杂交后代的基因型，结果证明该体系能有效地用于糯小麦的分子标记辅助育种。以中国春糯性位点全套近等基因系为研究材料，对小麦Wx基因的6个STS标记和1个CAPS标记进行了筛选，改良PCR扩增条件以及产物检测方式后，从这些标记中筛选出3个标记，包括鉴定Wx-A1、Wx-D1位点的2个共显性STS标记和Wx-B1位点的1个显性STS标记。利用上述3个分子标记从BC5F2 代回交改良群体中筛选出了8种Wx基因型，经卡方检验，其分离比符合3对基因的分离比例，其中基因型为aabbdd的植株有2株，直链淀粉含量分别为1.81%和0.82%，为全糯小麦；基因型为AAbbdd，aabbDD的部分糯性植株各有1株，直链淀粉含量分别为15.24%和17.57%。以上4株植株的农艺性状和品质性状接近回交亲本“川育12”，并明显优于全糯材料“98Y1441”，表明采用回交法与Wx基因分子标记辅助选择相结合，有助于培育高产、优质的全糯和部分糯小麦。同时，本研究中建立的分子标记技术体系，也为选育具有中国栽培小麦遗传背景的糯性位点近等基因系奠定了基础。 在基因型鉴定的基础上，利用糯小麦杂交后代BC5F2代回交改良群体研究了各基因缺失降低直链淀粉含量的效果和各基因合成直链淀粉的能力，以及直链淀粉含量与农艺性状、品质性状、淀粉糊化特性等的相关性。缺失不同Wx基因的8种基因型，直链淀粉含量差异显著。研究单缺失基因型发现，减少效应最大的是Wx-B1b基因，Wx-B1b和Wx-D1b基因没有显著差异，减少效应最小的是Wx-A1b基因。研究双缺失基因型发现，Wx基因合成直链淀粉的能力，Wx-B1a基因最高，Wx-A1a基因最低，而Wx-B1a和Wx-D1a基因差异很小；直链淀粉含量与株高、穗长、小穗数、穗粒数、千粒重等农艺性状相关不显著，表明淀粉品质育种可以与高产育种实现有机结合；直链淀粉含量与SDS-沉降值呈显著负相关(r=-0.726)，说明直链淀粉含量降低在一定程度上有利于提高小麦营养与加工品质，这一结果至今未见有文献报道；全糯类型的淀粉糊化特性与其他类型显著不同，具有最高的峰值粘度和稀懈值，最低的低谷粘度、最终粘度、反弹值、峰值时间、糊化温度、起始糊化温度，表明糯小麦淀粉在食品和工业上具有特殊用途；稀懈值与直链淀粉含量呈极显著负相关(r=-0.969)，其他粘度参数与直链淀粉含量呈显著正相关(最终粘度r=0.797，低谷粘度r=0.910、反弹值r=0.954、峰值时间r=0.970、糊化温度r=0.962、起始糊化温度r=0.932)。以上结论可为糯小麦品种选育和淀粉品质改良提供理论依据。 Waxy wheat is very important in food processing industry, starch processing industry and the other industries, so it is a focus of wheat research in many countries these years. Foreign wheat breeders have not conquered the difficulty of high yield combined with waxy character, and there is no waxy wheat variety with high protein and strong gluten in China at present，all of which were caused by lacking proper breeding methods and effective, applied molecular markers-assisted selection technique at a certain extent. Until now, research about the effect of waxy genes mainly depended on nullisomic-tetrasomic lines, recombinant lines or near-isogenic lines, and it is lacking the reports of using improved BC5F2 backcross progenies under the common genetic background. Near-isogenic lines at the Wx loci are important materials for wheat starch quality breeding. However, there are no such lines under the Chinese cultivated wheat genetic background. To develop partial waxy wheats, waxy wheats and near-isogenic lines at the Wx loci under the Chinese cultivated wheat genetic background, we use SDS-PAGE of waxy proteins and effective, applied molecular marker-assisted selection technical system to identify the genotype of waxy wheat’s progenies. The results indicated that such a system is applicable in waxy wheat’s molecular marker-assisted selection effectively. A series of Chinese Spring Wx loci near-isogenic lines were used to identify the specific bands of six STS markers and one CAPS marker of Wx genes. After optimizing PCR amplification and separating of PCR products, three co-dominant and dominant STS-markers were identified at the Wx-A1, Wx-D1 and Wx-B1 loci, respectively, which were used to identify the genotype of waxy wheat’s progenies. Eight Wx genotypes were developed from the improved BC5F2 backcross progenies, which follows Mendelian segregation. Among them, there were two aabbdd waxy plants whose amylose content in the BC5F3 seeds were 1.81% and 0.82%, respectively. In addition, there were partial waxy plants (AAbbdd and aabbDD) whose amylose content in the BC5F3 seeds were 15.24 % and 17.57%, respectively. Most agronomic and quality traits of these four plants resembled those of the recurrent parent “Chuanyu 12”, and superior to waxy wheat parent “98Y1441”. This shows that backcross approach in combination with molecular marker-assisted selection of waxy genes is helpful to develop partial and full waxy wheat with good traits in the waxy wheat breeding program. At the same time, molecular marker-assisted selection technical system in this paper, also establish the base for breeding the near-isogenic lines at the Wx loci under the Chinese cultivated wheat genetic background. According to the results of genotype identification, we use waxy wheat’s improved BC5F2 backcross progenies to verify the effects of null alleles on reducing amylose content and determine the amylose synthesis capacity of each Wx gene independently, and investigate the relativity among amylose content with agonomic traits, quality traits, starch pasting properties respectively. There was significant difference in amylose content of the eight genotypes carrying different null Wx alleles. The reducing effect of the single null alleles was the most significant in Wx-B1b, followed by Wx-D1b and Wx-A1b, and there was no significant difference between Wx-B1b and Wx-D1b. The results of the double null lines further demonstrated that for the capacity of amylose synthesis, Wx-B1a was the highest, followed by Wx-D1a and Wx-A1a, and there was no significant difference between Wx-B1a and Wx-D1a. Amylose contents of the eight genotypes were not significantly correlated with plant height, spike length, spikelets per spike, grains per spike, 1000-grain weight, which showed that starch quality breeding could integrate with high yield breeding. Amylose contents of the eight genotypes were negatively significantly correlated with SDS-sedimentation value(r=-0.726), which suggested that reduction in amylose content is propitious to improve quality at a certain extent. Starch pasting properties of the full waxy type was significantly different from the other seven types, with the highest peak viscosity and breakdown, and lowest valley viscosity, final viscosity, setback, peak time, pasting temperature and starting pasting temperature. It indicated that waxy wheat starch has special use in food and industry. Breakdown was negatively significantly correlated with amylose contents (r=-0.969), and the other parameters were positively significantly correlated with amylose contents (r=0.797 for final viscosity, r=0.910 for trough viscosity, r =0.954 for setback, r =0.970 for peak time, r=0.962 for pasting temperature and r=0.932 for starting pasting temperature ). The results of the study are very useful for waxy wheat variety breeding and starch quality improvement.

Teaching by Example in Food Assembly by Robot

T. G. Williams, J.J. Rowland, Lee M.H. and M.J. Neal Teaching by Example in Food Assembly by Robot, Proc. 2000 IEEE Int. Conf. On Robotics and Automation, San Francisco, April 2000, pp3247-52.

X-ray simulations for imaging applications in the agricultural and food industry

R. Zwiggelaar, C.R. Bull, and M.J. Mooney, 'X-ray simulations for imaging applications in the agricultural and food industry', Journal of Agricultural Engineering Research 63(2), 161-170 (1996)